ing fertilizers, giving chemicals, is all done by human hands. You know, you ha
ve to have the people, the local people do the work. I think the development of
human re-sources are very important. And to develop and nurture people, we hav
e to leam from the past successes and failures. I think there should be increas
ed opportunity, we can really communicate with the people who are involved.
First of all, I would like to say that I do agree with Professor Kawano regardi
ng the idea that Laos should improve its infrastructure. And the problem of
Lao s now is a regional issue. I'm from Thailand, I know this problem very
well. No w we are trying to give some assistance to Laos, helping them to
improve the ai rport in Luang Phabang. There was an opening ceremony that
took place last mont h, and that is the first phase of assistance, and the
second phase is coming. W e also proposed to build the road links between
Thailand, Laos and China, and a lso Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. Especially,
the Deputy Foreign Minister of Thai land just went for a survey for Road No.
Nine about two weeks ago, and I myself was in Vietnam last Thursday. The Vietnamese
side also shows interest in hav-i ng the road links, even it may not be the
same road. About a month ago I was in Austra-lia, and we discussed with the
Australian government regarding the brid ges between Thailand and Laos. The
Australians seemed to be very interested in having the second bridge after
building the first one. I seems to me that for t his kind of infrastructure,
there is no problem to get assistance from many cou ntries to help to assist
Laos. But I think the problem is not the hardware, it is more the software.
As Prof. Kawano might have known when he was in Laos, tha t bridge that has
been built between Thailand and Laos was not open, it was not in use, and
it is not in use at this moment. We need to improve the soft-ware, and this
may coincide with my colleague from Vietnam, that this concerns the h u-man
resource development. We need a better understanding among the countries of
the region. Otherwise it is a waste if you build the infrastructure and hard
ware without think-ing of the software. I would like to point out this, which
i s not a question, but a problem that we are very much concerned about in
Thaila nd.
Dr. Kawano:
M Thank you very much for your comments and your valuable information. The
Lao PD R is surrounded by five countries, and I'm sure that all these surrounding
five countries will take the positive action as has been just illustrated
by the ex ample of the Thailand. That will further develop the Lao PDR in
line with the s urrounding countries. As you pointed out, the hardware may
be easier, but the s oftware side will require the initiative taken by the
local community. This sho uld be inspired also by the surrounding countries
as well as the advanced natio ns. I'm sure that the Lao PDR community will
be further inspired and facilitate d and I'm sure this type of meeting and
gathering will serve a lot to contrib-u te to further inspire and encourage
the people of Laos. Thank you.
