National government
Head of state
President, Senior General to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on 2 December
Top-level talks on the transfer of power to Myanmar’s next government are to take place on 2 December. President U Thein Sein and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing released statements on 1 December saying they had agreed to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi separately on 2 ...
NLD pledges support for ceasefire process
Myanmar’s new government to be formed by the National League for Democracy will support the nationwide ceasefire process, senior party officials on 26 November assured five ethnic armed groups that signed the pact last month with President U Thein Sein. Leaders of the five groups met the officials ...
Loan discussed, deals inked with Medvedev
Prime Minister Hun Sen met with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, at Phnom Penh’s Peace Palace on 24 November morning where the duo discussed an outstanding Soviet Union-era debt and signed off on deals ranging from cooperation in nuclear power to exchanging information on money laundering. Following ...
Lao Prime Minister meets US President at ASEAN summit
Lao Prime Minister Mr Thongsing Thammavong met US President Barack Obama in Kuala Lumpur on 21 November to discuss the expanding relationship between the two nations. During the meeting PM Thongsing Thammavong highlighted the growing partnership between the US and Laos in the health and UXO clearance ...
ASEAN Community officially formed in landmark declaration
The ASEAN Community was officially declared on 22 November by leaders of the 10 member states of ASEAN in a landmark moment promising greater regional integration for the 48-year-old group. Twelve years in the making, the foremost goal of the ASEAN Community is to turn the region ...
Malaysia hands over ASEAN chair to Laos
Malaysia has handed over the chairmanship of ASEAN to Laos, having fulfilled its eight priorities as ASEAN chair for this year. On 22 November, at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak handed over a gavel to Laotian Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong – ...
US president notes election success at ASEAN Summit
The weekend’s ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur put US President Barack Obama and President U Thein Sein together for the first time since the election. While peddling his Asian pivot trade deal at the meeting, Mr Obama took a softer diplomatic tone than usual, lauding the ...
Cambodian PM urges cooperation on climate problems
Prime Minister Hun Sen on 21 November called for stronger cooperation in implementing the ASEAN-US Joint Statement on Climate Change, noting that the phenomenon is “obviously happening”. The statement, adopted last November, calls on ASEAN members to implement 33 points, such as ratifying Kyoto Protocol goals and ...
Cambodian PM urges US to drop tariffs
Prime Minister Hun Sen urged policymakers in Washington to expand its preferential treatment of goods imported from least-developed countries (LDCs) including Cambodia by increasing the amount of goods permitted duty- and quota-free access to the US market. “Cambodia would like to request that the US provide ...
Chinese premier highlights railway, FTA in talks with Lao, New Zealand PMs
The cooperation on a railway linking China and Laos has been advancing smoothly and the foundation stone will soon be laid to start its construction, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said here on 21 November. Li called the railway one of the new fruits of bilateral cooperation ...