Vientiane – Ms. Shareen Tuladhar, the newly-designated Chief of Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, presented the Letter of Credence today (11 February) to H.E. Mr. Thongphane Savanphet, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ms. Tuladhar, who was designated by IOM Director General Mr. António Vitorino on 15 June 2020, has since focused on the reinforcement of IOM’s mandate – humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all. Under her leadership, the growing IOM mission sets to continue efforts for safe migration in various thematic areas, including COVID-19 response, labour migration, counter Trafficking in Persons (TIP), migrant protection and assistance and immigration and border management.

As a mobility hotspot sharing borders with five countries, safe and orderly migration governance remains a high priority to Lao People’s Democratic Republic, a member state of IOM since 2018. As enshrined in the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), IOM sets to support the Lao Government in maximizing benefits brought by migration to facilitate socio-economic development of the nation and achieve the 2030 Agenda.

Working with IOM in different capacities since 2015, Ms. Tuladhar has served as a Program Manager at IOM Maldives and as a Head of the Migrant Protection and Assistance Unit at IOM Azerbaijan before her current assignment.

Ms. Tuladhar also served as a National Expert on a mid-term evaluation of a United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded TIP project, while actively leading several types of research on labour migration, TIP and public health in Nepal. Having served as a Program Manager for five years at the Nepal Office of the Asia Foundation, she holds a diverse portfolio of managing TIP and safe migration efforts.

A national of Nepal, Ms. Tuladhar holds a Master in International Business from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, with an emphasis on economics. She speaks English, Nepali and Hindi.

For more information, please contact Suhyun PARK at IOM Vientiane. Tel. + 856 (0)55 136 294. Email: spark@iom.int