From 14 October, Lao designers and businesses will be able to protect the look of their products in multiple countries through a single application submitted to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), instead of filing separate applications in every country where they want protection.
The change works both ways. Foreign companies using WIPO’s Hague System will also be able to include Laos in the same application, making it easier to protect their product designs when doing business in the country.
Laos formally joined the system on 14 July by signing the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement. Once it takes effect in October, Laos will become the 79th member of the treaty, extending the Hague System’s reach to 102 countries.
What Does This Actually Protect?
The Hague System protects industrial designs; what a product looks like.
That could be the shape of a bottle, the pattern on a textile, the design of a chair, the packaging of a product, or even the appearance of a phone case.
Until now, a Lao company that wanted to protect the design of one product in several countries usually had to submit separate applications under different legal systems and often in different languages.
The Hague System simplifies that process. Businesses can file one application through WIPO, pay one set of fees, and request protection in multiple countries at the same time. A single application can even cover up to 100 designs within the same product category.
Time& Calendars
For Lao businesses, especially those exporting handicrafts, furniture, textiles, consumer goods, and other design-based products, the new system could reduce both costs and paperwork when protecting their designs overseas.
It could also make Laos more attractive to foreign investors and manufacturers by giving them a simpler way to secure design rights when entering the Lao market.
Part of Wider Intellectual Property Reforms
Joining the Hague System is only one part of Laos’ broader effort to modernize its intellectual property laws.
In late 2025, the government introduced a new Patent and Petty Patent Decision that updated several procedures without overhauling the entire patent system.
One of the biggest changes was that foreign applicants without a registered address in Laos must work through authorized local intellectual property agents when filing patent applications. The rules also brought the patent system into the digital age by recognising inventions that have already been disclosed in both printed publications and online sources when deciding whether an invention is genuinely new.
The reforms also allows anyone to ask the Department of Intellectual Property to carry out a patent search to check whether an invention has already been registered.
Laos has steadily expanded its participation in international intellectual property agreements over the past three decades. It joined WIPO in 1995, became a member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty in 2006, joined the Madrid System for international trademark registration in 2015, and acceded to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on geographical indications in 2020.
By joining the Hague System, Laos has added another international tool that makes it easier for businesses to protect their ideas and designs while strengthening the country’s legal framework for trade, investment, and innovation.
https://www.tourismlaos.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/5-2.jpg600900Soutsada Xaphouvonghttps://www.tourismlaos.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Lao-Simply-Beautiful-.webpSoutsada Xaphouvong2026-07-21 09:06:002026-07-16 11:11:12Laos Opens New Route for Businesses to Protect Product Designs Abroad
Laos has strengthened its regional ties after formally confirming its status as a Dialogue Partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), signing an agreement with the organization in Beijing on 10 July.
The agreement puts into effect a decision made by SCO leaders during their summit in Tianjin, China, on 1 September 2025, when Laos was admitted as a Dialogue Partner.
Demographics
Although Dialogue Partners are not full members of the organization, they can take part in selected meetings, cooperation programs, and sector-specific initiatives alongside SCO member states.
According to Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs Thongsavanh Phomvihane, the new status will allow Laos to expand cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, transport, tourism, digital transformation, economic development, and sustainable development.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Thongsavanh described the agreement as an important milestone in relations between Laos and the SCO. He said the government remains committed to strengthening cooperation through the organization’s various mechanisms and programs.
He also highlighted digital transformation as one of Laos’ key development priorities and said the country looks forward to working more closely with SCO members in that field and other areas of mutual interest.
Supporting Regional Connectivity
The partnership aims to strengthen Laos’ ambition of becoming a regional transport and logistics hub by supporting its long-term goal of transforming from a landlocked country into a land-linked one.
History
During the meeting, both sides noted that Laos serves as an important link between China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. They also highlighted the China-Laos Railway as a growing gateway for regional trade and connectivity.
Officials said the new partnership could help Laos deepen cooperation with countries across Central Asia, South Asia, and Eurasia while creating new opportunities for trade, investment, and logistics.
Founded in 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization now has 10 member states, two observer states, and 15 Dialogue Partners, including Laos.
Born into one of Laos’ most powerful royal families, former President Souphanouvong could have lived a life of comfort under French colonial rule. Instead, he became the key figure of the country’s communist revolution from the late 50s and, eventually, its first president in 1975.
Laos marked the 117th anniversary of his birth on 13 July, with President Thongloun Sisoulith laying flowers at his statue in Luang Prabang and officials paying tribute nationwide. Yet, the ceremony is the latest reminder of how a French-trained engineer became the “Red Prince” who helped end one of Southeast Asia’s last monarchies.
ExecutiveBranch
Born a Prince, Raised Apart
Souphanouvong was born 13 July 1909, at the Sisouvanna Palace in Xieng Dong, Luang Prabang, one of the sons of Prince Bounkhong, the last viceroy of Luang Prabang. But his position within the royal family was always unusual. Unlike his half-brothers Souvanna Phouma and Phetsarath Ratanavongsa, whose mothers held royal status, Souphanouvong’s mother, Mom Kham Ouane, was a commoner.
This marked the beginning of one of the biggest political rivalries in modern Lao history. Souphanouvong became one of the “Three Princes,” alongside Souvanna Phouma and Prince Boun Oum of Champasak.
Each represented a different political path, reflecting the old divisions that remained after the Lan Xang Kingdom broke apart into the kingdoms of Luang Prabang, Vientiane, and Champasak in the early 1700s. Boun Oum stood with the royalists, Souvanna Phouma tried to keep Laos neutral, while Souphanouvong became the leader of the armed revolutionary movement.
An Engineer Radicalized by Empire
Nothing in Souphanouvong’s early life suggested he would become a revolutionary leader. He first studied at the Lycée Albert Sarraut in Hanoi before going to Paris to study civil engineering at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées. After graduating in 1937, he returned to French Indochina and spent nearly ten years building roads and bridges in central Vietnam and Laos, including the Xe Bang Hiang Bridge in Savannakhet Province.
SoutheastAsians & Pacific Islanders
According to Lao historical accounts, it was this work that changed his outlook. As he traveled across then-French Indochina and worked within the colonial administration, he saw firsthand how local people were treated under the colonial rule.
Those experiences are widely believed to have influenced his decision to leave engineering behind and join the struggle against the colonizers. By 1945, as Japan’s occupation came to an end and France sought to regain control of Indochina, Souphanouvong had joined the Pathetlao movement, the communist-aligned resistance group that he helped establish and lead.
Thirty Years Underground and in Exile
What followed was three decades of clandestine run.
Souphanouvong spent much of the next thirty years fighting a war fought on multiple fronts at once: against French colonial forces, then against the U.S.-backed Royal Lao Government, often in coordination with North Vietnamese forces during the wider Indochina wars.
His own half-brother, Souvanna Phouma, would serve repeatedly as prime minister of the government Souphanouvong’s movement was trying to overthrow.
History
The Pathetlao’s fortunes shifted permanently in 1975, as communist forces swept through Vietnam and Cambodia. Laos followed the same trajectory. The monarchy fell, and on 2 December 1975, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) was proclaimed. Souphanouvong became the new republic’s first president.
He held the office in an active capacity from December 1975 until October 1986, when declining health forced him to step back.
Rather than formally resign, Souphanouvong retained the presidential title for another five years while Phoumi Vongvichit governed as acting president in his place. That arrangement that lasted until August 1991, when Kaysone Phomvihane, the country’s first prime minister, was installed as the officially elected second president under a new constitution.
Souphanouvong died in Vientiane on 9 January 1995, of heart disease, at age 85. The government declared five days of national mourning.
Today the country celebrate his birth anniversary with ceremonies, floral tributes, and official commemorations honoring his role in the revolutionary struggle and the founding of the Lao PDR.
https://www.tourismlaos.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/745940994_1637781985017720_3965102628325817084_n-e1783931400123.jpg418600Soutsada Xaphouvonghttps://www.tourismlaos.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Lao-Simply-Beautiful-.webpSoutsada Xaphouvong2026-07-17 09:14:002026-07-15 15:44:55The Red Prince: How Souphanouvong Traded Royal Privilege for Revolution
Laos Opens New Route for Businesses to Protect Product Designs Abroad
From 14 October, Lao designers and businesses will be able to protect the look of their products in multiple countries through a single application submitted to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), instead of filing separate applications in every country where they want protection.
The change works both ways. Foreign companies using WIPO’s Hague System will also be able to include Laos in the same application, making it easier to protect their product designs when doing business in the country.
Laos formally joined the system on 14 July by signing the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement. Once it takes effect in October, Laos will become the 79th member of the treaty, extending the Hague System’s reach to 102 countries.
What Does This Actually Protect?
The Hague System protects industrial designs; what a product looks like.
That could be the shape of a bottle, the pattern on a textile, the design of a chair, the packaging of a product, or even the appearance of a phone case.
Until now, a Lao company that wanted to protect the design of one product in several countries usually had to submit separate applications under different legal systems and often in different languages.
The Hague System simplifies that process. Businesses can file one application through WIPO, pay one set of fees, and request protection in multiple countries at the same time. A single application can even cover up to 100 designs within the same product category.
Time& Calendars
For Lao businesses, especially those exporting handicrafts, furniture, textiles, consumer goods, and other design-based products, the new system could reduce both costs and paperwork when protecting their designs overseas.
It could also make Laos more attractive to foreign investors and manufacturers by giving them a simpler way to secure design rights when entering the Lao market.
Part of Wider Intellectual Property Reforms
Joining the Hague System is only one part of Laos’ broader effort to modernize its intellectual property laws.
In late 2025, the government introduced a new Patent and Petty Patent Decision that updated several procedures without overhauling the entire patent system.
One of the biggest changes was that foreign applicants without a registered address in Laos must work through authorized local intellectual property agents when filing patent applications. The rules also brought the patent system into the digital age by recognising inventions that have already been disclosed in both printed publications and online sources when deciding whether an invention is genuinely new.
The reforms also allows anyone to ask the Department of Intellectual Property to carry out a patent search to check whether an invention has already been registered.
Laos has steadily expanded its participation in international intellectual property agreements over the past three decades. It joined WIPO in 1995, became a member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty in 2006, joined the Madrid System for international trademark registration in 2015, and acceded to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on geographical indications in 2020.
By joining the Hague System, Laos has added another international tool that makes it easier for businesses to protect their ideas and designs while strengthening the country’s legal framework for trade, investment, and innovation.
source: https://laotiantimes.com/2026/07/15/laos-opens-new-route-for-businesses-to-protect-product-designs-abroad/
Laos Formalizes Shanghai Cooperation Organization Dialogue Partner Status
Laos has strengthened its regional ties after formally confirming its status as a Dialogue Partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), signing an agreement with the organization in Beijing on 10 July.
The agreement puts into effect a decision made by SCO leaders during their summit in Tianjin, China, on 1 September 2025, when Laos was admitted as a Dialogue Partner.
Demographics
Although Dialogue Partners are not full members of the organization, they can take part in selected meetings, cooperation programs, and sector-specific initiatives alongside SCO member states.
According to Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs Thongsavanh Phomvihane, the new status will allow Laos to expand cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, transport, tourism, digital transformation, economic development, and sustainable development.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Thongsavanh described the agreement as an important milestone in relations between Laos and the SCO. He said the government remains committed to strengthening cooperation through the organization’s various mechanisms and programs.
He also highlighted digital transformation as one of Laos’ key development priorities and said the country looks forward to working more closely with SCO members in that field and other areas of mutual interest.
Supporting Regional Connectivity
The partnership aims to strengthen Laos’ ambition of becoming a regional transport and logistics hub by supporting its long-term goal of transforming from a landlocked country into a land-linked one.
History
During the meeting, both sides noted that Laos serves as an important link between China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. They also highlighted the China-Laos Railway as a growing gateway for regional trade and connectivity.
Officials said the new partnership could help Laos deepen cooperation with countries across Central Asia, South Asia, and Eurasia while creating new opportunities for trade, investment, and logistics.
Founded in 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization now has 10 member states, two observer states, and 15 Dialogue Partners, including Laos.
source: https://laotiantimes.com/2026/07/13/laos-formalizes-shanghai-cooperation-organization-dialogue-partner-status/
The Red Prince: How Souphanouvong Traded Royal Privilege for Revolution
Born into one of Laos’ most powerful royal families, former President Souphanouvong could have lived a life of comfort under French colonial rule. Instead, he became the key figure of the country’s communist revolution from the late 50s and, eventually, its first president in 1975.
Laos marked the 117th anniversary of his birth on 13 July, with President Thongloun Sisoulith laying flowers at his statue in Luang Prabang and officials paying tribute nationwide. Yet, the ceremony is the latest reminder of how a French-trained engineer became the “Red Prince” who helped end one of Southeast Asia’s last monarchies.
ExecutiveBranch
Born a Prince, Raised Apart
Souphanouvong was born 13 July 1909, at the Sisouvanna Palace in Xieng Dong, Luang Prabang, one of the sons of Prince Bounkhong, the last viceroy of Luang Prabang. But his position within the royal family was always unusual. Unlike his half-brothers Souvanna Phouma and Phetsarath Ratanavongsa, whose mothers held royal status, Souphanouvong’s mother, Mom Kham Ouane, was a commoner.
This marked the beginning of one of the biggest political rivalries in modern Lao history. Souphanouvong became one of the “Three Princes,” alongside Souvanna Phouma and Prince Boun Oum of Champasak.
Each represented a different political path, reflecting the old divisions that remained after the Lan Xang Kingdom broke apart into the kingdoms of Luang Prabang, Vientiane, and Champasak in the early 1700s. Boun Oum stood with the royalists, Souvanna Phouma tried to keep Laos neutral, while Souphanouvong became the leader of the armed revolutionary movement.
An Engineer Radicalized by Empire
Nothing in Souphanouvong’s early life suggested he would become a revolutionary leader. He first studied at the Lycée Albert Sarraut in Hanoi before going to Paris to study civil engineering at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées. After graduating in 1937, he returned to French Indochina and spent nearly ten years building roads and bridges in central Vietnam and Laos, including the Xe Bang Hiang Bridge in Savannakhet Province.
SoutheastAsians & Pacific Islanders
According to Lao historical accounts, it was this work that changed his outlook. As he traveled across then-French Indochina and worked within the colonial administration, he saw firsthand how local people were treated under the colonial rule.
Those experiences are widely believed to have influenced his decision to leave engineering behind and join the struggle against the colonizers. By 1945, as Japan’s occupation came to an end and France sought to regain control of Indochina, Souphanouvong had joined the Pathetlao movement, the communist-aligned resistance group that he helped establish and lead.
Thirty Years Underground and in Exile
What followed was three decades of clandestine run.
Souphanouvong spent much of the next thirty years fighting a war fought on multiple fronts at once: against French colonial forces, then against the U.S.-backed Royal Lao Government, often in coordination with North Vietnamese forces during the wider Indochina wars.
His own half-brother, Souvanna Phouma, would serve repeatedly as prime minister of the government Souphanouvong’s movement was trying to overthrow.
History
The Pathetlao’s fortunes shifted permanently in 1975, as communist forces swept through Vietnam and Cambodia. Laos followed the same trajectory. The monarchy fell, and on 2 December 1975, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) was proclaimed. Souphanouvong became the new republic’s first president.
He held the office in an active capacity from December 1975 until October 1986, when declining health forced him to step back.
Rather than formally resign, Souphanouvong retained the presidential title for another five years while Phoumi Vongvichit governed as acting president in his place. That arrangement that lasted until August 1991, when Kaysone Phomvihane, the country’s first prime minister, was installed as the officially elected second president under a new constitution.
Souphanouvong died in Vientiane on 9 January 1995, of heart disease, at age 85. The government declared five days of national mourning.
Today the country celebrate his birth anniversary with ceremonies, floral tributes, and official commemorations honoring his role in the revolutionary struggle and the founding of the Lao PDR.
Politics
source: https://laotiantimes.com/2026/07/13/the-red-prince-how-souphanouvong-traded-royal-privilege-for-revolution/