News
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%, ...
Vietnam scores low for budget transparency as public participation remains 'limited'
Scoring only 18 out of 100 on an open budget index compiled by the International Budget Partnership, Vietnam’s budget transparency is deemed “scant” and far below the world average score of 45. The performance is slightly worse than that of 2012, when the country scored 19, according ...
Analysts: Vietnam primed for financial derivative market
Vietnam’s financial market holds promising potential and the basic foundations to develop derivative products, financial experts told a seminar held by the Hong Kong-based Asia Risk magazine in Singapore on 9 September. Keep reading ...
Trees ‘felled for pepper’
Batambang’s Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary is being illegally logged for pepper posts, with brokers bribing environment officers to transport the timber, residents and NGO workers have said. Keep reading ...
Land minister grilled at National Assembly
The government plans to distribute another 800,000 hectares of land to some 200,000 families as part of its land-titling scheme, the minister for land management announced on 10 September after being grilled by lawmakers. Keep reading ...
NGOs, Cambodia voice alarm at Lao decision to proceed with Don Sahong Dam
Cambodian officials vowed on 11 September to prevent neighbor Laos from going ahead with construction of the controversial Don Sahong dam without approval from fellow Mekong River basin countries that would be affected by the project. The Phnom Penh officials, as well as local and international non-governmental ...
Drought improves in Battambang; concerns remain
Despite improving drought-like conditions in Battambang province, farmers and rice millers alike are still concerned about yield and quality levels of rice in one of the country’s leading rice-producing regions. In last month’s report on the drought situation from the Agriculture Ministry, Battambang, along with Banteay ...
