Trade policy and regulation

Agribusiness operators in Phongsaly province are struggling for trade after Chinese authorities banned the import of some agricultural produce. Commercial crops including green tea and sweetcorn being traded by Lao entrepreneurs in the province cannot be exported to China, the provincial Green Tea Processing Factory Director, ...

Cambodia improved its ranking for the ease of doing business from 133 last year to 127 in 2015, making marked progress in the number of days and procedures required to start a business, though it is still ranked well below the world average, according to ...

With increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into its manufacturing sector, Vietnam stands a great chance of leaping ahead and replace China as the new production center, experts have said.    They were speaking at a conference recently organized by the State Bank of Vietnam in collaboration ...

Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance is considering changing a tax regulation following concerns that the rule has been abused by Chinese exporters to ship a large amount of steel to Vietnam without paying duties.   Currently imported steel with at least 0.3 percent of chrome content will be exempt ...

With nearly half of their exports going to the 11 other countries that are set to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership with Vietnam, seafood businesses have become the latest supporters of the controversial and secretive free trade agreement. Keep reading ...

China’s apple exporters will have to come up with new, non-controversial packaging if they want to resume sending the fruit to Vietnam, authorities said on 22 October. Keep reading ...

While political and policy risks have been among the biggest concerns for foreign investors in recent years, other issues such as bureaucracy, legal enforcement and business restrictions perhaps weigh even more heavily on Thailand’s competitiveness. Darren Buckley, country head of Citi Thailand and president of the American Chamber of ...

China has announced that it will invest US$31.4 billion in the Mengla economic zone in Yunnan province of the country, which shares a border with Lunag Namtha and Phongsaly provinces in northern Laos. The investment will cover more than 240 projects in such fields as transportation, ...

Earlier this month, 12 countries in the Asia Pacific region signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which ranks as the biggest trade agreement in history – signatory countries account for 40% of total global output. While the treaty still must be ratified by each and every party to it, ...

Strong legal protection of intellectual property is one of the factors that attract foreign investment, especially in knowledge-intensive sectors. In the recently published 2015 International Intellectual Property or IP Index, 31 countries were assessed and given scores out of 30. The 31 included six of the ...