The International Finance Cooperation (IFC), a member of the World Bank
Group, has entered into a partnership with the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment of the Lao PDR to improve laws and
regulations as well as their enforcement, according to the Lao news
agency KPL.
The partnership also aims to implement
integrated water resources management in the country and ensure that
hydropower will be developed and operated in sustainable ways that
protect the environment and local people’s livelihoods. It will also
support socio-economic development in the country.
KPL
quoted Vice Minister of Finance Santiphab Phhomvihane as saying at the
signing of the cooperation agreement with IFC that the partnership with
IFC marks the commitment to promoting integrated water resources
management and best practice environmental and social standards in the
hydropower sector through revising laws and regulation as well as
improving our capacity to enforce them.
IFC and the
World Bank have been helping the Lao PDR revise its water resource law
by providing consultation support and technical input to the Ministry
of Natural Resources and Environment. This aims to ensure that the new
law meet the needs of all water users for many years to come.
Under the partnership, IFC will also provide training and technical
assistance to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the
relevant people in select river basin to help them better anticipate,
evaluate, and manage the water resources in support of sustainable
hydropower investments.-VNA