Government
International relations
What are Brunei's priorities for ASEAN health?
For the next two years, Brunei will assume the chairmanship within ASEAN for the Senior Officials Meeting on Health Development and the ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting. With the official handing over of the chairmanship from Vietnam to Brunei at the 11th Senior Officials Meeting on Health ...
ASEAN still has much to accomplish, FM Retno says at bloc's 49th anniversary
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations still has much to accomplish in the future as the regional bloc celebrated its 49th anniversary on August 15. Speaking during the celebration at the offices of the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Retno said she believes ...
The changing face of Japan-ASEAN aid
Japan’s foreign aid toolkit has been expanding since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in December 2012, as he seeks to shore up Japan’s influence in South-east Asia in the face of muscle-flexing by China. Japan announced on August 12 that it would give two new large ...
Vietnam gives top priority to relationship with Laos: President
The Party, State and people of Vietnam always give highest priority to consolidating and enhancing the time-honoured friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation with Laos, President Tran Dai Quang told visiting Vice Chairman of the Lao National Assembly Somphan Phengkhammy on August 15. For his part, ...
Laos' thirst for Mekong River dams imperils fishing, farming
Dismissing its neighbors’ pleas, impoverished Laos is rapidly building a Mekong River dam that threatens fisheries crucial to millions of Southeast Asia’s poorest people. Landlocked Laos is Southeast Asia’s poorest state, and all its neighbors far exceed its population of 7 million. But by virtue ...
China's lack of cooperation causing problems for Vietnam's water resources programming
The lack of cooperation from China and its erratic methods of water storage and discharge has placed Vietnam in a passive mode when using water from the Red River. Tong Ngoc Thanh, director of the National Center for Water Resources Planning and Investigation, said at a ...
Foreign media interest ahead of regional leaders summits in Laos
Over 5,000 official delegates and business leaders, of whom 200 are foreign media personnel, will attend and cover the 28th and 29th ASEAN summits to be held back-to-back in Vientiane early next month. The Ministry of Foreign Affair’s Press Department reported on August 12 that more than ...
Cambodia, Russia continue discussing nuclear energy plans
A November pact with Russia that first raised the possibility of nuclear energy in Cambodia is still being quietly pursued. Next week will see the second meeting of a Ministry of Interior working group dedicated to coordinating cooperation with the Vladimir Putin-led government in the ...
Bangladesh frees 92 Myanmar fishermen
The Bangladesh government pardoned 92 fishermen of Myanmar out of a good neighbourliness, who were caught for illegally entering into the Bangladesh territorial waters in December last year. According to the Bangladesh embassy in Yangoon, the authorities concerned in Myanmar were notified when the fishermen entered ...
Vietnam dealbook: Malaysia’s Mitra Energy, Thai Union strike M&As
Malaysia’s Southeast Asia-focused oil and gas group Mitra Energy has reached a sales and purchase agreement with Japan’s Teikoku Oil to acquire a 30 per cent interest in Vietnam’s oilfields in the Nam Con Son basin. Meanwhile, Songkla Canning, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thai Union ...
