News
DASTA joins forces with Mekong Institute to advance tourism in GMS
The Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (DASTA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mekong Institute to strengthen sustainable tourism in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). The Mekong Institute, an intergovernmental organisation in Khon Kaen, Thailand, promotes regional cooperation through capacity-building programmes for the countries ...
Foreigners pull record US$5b as Southeast Asian stocks sink
Foreign investors are selling Southeast Asian stocks at the fastest pace on record as the region’s economic outlook worsens and the US gets closer to raising interest rates. Overseas funds unloaded a net US$5.1 billion (S$7.28 billion) of Indonesian, Thai and Philippine shares in the third ...
Lao Government promoting CSO involvement in national development
The government wants to encourage more involvement of Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in Laos in a bid to boost government policy in the fields of national construction and development. The government sector and representatives of CSO in Laos began meeting at a seminar in Vientiane on ...
Rail network development plan disclosed
The Lao government has announced that it will pursue the development of at least four rail lines that will turn landlocked Laos into a land-linked nation with the planned Laos-China rail project given as top priority. Minister of Public Works and Transport Dr Bounchanh Sinthavong told ...
Laos segment of China-Singapore railway expected to begin construction in November
A transnational railway linking China and Singapore is set to be constructed. The construction of the segment in Laos will start in November. Keep reading ...
Asian currencies set for worst quarter in 17 years
Asian currencies are headed for their biggest quarterly loss since the Asian financial crisis, having been battered by China’s surprise devaluation of the yuan and the prospect of a US interest-rate increase. The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index, which tracks the region’s 10 most-active currencies outside of ...
Kuwait proposes Laos visa exemption
The Lao and Kuwaiti governments should offer visa exemptions for their citizens as part of efforts to boost the exchange of tourism and trade between the two nations, according to the Kuwaiti ambassador to Laos, Mr Nabeel Aldaheel. The ambassador announced his government’s proposal to the ...
South Laos mulls tourism plan
The four southernmost provinces have drafted a plan to develop and link tourist sites beginning in 2016. Lao News Agency reported the authorities of Salavan, Champassak, Xekong and Attapeu met at the 8th meeting in Salavan province, late last week. Keep reading ...
Southeast Asia’s transparency problem
Most countries in Southeast Asia do not have a transparent budget process, according to a global survey conducted by International Budget Partnership. The 2015 Open Budget Index used 140 observable facts and indicators to measure if a country’s budget system allows opportunities for adequate oversight and public ...
Pollution from coal-fired power plants kills 4,300 Vietnamese every year: study
Diseases linked to pollution caused by a fast growing network of coal-fired power plants kill around 4,300 people in Vietnam each year, according to a new estimate by scientists. A study released at a conference in Hanoi on 29 September claims that once all planned power projects become ...
