| Mekong Express Home | - Laos Home - | Editor for Mekong Express |
 |
 |
 |
Vientiane's Emerging Database
Locals, foreign residents, tourists and visiting businessmen alike often are heard complaining that they can't put their fingers on information or people who can assist them in Laos. Maybe they haven't looked hard enough or asked often enough. Of the following books, two appeared for the first time this year and the remaining two were totally revised.
Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Membership Directory
This is the first Membership Directory for the Lao Chamber (LNCCI). The speedy completion of the Directory was a priority task for the Board of Directors and an important milestone for the Chamber.
The publication of the Directory marked the beginning of an accelerated program of increased benefits and business services to Chamber members. The Directory facilitates business contacts both locally and internationally, gives the Lao Chamber important international recognition, and projects a positive and business-oriented image of Laos. I am pleased to have been a part of the team that worked so hard to compile the Directory and am thankful to The Asia Foundation for funding the document.
by Sisouk Sisombath, Chairman, Board of Directors
TEL: (856) 21-412392; FAX: 414383
BASIC STATISTICS about the socio-economic development of the Lao P.D.R.
In order to reflect the achievements of the socio-economic development in Lao P.D.R. for the year 1994, and to serve as background for study and planning by various sectors and readers, the National Statistical Center under the Committee for Planning and Cooperation has published this statistical yearbook.
We have made many attempts to collect complete data but practically we could not fully achieve this goal. Therefore some data have had to be estimated until we can find the resources to examine certain issues in a more adequate way.
The data on market prices and the estimate of the Gross Domestic Product have been included in the statistical series since 1991. In these basic statistics we also included some of the results from the Listing of the Number of Establishments Registered in 1990-1991, the Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey in 1992-1993, and some data from the Lao Urban Labor Force Survey in 1994. The population figures are estimates from the Population Census in 1985, the Multi-round Sample Survey from 1988-1991, and the Population Head Count in 1990.
The National Statistical Center welcomes suggestions and comments from users so that we can improve our releases in the future. We hope to receive kind cooperation from all users.
by The National Statistical Center
TEL: (856) 21-214740; FAX: (856) 21-216659
VIENTIANE GUIDE
The Vientiane Guide is published by the Women's International Group (WIG), a non-profit organization open to all residents of Laos. The Guide provides details on living and working in Vientiane, as well as relevant tourist information for the long-term resident and visitor alike. By purchasing the Guide you are helping us with our fun-raising to support projects which benefit Laotians in need, particularly women and children.
All profit goes to charity. In 1994 WIG funded the following projects for a total amount of US$11,500: 1) help with construction and improvement of eight schools; 2) the purchase of school supplies and equipment for another eight schools; 3) the purchase of six respiratory devices for Mahosot Hospital; 4) donation of basic supplies and equipment to Vieng Xay District Hospital (Houa Phan Province); 5) donation of selected equipment to Sayaboury Hospital; 6) improvement in living conditions of the needy in remote villages.
Women's International Group (WIG)
POB 5787, Vientiane, Laos
Telephone Telex Directory
Exceeding 150 pages, never in the history of Vientiane has there been such a thick phone book. Friends tell us that the first such book, printed towards the end of the French era in Laos, contained 100 names and the listings were not only in French but in numerical order. This new directory is in alphabetical order but it's written entirely in Lao; little wonder then that the Lao are on the phone day and night anymore. However, there is just enough English to let you figure out long distance charges and country codes. If you don't read Lao, wait until January and you can buy Telstra's state-of-the-art National Directory, another "first" for Laos.
by Dok Champa staff
The first three books can be bought at the Raintree Bookstore on Pang Kham Road across from Lao Aviation or the National Bookstore (recently moved from Nam Phu) on Setthatirath Road across from Vientiane Mai. The last book can be bought at the telephone branch office in the main post office compound.