The Council of  Ministers on Friday approved a sub-decree requiring tour guides to obtain licenses from the government in an effort to regulate and improve quality of service in the tourism sector. The sub-decree aims “to define the procedure to manage tourist guides,”and requires current ...

The Health Ministry has asked people to be careful when purchasing rice wine for Chinese New Year to avoid negative health effects following two deaths and more than ten cases of poisoning from rice wine consumption in 2017.Chinese New Year takes place next week from ...

U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to revive plans for the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline could spur Thai energy giant PTT to resume development of an oil sands project in the Canadian province of Alberta, the state-owned company’s chief executive said Wednesday. Just after taking ...

The central bank released its first-ever national study yesterday on perceptions and usage of the riel and foreign currencies in Cambodia, which aimed at not only understanding existing trends, but also at steering future financial legislation to boost the circulation of Cambodia’s national currency. ...

With 54 different ethnic groups coexisting, Vietnam is a multiethnic nation. Kinh people, the majority, who comprise 82 million people or 85.4% of the country’s population, and the remaining 53 groups of – ethnic minority (EM) people make up the remaining 14.12 million, or 14.6%.1 ...

An explosion at a military hospital in Bangkok on the third anniversary of the ruling junta underscored Thailand’s delicate political situation ahead of the first full-fledged election in seven years. The kingdom’s two largest political forces have remained deeply split since the coup that brought ...

Nineteen onshore blocks have been delineated for possible oil exploration. Contracts have been awarded for three. No oil is currently extracted in Cambodia. ...

United Nations human rights expert Maina Kiai on Wednesday urged Cambodia to reject a draft law that would allow authorities to shut down and criminalize any group advocating for human rights, basic freedoms and good governance, saying it is not too late to reverse the ...

Down a back alley in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov neighbourhood, a handful of men and women are ushered into a non-descript house filled with a row of wooden beds. Many appear nervous. A mother and child are asleep on one of the beds, where they ...

While China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been in the news for a while – thanks mainly to negative reporting by the western media – Japan is slowly funding the building of supplementary trade corridors in the Mekong region projecting itself as not only ...

VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN) – The new Lao Cassava Association (LCA) will not only promote cassava business units in Laos, but also create a business-friendly environment for them to survive and thrive in this competitive economy.The official launch ceremony of the new association took place yesterday ...

The government’s National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) fails to meet regularly and is void of an annual budget to cover its operations while most of its staff members are totally unaware of their job description, according to a report released in March and funded ...

Kompong Thom provincial authorities have threatened to shut down two NGOs who have been providing free legal education to poor villagers in the province, accusing the groups of fomenting rural unrest against private investors. The NGOs, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights and the Natural ...

Lao officials and international researchers met in Vientiane on 10 May to discuss how agricultural research can best be aligned with the priorities laid out in key government documents. According to a document released at the meeting, the ministry’s strategic direction targets food and nutrition security, ...

Provincial authorities in Koh Kong province have barred a group of law students from conducting a two-day training course on human rights and democracy, citing a controversial law passed earlier this year. ...

A mining delegation from Cambodia has left for a fact-finding tour of Australia in a bid to glean knowledge from one of the world’s largest minerals exploration countries. The trip is being coordinated by the International Mining for Development Centre of the Western Australia state government. The ...

A high percentage of the Covid-19 vaccinated population, and the new investment law put into force last year have helped increase the number of new investment projects in Cambodia. ...

The Immigration Bureau plans to fine and blacklist foreigners who overstay their visas from March or April next year. Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Nathathorn Prausoontorn said on 9 December that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had approved the bureau’s proposal on Nov 27 to fine and ban ...

VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN) – China Southern Power Grid (CSG) and Electricite du Laos (EDL) have teamed up to supply power for the China-Laos railway with a ceremony held in Vientiane last week to announce the joint venture.The new venture is officially known as the Laos-China ...

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have brought almost 70,000 new jobs to the country, according to an Asian Development Bank report released last week. With tax exemptions on production materials, lower profit tax, and renewable leases, the SEZs have drawn foreign-owned factories manufacturing everything from bicycles ...