Laos has become the first country from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to ratify the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

The ratification by Laos and 28 other countries of the agreement was announced on September 21 at the UN Headquarters in New York hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Saleumxay Kommasith witnessed the event in New York, according to the Press Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday.

The objective of the event was to give 31 countries deposit their instruments of ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as well as stimulating countries that had not yet signed and ratified to consider signing and ratifying the Agreement.

For Laos, Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith deposited an instrument of ratification of the agreement with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the occasion of his attendance at the 8^th ASEAN-United Nations Summit held in Vientiane on September 7, 2016.

During the event, representatives of the 29 countries that have already ratified the agreement posted for a group photo with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Following the group photo, another 31 countries deposited their instruments of ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The 31 countries included Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Dominica, Ghana, Guinea, Honduras, Iceland, Kiribati, Madagascar, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Senegal, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Thailand, Tonga, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, and Vanuatu.

The Paris Climate Agreement aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the rise in global temperatures this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change.

To date, 185 countries have signed the agreement and 60 countries, representing 47.7% of global emissions, have now formally joined the Paris Agreement.

The agreement will enter into force 30 days after 55 countries that account for at least 55% of global emissions have deposited their instruments of ratification. 

Countries that announced their commitment to join the Agreement in 2016 include Austria, Australia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, the European Union, France, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Poland, and the Republic of Korea.

Ambassador of USA to Lao PDR , Mr. Daniel A. Clune, on September 14 paid to Minister Foreign Affairs Saleumxay Kommasith to bid farewell on the occasion of the end of his diplomatic mission in the Lao PDR.

    US President Barack Obama on Sept 8 in Vientiane Capital met with Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith to discuss the rapidly growing relationship between the U.S. and the Lao PDR.

The discussion took place during his attendance at the 28^thand 29^thASEAN Summits in Laos from Sept 6-8.