News
Rainsy vows to return amid threats of arrest
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy is scheduled to return to Phnom Penh on 16 November where he could face arrest and a two-year prison sentence over a defamation case dating back to 2008, his party said on 15 November. Eng Chhay Eang, a spokesman of the opposition Cambodia ...
Rural latrine access on the rise, government finds
The Ministry of Rural Development on 13 November announced that more than half of Cambodians now have access to improved sanitation such as latrines. According to the ministry’s statement, 47 per cent of Cambodians now lack access to improved sanitation, compared to 89 per cent in 1990. The ...
Sam Rainsy removed from National Assembly
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who faces arrest and jail upon his return from abroad tonight, was removed as a member of the National Assembly on 16 November, with a spokesman for the parliament citing the warrant released for his arrest last week as justification. The Assembly’s ...
Mekong nations launch Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework
The Mekong River has always been an important trade route between Western China and Southeast Asia flowing through six different countries. The six foreign ministers met for the first time to frame a cooperation mechanism, agreeing to launch significant projects to enhance water resources, public health, ...
Better Rice initiative to help Mekong farmers
About 3,000 farmers from three Mekong Delta provinces will benefit from a project called Better Rice Initiative Asia that has been launched in Can Tho City. Carried out as part of the Integrated Coastal Management Programme, the project aims to promote private-public partnerships along the rice ...
China, Laos to build $6.3 bln railway project by 2020
China aims to complete laying a 418-kilometre (260-mile) railway from a border town to Laos by 2020, the official China Economic Herald reported, as the economic giant seeks a new route into the emerging markets of Southeast Asia. The two countries agreed on 13 November to jointly ...
Vietnamese Deputy PM highlights importance of Mekong countries' partnership
Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister cum Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh has highlighted that co-operation among upper and lower Mekong countries for the sustainable management and use of the Mekong River should be the top priority for the Mekong-Lancang partnership. Speaking at the first Mekong-Lancang Foreign Ministers’ ...
Vietnam economy won’t be better next year: economist
Vietnam’s economy will continue to recover but at a slow pace next year, and the sustainability of its rebound appears weak, a senior economist has warned. Nguyen Dinh Cung, head of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said: “The recovery in 2013-15 was driven by the ...
Thousands sign petition against Mekong dam construction
Huynh Thi Kim Duyen said her community in Ca Mau Province has seen a significant decline in fish stocks and water levels in the Mekong River in the past decade. Duyen is among thousands of people in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand who have signed off on ...
Promotion of Lao local wood industry to improve livelihoods
The Value Adding to Lao PDR Plantation Timber Products 2 (VALTIP2) project is promoting the improvement of livelihoods for farmers and processing workers in the Lao wood industry. VALTIP2 on 11 November officially opened a veneer processing and products research centre at the Faculty of Forestry, National ...
