News
Human trafficking needs urgent action: Mekong nations
Human trafficking continues to flourish within the region, requiring a joint effort by the Mekong countries to actively stamp out the trade and penalise those responsible. Human trafficking is harmful to socio-economic development and social order in the region and could worsen when the ASEAN Economic ...
ASEAN Ministers boost Belt and Road
Southeast Asia is ready to open more commercial doors to the Chinese government’s Belt and Road program, following a meeting of transport ministers from China and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Belt and Road, a trade and infrastructure construction initiative ...
Japan to end preferential tariffs for China, four others
Japan has proposed stricter tariff rules that would knock five trading partners including China and Mexico off the list of countries receiving preferential treatment for emerging economies. A finance ministry customs committee said on November 24 that the list of nations qualifying for zero or minimal ...
ADB loan targets health infrastructure
Myanmar is set to receive a portion of a US$117 million Asian Development Bank loan aimed at combating emerging infectious diseases. The Greater Mekong Subregion Health Security Project will target outbreaks in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The loan is meant to boost access to ...
The AIIB and shifting economic dynamics in Southeast Asia
The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which seeks to help plug Asia’s infrastructure-funding gap, has begun shifting the economic balance of power and influence in Southeast Asia, a region in which Japan and the United States have traditionally been the key external economic players. While ...
Thailand evokes Temasek as Junta tries to revive state firms
Thailand is seeking to set up an investment holding company next year for government shareholdings, part of a wider effort to improve the performance of state-controlled enterprises. A law to boost the governance of such firms and enable the creation of the holding company may ...
Cargill invests $50m in Thai facility
US-based Cargill is investing US$50 million to expand its poultry-processing operations at its facility in Nakhon Ratchasima province. The expansion will create 1,400 new jobs and add to the more than 13,500 people the company currently employs across 14 locations in the country. Cargill will engage ...
Vietnam withdrawal clouds future of Japan's nuclear exports
Japanese manufacturers of nuclear power plants likely will be forced to re-evaluate their export strategies as Vietnam scraps plans to build its first reactors and delays overshadow a project in Turkey. Hanoi’s decision was a major blow to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which had been expected to ...
Gov’t aims for stable power tariff
The electricity sector in 2017 would strive to prevent the power tariff issue from stirring controversies among people, said Hoàng Quốc Vượng, deputy minister of Industry and Trade. Vượng said the sector has not seen complaints about power tariffs this year, as the prices have ...
Lý Sơn begins construction of new $9 million tourism port
Construction of the new Bến Đình Tourism Port in Quảng Ngãi Province’s Lý Sơn Island District kicked off on November 23. The US$9 million project is expected to meet the increased number of visitors to the island district, and is planned to be completed in 2018. ...
