News
Vietnam: $705.8m outbound investment; funding opportunity from France

Foreign direct investment into Vietnam reached $14.3 billion in 2016. Meanwhile, Vietnamese startups are attracting investment and partnership from French investors. Vietnam’s outbound investments hit $705.8m Vietnamese companies pumped $705.8 million in 106 projects in foreign markets during the first eight months of this year, according ...
Modern machinery, technical skills needed to improve wood processing
Modern machines and technical skills are required to enhance the competitiveness of the Lao timber processing industry in line with other countries in the region. Chairman of the Okawa Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Japan, Mr Yuji Sonoda made the observation during an interview with Vientiane ...
US pledges US$90 million for UXO clearance
The United States announced on September 6th it would provide an additional US$90 million over the next three years to help Laos clear unexploded ordnance which has continued to kill and injure people since bombs rained down on the country during the Indochina War. The extra assistance ...
Cabinet approves Gold Line monorail
THE Bt3.8-billion Gold Line monorail project for western Bangkok along the Chao Phraya River was given the green light by the Cabinet on September 6, with the line expected to be in service in 2018. The elevated monorail line is 2.7 kilometres long, stretching from ...
Scientists: Chinese exports polluting Vietnam through Red River

Lao Cai province’s chair Dang Xuan Phong said the Red River’s water from the other side of the border with China is becoming more seriously polluted. Phong made the complaint at a national online conference on environmental protection chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on ...
Climate change threatens to double malaria risk from African dams, say researchers

The number of Africans at risk of malaria who live near dams will nearly double to 25 million by 2080 as areas where the disease is not currently present will become transmission zones due to climate change, researchers said on Monday. Without prevention measures, the number ...
Cambodian traders test derivatives market

Sitting in a cafe on Phnom Penh’s Sothearos Boulevard in August, a group of young Cambodians gazed at their computer screens, watching the movement of currency around the globe. During their regular weekday trading session in the foreign exchange market, dubbed forex or FX, they anticipate ...
Indonesia: Haze investigators held captive, threatened with death

A large group of about 100 men hired by an Indonesian palm oil firm took several investigators hostage last weekend in an apparent bid to stop their probe into the forest fires blamed for the region’s haze problem. According to Jakarta Globe, the captors, believed to be mobilized by PT Andika Permata ...
Credit growth starts to cool off

New data released by Cambodia’s independent credit reporting agency indicate a significant slowdown in the rate of lending during the second quarter of the year, a sign that banking industry experts claim is due to a tightening of lending criteria and less seasonal demand from ...
So long to the Asian sweatshop

For 30 years, the word “sweatshop” has conjured up a very specific image: low-wage Asian workers making branded clothes in crowded, unsafe factories for consumers overseas. The power of that image has launched human rights campaigns, altered how major companies source their products and informed ...