News
Vietnam sets up steering committee for industrialisation strategy
The Prime Minister has decided to establish a Steering Committee for Vietnam’s industrialisation strategy as part of a cooperation agreement with Japan by 2020, with a vision to 2030. The Steering Committee for the strategy will be led by Deputy PM Hoang Trung Hai while Minister ...
China factory index hits 6-year low
A key indicator of China’s manufacturing activity slumped to a 77-month low in August, an independent survey showed on 21 August, fuelling concerns of further deceleration in the world’s second-largest economy. The preliminary reading of Caixin’s Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) came in at 47.1 this month, ...
Vietnam, Dagestan reach oil and gas exploitation agreement
Vietnam is willing to pour up to 300 million USD into an oil and gas exploitation project in the Caspian Sea of the Republic of Dagestan within the Russian Federation, said Dagestan’s Government Office on 18 August. Keep reading ...
Major Cineplex targets 30 cinemas in Laos within three years
Major Cineplex Group is expanding its footprint in Laos, aiming to have 30 movie screens there within three years. Entering the country of 7 million people through its partner Platinum Cineplex, Thailand’s largest movie-theatre operator formed a 60:40 joint venture to open its first five movie ...
Cambodia well suited for solar, though use remains low
Cambodia has a high degree of solar radiation, making the country a good place for the renewable energy source, a report from the Asian Development Bank says. However, the number of places using it remains very low. There are potentially 134,500 square kilometers suitable to photovoltaic ...
Map critics face arrest
Prime Minister Hun Sen has delivered a warning to anyone still thinking about criticising the government’s handling of the ongoing border demarcation with Vietnam: you will be arrested. Addressing a cabinet meeting, Hun Sen said anyone who persisted with claims that authorities were using “fake” maps or ...
Street food blues in the Kingdom’s capital
While street food vending is among Phnom Penh’s most visible cottage industries, proprietors are left in the legal dust as authorities demand unexplained “fines”. Dy Poch, the operator of a mobile grilled meat stall in front of the White Building tenements on Sothearos Boulevard, would rather ...
Myanmar seeks over $100m for ASEAN connectivity project
Myanmar’s Construction Ministry is seeking the parliamentary approval for a US$120 million loan to upgrade the Kawkareik-Mawlamyine-Thaton Road, a part of the Greater Mekong East-West Economic Corridor. Keep reading ...
Thailand seeks Interpol help to track blast suspect
Thailand has said that a deadly bomb attack at a popular shrine in Bangkok was “unlikely” to be the work of international terrorists, but appealed for Interpol help in hunting a foreign man accused of being the prime suspect. The military government was initially reluctant in ...
Costco sued over claims Thai shrimp harvested with slave labour
Costco Wholesale Corp was sued for selling farmed shrimp from Thailand, where slave labour and human trafficking in the fishing industry are widespread, and allegedly misleading US consumers about it. A California woman, Monica Sud, filed what may be the first such lawsuit against the retailer ...
