Trade
Trade policy and regulation
Vietnamese exporters ponder ways to penetrate new markets

The US and Latin American countries have huge demand for products made by sectors in which Vietnamese companies have advantages, but they need to study these markets carefully to enter them, a forum heard in Ho Chi Minh City on 17 November. They also need to ...
Vietnam, New Zealand sign four agreements

Vietnamese and New Zealand businesses signed four agreements on 15 November during the official visit by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key to Vietnam. The four business-to-business arrangements – between Global Trust Alliance, AsureQuality and Vinamilk, Airways International and the Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation, Airways International ...
Thai economy expands 2.9% in Q3
The Office of National Economic and Social Development Board revealed today that the Thai economy expanded 2.9 per cent in the third quarter compared to the same period last year. Keep reading ...
Lao Ministry imposes ban on log exports
Laos’ Ministry of Industry and Commerce has imposed an export ban on logs and unprocessed sawn wood following the prohibition instruction given by the government. The move aims to add value to wood resources by processing them domestically before they are exported. Recently, the ministry issued an order ...
Luxury timber goes to Vietnam en masse

While crowds gathered in Phnom Penh to watch Cambodia’s Independence Day parade, a different sort of procession drew the attention of villagers in Ratanakkiri province on 9 November, with hundreds of motorbikes flooding across border checkpoints loaded with luxury timber. The spectacle, which on a smaller ...
New Zealand PM to discuss trade, security in Southeast Asian meetings
Trade and security links will be high on the agenda when New Zealand Prime Minister John Key undertakes a three-nation tour of Southeast Asia next week. Key said Monday he would lead a trade delegation to Vietnam from 14 to 17 November and meet with Prime ...
Thai consumer confidence Index hits 10-month high
The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce has revealed a 10-month high in the country’s consumer confidence, as a result of the government’s economic stimulus measures. Director of the UTCC Center for Economic and Business Forecasting Thanawat Polwichai said the consumer confidence index for October ...
No Thai-Myanmar border closed as rumored
Myanmar says it did not close its borders along Thailand’s Tak province as rumored. Tak authorities have confirmed that trade on the Thai-Myanmar border remains open as usual, after the 4th Infantry Regiment investigated the claims. Keep reading ...
‘We’re not independent enough’ – ASEAN rights body

It’s now six years old, but few know what the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) does. It has been called toothless, though its creation was seen as a step forward given the principle of non-interference in the 10-member Association of South-east Asian Nations ...
Cambodia pins economic hopes on AEC

Cambodians are expecting a ‘seamless transition’ when the ASEAN Economic Community is launched in two months and hopefully heralds a second investment wave, capable of transforming this country’s pool of unskilled labor into a manufacturing hub. The first investment wave followed Cambodia’s ascension to the World ...