Khamtay Siphandone
President

(pronounced "KAM-tie SEE-pan-don")

"We must put a stop to exploitive business practices, such as indiscriminate logging of our forests."

The Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is a landlocked nation, which lies between Vietnam and Thailand and also borders Cambodia, China, and Myanmar. With an estimated area of 236,000 sq km (91,120 sq mi), Laos is made up of 89% mountainous terrain and dominated by tropical forests and jungles.

The population of 5.8 million people (2002 estimate) is comprised of three major ethnic groups: 63.4% Lao-Lum (valley lowland Lao), 23.8% Lao Theung (Lao living on mountain slopes), and 10.1% Lao-Sung (mountaintop Lao). Approximately 65% of the Lao people are Buddhist, and 33% are animists. The national language is Lao, while some older government officials still speak French. Other officials may speak English or languages such as Russian, Vietnamese, German, or Czech.

The unit of currency is the kip. The...