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The meeting was held on July 16, 2018 in the meeting room of the Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office (PAFO) in Saravan Province. It was organized by the Department of Agriculture Land Management (DALaM) in Vientiane, which is responsible for Component 2 of the SAMIS project, and by the PAFO of Saravan province.

The objective of this meeting was twofold. Firstly, the overall status of the project and procedure of Land Utilization Type mapping was presented. This part of the presentation allowed all informed and concerned sectors to understand and acknowledge the outcomes of the SAMIS project. Secondly, the meeting allowed for discussion and the sharing of opinions about Land Utilization Type mapping and its factors in Saravan Province. The results of this discussion will maintain direction for the long-term simulation that is the objective of the SAMIS project.

This consultation meeting was co-chaired by the Director General of the DALaM, Mr. Khamphone Rasachack, and the Deputy Director General of the PAFO, Mr. Konglae Voravong.  Forty-five people attended the meeting from the DAFO of eight districts and other relevant sectors. During the group discussion, all participants offered suggestions, opinions and concerns and shared their own experiences based on their high level technical capacity in their respective fields. All questions asked by the participants were clarified by the project team. Finally, data collection forms were completed by the experts and subdivided into groups per district. This included the identification of crop locations so that each group could record each crop and its approximate boundary on the map.

Finally, joint chair of the meeting Mr. Khamphone Rasachack concluded by expressing support for the team to continue producing results and requesting local level support and collaboration for the future in regards to the developing of LUT in Saravan Province, and urged them to ensure that this activity will be successful and achieve its expected outcomes.