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The Embassy of Laos in Berlin

Contact

Address: Bismarckallee 2A, 14193 Berlin, Germany

Tel.: +49 (030) 890 606 47

Fax: +49 (030) 890 606 48

E-mail: info@laos-botschaft.de

www.laos-botschaft.de

The Ambassador

Amb. Phomma Boutthavong

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Phomma Boutthavong is ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Laos to Germany since September 2018. Born on the 25th December 1966 he graduated in 1986 in Law from Leipzig University 8 (former Karl-Marx University). He had several training courses abroad, including Advanced Security Cooperation Course Program at Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, and Leadership Course Program at the East-West Centre in Hawaii, USA.

Professional career
1986-1987 | Junior Official, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA)
1987-1996 | Service Bureau for Diplomatic Missions in Vientiane Head of Housing and Local Staff Service
1996-2002 | 3rd Secretary at the Embassy of Lao PDR, Bonn and Berlin
2002-2005 | Germany-Scandinavian Desk, Western European Division, Europe and America Department at the MoFA
2005-2009 | 2nd and then 1st Secretary at the Embassy to Germany, Berlin
2009-2015 | Europe and America Department, MoFA
2010-2011 | Deputy Director, Secretariat and Documentation Division, MoFA
2011-2013 | Director, Secretariat and Documentation Division
2013-2015 |Director, Americas Division
2015 | Deputy Director General at the Committee for External Relations Lao PR Party
2015-2018 | Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy to Indonesia, and also Non-Resident Embassy to Timor-Leste, Jakarta

History

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Laos became independent in 1953 from French rule, with a constitutional monarchy under Sisavang Vong. Civil war ended the monarchy, when the Communist Pathet Laos movement came to power in 1975. It is a member of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), East Asia Summit and La Francophonie. Laos applied for membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1997 and on the 2nd of February 2013, it was granted full membership.

Germany and Laos began their diplomatic relations in 1958. In 1975, both the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic opened embassies in Vientiane. In the years after the revolution, Laos was a priority country of the former GDR’s development cooperation, which the Federal Republic of Germany has successfully continued since 1990.

Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Niebel and Federal Foreign Minister Westerwelle paid official visits to Laos in February 2012 and November 2012, respectively, the latter to attend the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit. A delegation of the German Bundestag’s Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the ASEAN States visited Vientiane in July 2015.

Laos is a pilot country of German development cooperation. German engagement there focuses on two areas: rural development in the country’s poor mountainous regions and support for the Laos economy’s transition from a planned to a more pro-market system, emphasis is being given to providing macroeconomic advice and improving human resources as well as promoting small and medium-sized enterprises.