News
A year on, Laotians say high-speed rail link with China has brought them few benefits
A year ago, a U.S.$6 billion high-speed railway was completed between Laos and China amid much fanfare and hopes that it would fuel exports from Laos and spur growth in the impoverished, landlocked country. But one year later, most of the trade has been one-way: from ...
RFA Lao
Lao authorities seem powerless to stop crime in Golden Triangle economic zone
The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in northern Laos is a haven for criminal activities including prostitution, scamming and drug trafficking, but Lao authorities are essentially powerless to stop it, workers in the zone and police told Radio Free Asia. The zone is a gambling and ...
RFA Lao
Laos Ranks Lowest in Global English Proficiency Test
The Education First English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) conducts the world’s most expansive ranking of adults by their fluency in English. This year’s index featured 111 countries, Laos ranked the lowest on the list and Netherlands ranked the highest. The countries were divided into five bands: ...
Amrita Paul
Laos, Thailand, Myanmar seek ways to crack down on drug trafficking in Golden Triangle area
According to the report issued on the website of the Office of the Supreme People’s Prosecutor of Laos, the second meeting of the Golden Triangle Prosecutors Network on “Cooperation to Counter Narcotics Trafficking in the Region” was held in northern Laos’ Luang Prabang province. The meeting ...
XInhua
China, Vietnam, Laos are hotspots for the criminal wildlife trade: does Asia really care about biodiversity?
Pangolin scales at US$160 a kilogram, monkeys and wild cats for sale – the online trade in protected and rare species is thriving in Laos, a key Southeast Asian gateway to the insatiable Chinese and Vietnamese markets for animal products. As world leaders gather in Egypt ...
Aidan Jones
The cost of Laos’ quest to be Southeast Asia’s ‘battery’, and the World Heritage town at risk
With electricity exports to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia and even Singapore, Laos has arguably realised its ambition to be the battery of Southeast Asia. The bulk of these exports are from hydropower. Nearly 80 dams dot the landlocked country, and more along the Mekong River are in ...
Lee Li Wan
As Laos inches closer to economic default, underage girls face a higher risk of child marriage
Houa* sat on the doorstep of her bamboo house helping her grandmother pluck a chicken. She is not even ten years old, but she is learning how to become a ‘good wife.’ As the Covid pandemic and economic crisis hit the family hard, Houa dropped out ...
BEATRICE SIVIERO
Laos, Thailand Meet to Discuss Railway Project Connecting Vientiane and Nong Khai
The Minister of Public Works and Transport of Laos, Mr. Viengsavath Siphandone, met with Thailand’s Minister of Transport, Mr. Saksayam Chidchob, and his team last week to discuss the project’s development. This was after Thailand’s Department of Rail Transport provided an update on the progress ...
Phontham Visapra
Ministry proposes importing electricity from Laos
Electricity imports from Laos should be taken into account due to a possible power shortage in northern Vietnam from 2022 to 2025, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has written to the Prime Minister proposing a plan to ...
The Saigon Times
Mekong nations look for bridge over ‘ASEAN development gap’
Giving equal momentum to development remains the major topic that the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) nations – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) – will discuss at the 54th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ (AEM) Meeting, slated to kick off on September 14 in Siem Reap town. Pen ...
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