BASIC FACTS

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic is located in southeast Asia and borders Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the southwest. Laos is a one-party socialist republic that gained its independence in 1949. 

Capital: Vientiane

Laos does not possess any nuclear power plants, research reactors, or other nuclear facilities.

TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

• Joined the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1964
• Signed Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968
• Ratified in 1970
• Acceded to the 1925 Geneva Protocol in 1989
• Signed the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963
  • Ratified in 1965
• Signed the Sea-bed Treaty in 1971
  • Ratified in 1971
• Signed the Convention on Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD) in 1978
  • Ratified in 1978
• Signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1993
  • Ratified in 1997
• Signed Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1972
• Ratified in 1973
• Signed Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1997
• Ratified in 2000
• Signed the Outer Space Treaty in 1967
• Ratified in 1972
• Signed the Bangkok Treaty in 1995
  • Ratified in 1996
• Acceded to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in 1983
• Signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008
  • Ratified in 2009
• Acceded to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials (CPPNM) in 2010
• Signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in 2017
• Ratified in 2019

REGIONAL GROUPS

• Member of the G-77
• Member of the Asia-Pacific Group
• Member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

LINKS

Permanent Mission of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic to the United Nations

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of LAO PDR

UN State Summary

Ratification of Treaties & Membership in International Organizations Related to Disarmament