Kanni Wignaraja is U.N. assistant secretary-general and director of the U.N. Development Program's Asia and the Pacific bureau. Ricarda Rieger is UNDP's resident representative in Laos.
This past June, Vientiane almost came to a standstill. Fuel shortages stunted traffic and long lines formed at gas stations around the Laotian capital as motorists waited patiently to fuel up.
