Aid and development
New Zealand announces UXO clearance package
New Zealand will provide US$7.2 million, one of the biggest single contributions made through the United Nations Development Programme, to Laos’ UXO sector. The funding will include trialling innovative New Zealand technology which destroys unexploded ordnance by melting casings without having to dig up or ...
PM Modi proposes joint task force on extension of India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 8 proposed a joint task force on connectivity to work on extension of India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, while also proposing to enhance the ASEAN-India Fund with an additional grant of US $ 50 million. Speaking at ...
European companies plan to up trade, investment in ASEAN
Most European companies will increase trade and investment in an integrated Association of Southeast Asian Nations over the next five years, according to a survey, although many also expressed frustration at existing trade barriers. The 2016 EU-ASEAN Business Sentiment Survey showed that 85% of European respondents ...
Ratana decries lack of UXO aid
A top Cambodian demining official slammed US President Barack Obama’s widely heralded pledge to increase demining aid to Laos on September 6, faulting the US for what he characterised as its “marginal assistance” to Cambodia’s demining efforts. In a speech at the 2016 ASEAN Summit in ...
PM attends 8th Mekong-Japan summit
Vietnam pledges continued efforts to foster the Mekong-Japan cooperation for the sustainable development, peace, stability and prosperity in the region, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has affirmed. The Vietnamese Government leader made the statement in Vientiane, Laos on September 7 while attending the 8th Mekong-Japan Summit ...
Laos launches SDG 18 to make lives safe from UXO
Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon September 8 inaugurated the Lao PDR’s own national Sustainable Development Goal on unexploded ordnance during the ongoing ASEAN Summits. The SDGs have been drawn up by the United Nations as targets for developing countries. Goal No. 18, which ...
US pledges US$90 million for UXO clearance
The United States announced on September 6th it would provide an additional US$90 million over the next three years to help Laos clear unexploded ordnance which has continued to kill and injure people since bombs rained down on the country during the Indochina War. The extra assistance ...
India gives Vietnam $680 million for defence spending
India said on September 3 it is giving Vietnam US$500 million in credit to boost defence ties, the latest security deal between the two nations seeking to counter Beijing’s muscle-flexing in the South China Sea. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement during a visit ...
Light railway raised yet again at JICA meet
Plans for a light railway system in Phnom Penh were discussed at a meeting between Public Works and Transportation Minister Sun Chanthol and Japanese International Cooperation Agency regional director-general Yasushi Tanaka on September 2. Chanthol confirmed the meeting on September 4 but declined to comment further ...
Survey: EU businesses planning to expand in ASEAN
Majority of European businesses are planning to expand their investment and operations in ASEAN, including the Philippines, as the region grows in global importance and increasing profits, but they also said that trade barriers in the region hamper their ability to reach maximum economic potential, ...
