News
More Cambodia rice bound for China
China plans to increase its rice import quota from Cambodia next year as the country braces for possible cutbacks by the European Union to limit milled rice imports from least developed countries. Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak said on August 2 that his Chinese counterpart Gao Hucheng agreed ...
Vietnam's FPT to invest in Myanmar financial switching system
FPT Corporation has been selected by Myanmar Payment Union as the prime investor to implement a national financial switching system, the company said on 1 August. The entire financial switching system will be funded and implemented by FPT in a year. Currently, over 95 percent of transactions ...
MEA to bury 127km of power lines by 2020
The Metropolitan Electricity Authority says it will continue putting power lines underground, expecting to bury another 127 kilometres by 2020. The agency plans several other power line projects in addition to those already initiated, said MEA governor Somchai Roadrungwasinkul. The first phase of the plan, ...
Thailand's central declares $89.6 mln tax on Big C Vietnam deal: report
Thai retail giant Central Group has declared around US$89.6 million in tax on its acquisition of Vietnam’s biggest foreign-owned supermarket chain Big C, local media reported. Big C Vietnam, which declared the tax on behalf of its new owner, has paid $17.03 million of the amount, ...
As Irrawaddy river swells, Mandalay prepares for possible flood
As the Irrawaddy River swells due to recent heavy rains, rising water levels are concerning to both locals and authorities in Mandalay, who are preparing for a possible flood. The river is about two feet above the 230.74-foot alert level in Mandalay Division. Local authorities have ...
Foreign direct investment collapses
Foreign direct investment in Thailand in the first half of the year fell by more than 90% in value to the lowest mark in over a decade at US$347 million, reports the Bank of Thailand. The report said FDI declined from $4.2 billion in the same ...
Upcoming ASEAN forum must listen to Lao civil society
The ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples’ Forum which is to take place on 2 August in Dili, Timor-Leste appears to be clouded by uncertainty and fears. Concerns have emerged as there have been no indications that the three-day meeting, as stated during preparatory events in March and ...
US clean coal technology power plant's failures bode ill for NCPO
The largest environmental story to break this month has been The New York Times‘ exposé of the Mississippi-based Kemper Project’s mismanagement, delays, inflated costs, and alleged fraud, making a mockery of the NCPO’s plans to convert Thailand from natural gas to ‘clean coal’. The Thailand Power ...
Laos - China’s gateway to Southeast Asia
Situated in Laos’ Luang Namtha province, Boten is China’s gateway to Southeast Asia and will be a critical link in both the North-South and East-West economic corridors. In terms of the North-South corridor, it is the transit point for the Kunming-Bangkok Expressway, which passes across ...
What lessons can Southeast Asia learn from ‘Brexit’?
Keith Richburg is the director of the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong. He spent more than two decades as a foreign correspondent for the Washington Post covering Africa, Europe, China and Southeast Asia, making his first visit to Cambodia ...
