Economy and commerce
China’s Belt and Road Initiative criticised for poor standards and ‘wasteful’ spending
China’s massive infrastructure spending in Southeast Asian nations under the Belt and Road Initiative has run into a series of problems including substandard work and money wasted on unprofitable projects, a new report has warned. The Belt and Road Initiative, launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping ...
Teddy Ng
China bids to bring Yangon into a modern age
Across the river from Myanmar’s colonial-era old capital of Yangon, low-slung shanties dot rice fields that extend into a bucolic rural distance. But that could soon change if local property developers and their deep-pocketed Chinese backers build the Yangon New City Project, an ultra-modern design with ...
EU Kicks Off Fact-Finding Mission to Determine Cambodia’s Eligibility For Preferential Trade Status
The European Union kicked off a five-day fact-finding mission in Cambodia on Monday to determine whether it should continue to benefit from a tax-free EU trade scheme, based on the state of human rights and democracy in the Southeast Asian nation. In February, the EU announced ...
New regulation lifts ban on export of elephants
ELEPHANTS and elephant-related products can again be exported from Thailand under a new regulation from the Commerce Ministry, which may provoke controversy and debate over whether it violates the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). However, the National Park, ...
Pratch Rujivanarom
Amata gets IFC backing in sustainability push
The industrial sector in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam contributed 32.3 per cent of the region’s GDP in 2017 and provided an estimated 20 per cent of the employment, said the IFC, the private-sector arm of the World Bank. It said that industrial zones provide ...
ADB boosts support for region
In prioritising Southeast Asia in its assistance, the multilateral lender would get involved in many operations in the region, said Ramesh Subramaniam, the director general of the bank’s Southeast Asia department. Subramaniam told the ADB annual meeting yesterday that the development lender would invest around US$5 ...
Khine Kyaw
Asia Rice: Vietnam rates gain on fears Mekong water woes may hurt crops
Rice export prices in Vietnam rose for the first time in six weeks as domestic buying picked up and fears of water scarcity in the country’s rice bowl grew, while weaker local currencies weighed on rates in other top Asian exporting hubs. In Vietnam, rates for ...
New China-Laos joint project to power up electricity distribution in Laos' capital
The new 500 kV and 230 kV transmission lines to be installed in Laos’ capital Vientiane, a joint project between Lao and Chinese companies, will ensure more Lao people to have sufficient power, officials here have said. The new power lines will transmit electricity from hydropower ...
Tra fish industry needs to improve product quality
Việt Nam’s tra fish (pangasius) industry has been urged to strongly improve its quality so as to compete with not only traditional rivals, but also its biggest tra fish importer – China. According to the Việt Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the domestic tra fish sector faces ...
Vietnam's New Draft Development Guidelines on Rooftop Solar Power Systems from 1 July 2019
On 12 April 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam (“MOIT”) released the third draft (“Third Draft”) of the Decision of the Prime Minister on the mechanism for encouraging the development of solar power in Vietnam, applicable from 1 July 2019 (“Draft Decision”). Keep ...