News
Tariffs on 1,100 items may go
Thailand’s Finance Ministry is seeking cabinet approval to waive import tariffs on more than 1,000 items, says Customs Department director-general Kulit Sombatsiri. If approved, 56 categories of imported goods and a total of 1,100 items will be allowed into the country without tariff, Mr Kulit said. Keep reading ...
Board of Investment to propose privileges for smart farmer scheme
Thailand’s Board of Investment (BoI) is set to propose promotional packages to support “smart farmer” projects at its next board meeting. Secretary-general Hiranya Sujinai said packages should combine both the BoI’s investment privileges and other support such as finance, technical assistance and market access development. Keep reading ...
ADB keen to support megaprojects
The Thai government’s megaproject investment is likely to use domestic lending sources in the initial phase with foreign lenders joining in the later stage, says the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Based on discussions with the Finance Ministry, Yasushi Negishi, the country director for the ADB’s Thailand ...
Craft industry struggles to find export markets
Vietnam’s handicrafts face many challenges in producing and finding export markets, while integrating into the world economy although it has the potential for economic development. According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Agricultural Trade Promotion Centre, there are nearly 1,750 traditional craft ...
Conf : Religious leaders needed in peace process
President U Thein Sein attended this weekend’s World Peace Buddhist Conference, organised by the deputy chair of the nationalist hardline group Ma Ba Tha. Held at the Sitagu Academy’s Sagaing campus, the event was self-described as bringing together dozens of leaders from all religions to counter ...
Opium poppy farmers reject crop ban, war on drugs
Opium poppy farmers from Myanmar attending an international conference on “prohibited plants” have rejected a ban on growing their crops and urged an end to forced eradication. “We reject prohibition and the war on drugs,” small-scale farmers from 14 countries, including Myanmar, said in a joint ...
Five Myanmar cities better equipped to monitor earthquakes
As a country lodged on some of the most seismically active faults during what scientists suggest may be a particularly active period, Myanmar is boosting its ability to predict earthquakes. New digital seismographs will be set up in five cities across the country by the end ...
Snow envelops northern Vietnam as weekend temperatures plummet
Many northern provinces have been experiencing bitter cold, while snow has been falling heavily in many areas across the northern mountainous region due to a strong cold spell that has enveloped almost half of the country since 23 January. Snow blanketed Sa Pa in the northern ...
Laos undergoes Communist Party leadership change
The Lao Communist Party has undergone a change in leadership during its 10th Party Congress, signaling the country’s future direction as it prepares to chair the Association of South East Asian Nations. The move came ahead of a visit to Laos by U.S. Secretary of ...
Activists claim arrests by Lao authorities at dam site
Two Cambodian activists say they were briefly detained by authorities in Laos on 24 January after sneaking across the border to take photographs of the planned site of the Don Sahong hydropower dam, which regional governments and environmentalists fear could cut into critical fish stocks downstream. Chum ...
