Rural Transport, Poverty Reduction and Livelihood Improvement in the Lao PDR

This is a background document for participants of the National Workshop on Rural Transport, Poverty Reduction and Livelihoods held by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Forum for Rural Transport and Development (IFRTD) and Southeast Asia Community Access Programme (SEACAP) in September 2008. The objective of the workshop and document is to explore how rural transport as a sub-sector has and can contribute to poverty reduction in the Lao PDR in line with the National Growth and Poverty Eradication Strategy (NGPES, 2003) and thereby contribute to Laos’ progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) and moving out of the list of Least Developed Countries (LDC’s) by 2020