On 24^th May, 2022 Mrs. Ureerat Chareontoh, Director-General of Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand and Mr. Bounthavy Saiyaphet, Director-General of the Department of Organization and Personnel (DOP), Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Lao PDR, co-chaired the Project Steering Committee Meeting (PSC Meeting) for the “Project on Capacity Building in Fisheries for Champasak Agriculture and Forestry College, Lao PDR” at Champasak Agriculture and Forestry College, Champasak Province. The meeting was updated on the progress of the project implementation during 2020 – 2022.  The Meeting also considered guidelines for activities of the remaining projects and recommendations to ease various challenges to enable the completion of all projects as planned. On this occasion, TICA Director-General has introduced 2 Thai volunteers under the so-called ‘Friends from Thailand’ (FFT) Project to help support the implementation of the Project in Champasak.   

The Project on Capacity Building in Fisheries for Champasak Agriculture and Forestry College, Lao PDR, has been carried out continuously under the 3-year Development Cooperation Plan (2020 – 2022) between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic in the fields of education and sports. The Project will help build capacity of college personnel and improve teaching in fisheries and aquaculture as well as upgrade the laboratory facilities of the “Aquaculture Learning Center” for practical training of fishery students. Key 5 activities under this Project consist of (1) Preparation of course details and course administration (2) Capacity building of teacher in the Fisheries Department (3) Provision of essential laboratory equipment and teaching management (4) Construction of groundwater systems, aquaculture nursery and soil ponds (construction of an aquaculture learning center) and (5) Monitoring and Evaluation which most of the main project activities are almost finished.

At this PSC meeting, both sides agreed to expedite the completion of remaining activities by December 2022 in accordance with the action plan. The next PSC Meeting will be held once all activities are completed and will hand over the project to the Lao side for further future activities