Cuban sugar to sweeten meals of Lao students

areas of southern and northern Laos.
Providing these snacks is part of the World Food Programme’s  school meals initiative.
Currently, more than 200 000 pre-primary and primary school children in impoverished remote villages benefit from this programme.
These snacks are especially important as they help improve child nutrition while promoting education in poor rural areas.
The contribution benefits Lao children by “giving them energy to concentrate on their studies today, to have more opportunities in the future and so to break the inter-generational cycle of poverty”, said Bouapao.
At the handover ceremony, Bouapao and WFP Laos Representative Eri Kudo thanked Cuba for the contribution.
The donation was made possible by the assistance of an anonymous Japanese citizen who financed the transportation and packaging of the sugar.
“It will make a remarkable impact for those Lao school children who benefit from the morning snack of the school feeding programme”, Bouapao said.
“The donation is not only supporting education for those disadvantaged school children but will further strengthen the co-operative relationship between the two countries.”
Laos is overcoming some challenging development issues, many of which have been confronted by developing Latin American countries, such as Cuba. Laos and Cuba have a long history of close relations.
The first Cuban aid to Laos came during the Lao civil war, when it provided staff and equipment for a hospital. — Xinhua.