News
Chinese vice premier meets ASEAN leaders
Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli on 17 September met with leaders from Thailand, Myanmar and Laos ahead of an annual expo and business summit between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in southwest China. They will attend the 12th China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment ...
Pact assessing loans to flood-hit farmers
The repayment of more than US$10 million in loans issued by Myanmar’s largest microfinance institution is in doubt as a result of devastating floods in upper Myanmar last month. Pact Global Microfinance Fund’s general manager for upper Myanmar, U Maung Maung, said the organisation is reviewing ...
Mekong river ecosystem at risk over dam construction in Laos
The construction of a dam in Laos is endangering the ecosystem of the Mekong river, one of the world’s largest rivers running a length of 5,000 km (3,107 miles) and a source of life and livelihood for millions living along its banks. The dam threatens the ...
Lao garment factories still troubled by labour shortages
Lao ministries and various related sectors have been unable to resolve the chronic shortage of labour for garment factories amid growing concern within the local industry. An official from the Association of the Lao Garment Industry, who asked not to be named, told Vientiane Times on ...
Ho Chi Minh traffic turns crazy as roads become rivers
Many people in Ho Chi Minh City have described the heavy rain on 15 September as “historical,” “worst” and “suffocating” while some just gave it a swear word. The rain, which is possibly the biggest this monsoon, sent traffic in the country’s largest city to even more ...
Shape up or ship out: Ministry warns agents to clean up act
After years of complaints, the Myanmar government says it is finally ready to act against dodgy employment agencies that cheat seafarers. The trigger for moves to clean up the sector has been the signing of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, which parliament approved on 28 August. Keep ...
Mega First gets hydropower concession in Laos
Power and quarry player Mega First Corp Bhd said an 80%-owned unit has secured a 25-year hydropower concession in Laos. The 260MW run-of-river project will cost the firm about US$500mil (RM2.15bil) and the company planned to fund it using internally generated funds and long-term debt. Keep reading ...
Japan pledges patrol vessels, loans to Vietnam
Japan pledges to provide Vietnam with 200 million yen (US$1.6 million) in non-refundable aid to buy Japanese used patrol ships for its maritime safety in the 2015 fiscal year, according to a joint statement issued on 15 September following Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s ...
Flooding from dam washes out homes, rice fields in southern Cambodia
Local government officials in a southern Cambodian province failed to evacuate villagers in time to prevent their homes and rice fields from flooding after the operators of a Chinese-built hydropower dam informed them a day earlier that they would open the facility’s gates to release ...
Flood aid reaches families in Laos
Flood affected families in isolated villages in central Laos have received much needed relief supplies from the US Embassy, the International Organization for Migration and World Vision International Lao PDR, in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare. Residents of Bolikhamxay Province were inundated by the ...
