International relations

The year of 2016 will be the “Year of Laos” as the country takes the ASEAN chairmanship, US President Barack Obama visits the nation and the ruling party holds its 10th congress to select a new leadership. Obama’s decision to visit Laos next year to attend the ASEAN Summit ...

A Vietnamese high-ranking delegation led by Minister of Defence General Phung Quang Thanh is on a friendship visit to Laos from 25-26 December at the invitation of Lao Defence Minister Senior Lieutenant General Sengnouane Xayalath. During its stay, the Vietnamese delegation is set to have talks ...

Civil society and government representatives met at the Royal University of Phnom Penh on 24 December to discuss how both sides can cooperate to formulate climate change policies that fulfill Cambodia’s treaty obligations in the wake of the historic climate accord reached in Paris earlier this ...

Leader of ASEAN countries have accepted US President Barack Obama’s invitation for a summit in California in the first half of 2016, the White House National Security Council told the media on 23 December. A date for the summit was not provided, though Japan’s Kyodo news ...

Senior officials at Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior have concluded a preliminary investigation into allegations that Cambodians living along the border with Vietnam have been illegally leasing land to Vietnamese farmers. About 1,000 families owning almost 7,000 hectares of land in five provinces have rented the territory out ...

Visa exemptions for diplomats and officials / special passport holders of Laos and Kuwaiti came into force on 28 October after the two sides signed an agreement in Vientiane in June. However the passport holders of Lao and Kuwaiti nationality are allowed to stay in one ...

The European Parliament (EP) adopted an official resolution ratifying the Vietnam – EU Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA), at a plenary session in Strasbourg city, France, on 17 December. The resolution welcomes Vietnam’s outcomes in doi moi (renewal) and integration over the past time and hails ...

Cambodia is quietly reducing troop numbers on the contentious shared border with Thailand in Preah Vihear province. Citing the current good relations with Cambodia’s western neighbour, Ministry of Defence spokesman Chhum Socheath on 17 December said members of three units had been ordered to leave the border ...

Thailand and the United States resumed a high-level dialogue for the first time in three years on 16 December as both sides sought to mend a relationship strained by the Thai military coup last year. At a press conference in Bangkok after the 5th Thai-US strategic dialogue, ...

The Anti-Money Laundering Intelligence Unit under the Bank of Laos and Korea Financial Intelligence Unit signed a memorandum of understanding to exchange information on preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The MoU was signed on 16 December in Vientiane between Director General of the Anti-Money Laundering ...