PRESS STATEMENT
EXPANDING JOINT UNITED NATIONS ASSISTANCE FROM UNODC AND UNIDO
TO FORMER OPIUM POPPY CULTIVATING FARMERS IN LAO PDR
 At the side event to the 51st Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) meeting held in Vienna from the 10 to the 14 March, Minister Soubanh Srithirath, Minister to the President's Office and Chair of the Lao National Commission for Drug Control and Supervision, informed that the Lao PDR was once the third largest producer of illicit opium in the world. Opium was produced in the poorest and most isolated regions of the country by various ethnic groups. Ten years after the 1998 United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) resolution, the country has been able to significantly reduce opium poppy cultivation and production by over 94%. However opium elimination remains very fragile.
In 2006, the Lao Government and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) jointly launched a National Programme Strategy for the Post Opium Scenario both to sustain opium elimination and reduce poverty. This national programme targets 1,100 priority villages and focuses on 32 of the poorest districts identified for priority assistance by the National Poverty Reduction Programme and includes some 12 priority programme modules projected to costs about US$ 40 million.
Based on a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between UNODC and The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) signed in 2005, a joint project for Lao PDR was developed building on the strength and mandate of each organization. This pilot project, which received funding from the UN-Trust Fund for Human Security and was launched in March 2007 demonstrates how a joint UN project can complement efforts, increase coherence and cost efficiency towards greater aid effectiveness by utilizing the comparative advantages of certain UN specialized agencies working closely with the host Government and grass root communities. It brings a novel approach to alternative development by combining UNODC's expertise in community based development and drug control with UNIDO's expertise on economic development aspects including production, processing and marketing of agro-products.
The Mini Dublin Group, consisting of 8 Ambassadors and Senior Representatives from 14 Embassies and the UN, visited the Joint UNODC/UNIDO Project for Social and Economic Rehabilitation of Former Opium Poppy Growing Communities in Oudomxay Province from 28 February to 1 March and were very impressed with their findings. The project is seen as the first of a series designed to support the National Programme Strategy for the Post Opium Scenario.It is also one of the first joint UN projects to be implemented in Laos after the Vientiane Declaration on Aid effectiveness in December 2006.
Minister Soubanh Srithirath together with UNODC Executive Director Antonio Mario Costa and UNIDO Director General Kandeh Yumkella, made a joint commitment to further support alternative and economic development of former opium poppy growing communities in Laos through the expansion of joint LAO-UN cooperation to cover all areas requiring assistance.
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