Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, Matthew P. Daley, discusses U.S.-Laos cooperation and the benefits of NTR, in part two of an exclusive interview with VOA.
Mr. Daley says the U.S. is satisfied with the cooperation it has received from Laos in the areas of POW/MIA's and counter-narcotics, and hopes to build on it and make it better.
He says the U.S. thinks there is a very real danger of methamphetamine labs being moved into Laos and hopes the Lao authorities would pay full attention to it.
On NTR, he says both sides stand to gain, and that NTR will benefit the Lao economy and the people of Laos by increasing economic prosperity. It will also benefit the U.S. because with NTR comes greater openess, greater transparency, greater adherence to the rule of law, and because of those things, greater respect for human rights and human dignity in Laos.
Learn more about U.S. policy toward Laos on these issues and others in the second part of our exclusive interview with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew P. Daley.