The declaration was signed by Swiss ambassador to Laos Ivo Sieber in the presence of Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Kikeo Chanthaboury as well as senior officials from the Department of International Cooperation and Swiss Development Cooperation in Laos.

According to a statement from the ministry, the Vientiane Partnership Declaration is a vital tool to ensure greater development results in Laos and will help the nation to graduate from Least Developed Country status by 2020, including an effective implementation of the post 2015 development agenda-Sustainable Development Goals.

This Vientiane Declaration builds on the five principles of the 2006 Vientiane Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and adds three new principles to help ensure all funds and other forms of development assistance bring about increased impact. It calls for new, broader and smarter partnerships for results. The three new principles include domestic resource mobilisation; South-South cooperation, triangular cooperation and knowledge transfer; and the private sector as a development partner.

The Vientiane Declaration on Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation does not constitute a legally binding instrument, yet represents a shared aspiration and recognition between the government and the diverse partners on how development work is managed in the country for the next 10 years for better and more sustainable development results.

The government said they are grateful to both the national stakeholders and development partners through the Vientiane Declaration Secretariat who have contributed to the substance of the Declaration. As such, a high quality Declaration was finalised and formally launched during the 12th High Level Round Table Meeting with a number of signatories.

A formal and symbolic signing of the Vientiane Declaration on Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Sleumxay Kommasith and the United Nations Resident Coordinator/United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative Kaarina Immonen (on behalf of development partners and other stakeholders) at the 12th High Level Round Table Meeting organised in Vientiane on November 27 last year.