Aid and development
Multilateral development assistance
Remaining Montagnards not refugees, ministry says
Less than a month after the government announced that more than 170 Montagnard asylum seekers would have their refugee applications processed, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on 10 February that the group had not met the criteria for refugee status and would be returned to Vietnam. However, ...
New university to link up to SE Asian economic corridor
A new research university at Savannakhet – Laos’ second-largest city – in the western region is being built with loans and funding of up to US$40 million from the Asian Development Bank, or ADB, to provide skilled graduates for the region’s ‘economic corridor’ that runs ...
Boeung Kak protesters pelt World Bank office with eggs
Villagers evicted by the development of Boeung Kak lake took their protest to the World Bank headquarters in Phnom Penh on 1 February, demanding to meet with the bank’s Cambodia country manager, Alassane Sow, and pelting the building with eggs after being rebuffed. Keep reading ...
“Myanmar is still the third-most malnourished country in Southeast Asia"
The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) in Myanmar is facing a funding shortfall of $51 million to meet all the needs till the end of 2016. The organisation, which has a 250-strong staff in the country, says it provided food and cash assistance to ...
ADB keen to support megaprojects
The Thai government’s megaproject investment is likely to use domestic lending sources in the initial phase with foreign lenders joining in the later stage, says the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Based on discussions with the Finance Ministry, Yasushi Negishi, the country director for the ADB’s Thailand ...
UN pressures Thai Government on 82 disappeared
The government has been active in dealing with enforced disappearances, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee said on 7 January. Mr Sek’s comments came after the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on 6 January urged the government to step up efforts to investigate the whereabouts of 82 ...
Development partners advise on path to success
The government needs to invest more in education, skill development, health and other basic aspects of development to ensure that Laos graduates from Least Developed Country status. Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Ms Helen Clark, made the recommendation at a briefing held recently during ...
Bagan schools slated for solar power
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Panasonic will provide solar-power systems to schools in the Bagan region to promote educational support aimed at sustainable development. Keep reading ...
Government must help homeless: UN
The United Nations on 15 December called on the government to do more to protect its homeless after years of so-called street sweeps and a lack of social care have left destitute Cambodians vulnerable to health risks and violence. “Cambodia is growing fast economically, and the signs ...
ADB boosts climate funds
The pool of climate finances available to Southeast Asia is set to expand following an announcement by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that it plans to double its climate funding to the region by 2020 – a move welcomed by the Cambodian government and climate ...
