News
After the exodus, suffering in the village
In the small village of Moung Thbon, which sits at the intersection of western Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey provinces, 100 kilometres from the Thai border, Ruon is now responsible for taking care of her mother, running the small family business, tending their rice fields ...
Myanmar a rival on the rise
Structural reform in Myanmar means more competition for Cambodia’s key export industries. While Cambodia’s economic development is often compared to that of neighbouring Vietnam and Thailand’s, industry insiders say the Kingdom needs to keep a close eye on the steady progress being made in Myanmar, which ...
Coca-Cola bottler ThaiNamthip opens first Coca-Cola plant in Laos with US$30 million investment
Lao Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Coca-Cola bottler in ThailandThaiNamthip Limited and Lao firmPT Sole Co., Ltd., recently inaugurated the first Coca-Cola bottling plant in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic at a ceremony presided over by Mr. Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO ...
Proposed Lao curbs on NGOs seen as choking development projects
The Lao government’s changes to regulations on domestic nonprofit associations will hinder the work of the groups and slow down development projects in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, an NGO official said 11 September. Keep reading ...
Dam threat to Mekong River’s last few dolphins
The fate of the last surviving Irrawaddy river dolphins on the Laos-Cambodian border hangs in the balance after a Laos government official was reported as saying this week that construction of the dam would begin by the end of the year.Keep reading ...
Myanmar third-worst for deforestation rate, says UN
Myanmar’s forests are in trouble. Two recent reports reveal the rapid loss of tree cover over the past five years has been so severe Myanmar ranks among the worst for deforestation in the world. Since 2010, Myanmar has lost more than 546,000 hectares (over 1.3 million ...
Vietnam's Deputy PM seeks Laos’ support to Vietnam-invested projects
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc received Lao Minister of Planning and Investment Somdy Douangdy in Hanoi on 10 September, during which he proposed that Laos support the implementation of Vietnam-invested projects there. Keep reading ...
Higher PPP investment limit urged
The Thai government hopes to ease its public debt burden by luring the private sector to invest more in multibillion-baht infrastructure projects, especially in telecommunications and transport, through public-private partnerships (PPPs). Keep reading ...
IUU laws fail to curb abuse of fishermen
Measures to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices should be accompanied by rigorous labour protection measures, activists said on 9 September at a Chulalongkorn University seminar. Following the European Union’s final warning — a yellow card issued to Thailand in late April — the government has rolled ...
ADB set to slash Thai GDP growth forecast
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will revise down its GDP growth forecast for Thailand to lower than 2.9% this year following the country’s slower-than-expected performance in the first half. However, the new growth forecast, due to be announced on 22 September, will be higher than 2.5%, ...