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Lynda Worthaisong | |
|---|---|
 Worthaisong in 2008 | |
| Australian Ambassador to Laos | |
| In office 2011–2014 | |
Lynda Worthaisong is an Australian diplomat who served as Ambassador to Laos [1] from 2011 to 2014. [2] [3] [4] As of 2021 [update] she serves as assistant secretary for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on the Myanmar Taskforce. [5] [6]
Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia. At the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula, Laos is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and southwest. Its capital and largest city is Vientiane.
The economy of Laos is a lower-middle income developing economy. Being one of the socialist states, the Lao economic model resembles the Chinese socialist market and/or Vietnamese socialist-oriented market economies by combining high degrees of state ownership with an openness to foreign direct investment and private ownership in a predominantly market-based framework.
The foreign relations of Laos, internationally designated by its official name as the Lao People's Democratic Republic, after the takeover by the Pathet Lao in December 1975, were characterized by a hostile posture toward the West, with the government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic aligning itself with the Soviet bloc, maintaining close ties with the Soviet Union and depending heavily on the Soviets for most of its foreign assistance. Laos also maintained a "special relationship" with Vietnam and formalized a 1977 treaty of friendship and cooperation that created tensions with China.
The situation of human rights in Laos has often been, and remains, a recognized cause for serious concern. Laos is one of a handful of Marxist-Leninist governments and is ruled by a one-party communist government backed by the Lao People's Army in alliance with the Vietnam People's Army and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi.
Visitors to Laos must obtain a visa from one of the Laotian diplomatic missions or online unless they come from one of the visa exempt countries or qualify for visa on arrival. All visitors must hold a passport valid for 6 months.
Pany Yathotou is a Laotian politician and member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party.
The ambassador and permanent representative of Australia to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the head of the delegation of the Commonwealth of Australia to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France. The position has the rank and status of an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and has been sent since Australia, represented by Deputy Prime Minister Doug Anthony and Ambassador to France Alan Renouf, acceded to the OECD on 7 June 1971. The delegation to the OECD is based with the Australian Embassy in Paris and the Ambassador has resided in the Embassy since its opening in 1978.
Saleumxay Kommasith is a Laotian politician who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs of Laos since April 2016. He is one of 13 members of 11th Politburo of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party.
Bronte Moules is a senior career officer with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and was Ambassador to Zimbabwe, having previously served as Deputy High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea. Moules also had responsibility for Malawi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, and Zambia. She became Ambassador to Myanmar effective January 2011.
Thongsavanh Phomvihane is a Laotian politician and member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP). He currently serves as Head of the LPRP Central Committee External Relations Committee, and is a member of the 11th Central Committee.
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