News
Southeast Asian free trade deal pushed back to 2019
Leaders of Southeast Asian nations have again pushed back an agreement on a pan-Asian free trade deal amid a whirlwind of diplomacy Wednesday at their annual summit. In convening talks among the leaders of countries participating in the plan, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong ...
More Southeast Asian Dam Disasters Likely Unless Funders Ensure Higher Standards
The Lao dam disaster in July that resulted in heavy flooding in two provinces that left at least 40 people dead and displaced 7,000 others has drawn both regional and international attention to the potential dangers of Southeast Asia’s current dam-building spree. With plans for ...
Southeast Asian nations grapple with worsening plastic trash crisis
China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are dumping more plastic into oceans than the rest of the world combined. Are Southeast Asian nations doing enough to tackle the ever-growing plastic pollution problem? []The website Mekong Eye says that Southeast Asia’s Mekong region is “the world’s single ...
Southeast Asian plastic recyclers hope to clean up after China ban
When Seah Kian Hoe was just 10 years old, he would jump on the back of his parent’s small truck during school holidays and help them collect scrap, going door-to-door around neighborhoods in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor.Keep reading ...
Michael Taylor
‘Proactive diplomacy’ in Mekong River dispute only way to resolve brewing conflict
The ferocity of rows over vital sea lines carrying up to a third of global trade valued at US$5 trillion annually has embittered relations between China and some Southeast Asian claimant states. Meanwhile, external powers such as the United States have jumped into the fray, ...
Richard Heydarian
Govt, World Bank Group discuss disaster risk management
The Department of Waterways under the Ministry of Public Works and Transport is concentrating on the implementation of the South East Asia Disaster Risk Management Project in Laos. The project development objective of the proposed South East Asia Disaster Risk Management Project shall be funded by ...