Aid and development
Bilateral development assistance
Chinese-built bridge opens in Phnom Penh
A new Chinese-built bridge in Cambodia’s capital opened for public use on 22 October, having taken about three years to complete at a cost of $27.5 million. Keep reading ...
YCDC searches for more water as households run dry
Only 60 percent of Yangon’s water needs are being met, officials say. The Yangon City Development Committee is hunting for fresh sources, even as work proceeds to fix leaky pipes that lose half the water they are supposed to carry. The search for water security is part ...
Cambodian Minister, South Korean official meet over aid, university
Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong met with South Korea’s deputy minister for political affairs on 14 October to offer his gratitude for a $35 million university that South Korea has pledged to build in Cambodia, an official said. Keep reading ...
US and Laos host Mekong disaster response initiative
The government of Laos, in partnership with the United States, recently hosted the Lower Mekong Initiative Disaster Relief Exercise and Exchange in Vientiane. The exercise and exchange is an annual initiative between the governments of Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States. Each year ...
South Korea to fund Laos–Vietnam railway feasibility study
Vietnam’s transport ministry and the Korea International Co-operation Agency (KOICA) have agreed to study the feasibility of a 500 km-long railway link from Laos’ Vientiane to Vung Ang in central Ha Tinh Province of Vietnam. The study will be conducted with a $US3-million ODA grant from KOICA for ...
25 bridges to be built in Vietnam with JICA loans
The Vietnamese Prime Minister has approved the construction of 25 bridges with the second transport sector loan for the national road network improvement project. The bridges’ total investment is about VND1.686 trillion ($75 million), funded by the Japan International Co-operation Agency ODA loans. Keep reading ...
Lower Mekong nations collaborate on flood response during exercise in Laos
Dealing with and attempting to mitigate disaster scenarios is why experts, both military and civilian, from six nations were in the capital of Laos participating in the 2015 Lower Mekong Initiative Disaster Relief Exercise and Exchange. The LMI DREE is an annual civil-military disaster preparedness and ...
Japan pledges patrol vessels, loans to Vietnam
Japan pledges to provide Vietnam with 200 million yen (US$1.6 million) in non-refundable aid to buy Japanese used patrol ships for its maritime safety in the 2015 fiscal year, according to a joint statement issued on 15 September following Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s ...
Japan pledges 100bn yen in loans for Vietnam
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged on 15 September that his country will extend 100 billion yen ($835 million) in loans for Vietnam to boost the Southeast Asian economy’s infrastructural development, as Tokyo and Hanoi aim to strengthen ties on the economic and security fronts. Keep reading ...
Korea extends support to Laos for ASEAN integration
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) will provide more than US$13 million (more than 104 billion kip) in assistance to Laos next year in various sectors of development. KOICA President Kim Young-Mok announced the support when he paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong ...