News
Assembly passes budget as CNRP boycotts vote
![](https://opendevelopmentmekong.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/budget_at_the_national_assembly_30_11_2015_hong_menea-150x150.jpg)
The ruling Cambodian People’s Party passed the government’s $4.3 billion budget for 2016 unopposed on 30 November as Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmakers followed through on a pledge to sit out the National Assembly session if concerns for their members’ safety were not addressed. The CNRP’s 55 ...
Gains, pitfalls in HIV battle
![](https://opendevelopmentmekong.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/cun_rany_red_cross_donation_to_people_living_with_hiv_28_11_2015_facebook-150x150.jpg)
As nations around the globe mark World AIDS Day, Cambodia’s first lady, Bun Rany, has appealed to Cambodians to do their part in helping the UN reach its goal of eradicating HIV entirely within 15 years. Local experts, however, say progress in some high-risk communities has ...
Paving the way for new SMEs
![](https://opendevelopmentmekong.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/sme_business_por_sen_chey_district_18_11_2015_hong_menea-150x150.jpg)
The Cambodian government is reviewing a draft sub-decree that would see the creation of a one-stop shop to handle small- and medium-enterprise (SME) registration aimed at encouraging more of them to join the formal sector and improving the quality of state support, an official said ...
FDI disbursement in Vietnam up 17.9% in 11 months
![](https://opendevelopmentmekong.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/13-fdi-150x150.jpg)
Disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam reached an estimated US$13.2 billion from the beginning of 2015 until 20 November, up 17.9 per cent against 2014. Data from the General Statistics Office showed that the country attracted $20.22 billion worth of FDI during the reviewed ...
TPP, AEC seek increased growth in farming exports
![](https://opendevelopmentmekong.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/15-thuysan-150x150.jpg)
Exports of Vietnamese agricultural, forestry and fishery products would be aided by the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and the enactment of the ASEAN Economic Community. According to experts speaking at a seminar on the impact of free trade agreements on Vietnam’s agricultural sector, the TPP ...
Vietnam blocks exports by foreign gold miner over huge back taxes
![](https://opendevelopmentmekong.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/gold_ouhv-150x150.jpg)
Two major foreign-invested gold mining companies in the central province of Quang Nam will not be allowed to resume exports until they pay VND387 billion (US$16.93 million) in back taxes, a government spokesman confirmed at a press conference on 27 November. Nguyen Van Nen was responding ...
In the Mekong Delta poorest homes, education takes a back seat
![](https://opendevelopmentmekong.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/dropouts1_QKFK-150x150.jpg)
Poverty and a lack of parental support have forced many children in the Mekong Delta to drop out of school and face a very high risk of falling deeper into poverty. Many children in An Giang Province sell lottery tickets or earn money from casual, low-pay ...
Conservative Buddhists donate to Kachin IDPs
Hard-line nationalist Buddhist monk U Wirathu has revealed that his Committee for the Protection of Race and Religion, known as Ma Ba Tha, is providing aid to displaced Christians in war-ravaged Kachin State. Ma Ba Tha said it had donated K6 million for internally displaced persons ...
Landslide risk survey seals fate of Chin capital
![](https://opendevelopmentmekong.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/hakha-plans-for-a-safer-future-150x150.jpg)
A Team of German geologists have confirmed that Hakha, the capital of Chin State, is too dangerous to live in. The team has deemed most of the city at very high risk of landslides, which are often caused by heavy rain. The survey is the first ...
UN warns of need to boost immunisation
The United Nations has called for an expansion of immunisation to combat the threat of polio and other preventable diseases, after two cases of a vaccine-derived form of the virus were detected in northern Rakhine State. The World Health Organization and the UN Children’s Fund said ...