News

Severe to extreme drought is expected to hit the four lower Mekong River Basin countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam from now until January, threatening agricultural production, experts warned Tuesday. The Mekong River Commission, in a statement, said the drought has so far brought the ...

Rubber growers and exporters have expressed concern that prices will continue to fall as Thailand seeks to boost its natural rubber exports, industry insider Men Sopheak said. In March, the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC), which comprises Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, agreed to reduce rubber exports ...

Thailand is joining hands with six other Asian countries to try and tackle the issue of marine pollution, amid increasing criticism about plastic use in the region. Under a project called “Rethinking Plastics: Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter”, Thailand — along with China, Indonesia, Japan, ...

The Thai government has also implemented a measure to reduce the demand for drugs in the country. This comes as new producers keep on emerging regardless of seizures.  They will keep doing so as long as there is demand. Signatories of the Safe Mekong Coordination Project have met ...

The National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) will ask the cabinet to adopt its guidelines on infrastructure development on Tuesday, as the government seeks to start working on the long-awaited link that will connect the Dawei Special Economic Zone in Myanmar with Eastern Economic ...

Although Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha announced Thailand’s commitment to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in 2017, outbound investment remains a largely unregulated sector. Thai firms are significant investors in ASEAN countries, and Thailand’s foreign direct investment (FDI) in the region ...

With 80 percent of the region surrounded by water, ASEAN regularly faces water-related disasters such as floods, cyclones and storms – which are heightened by climate change. Greenhouse gases (GHG) are progressively warming the environment, and melting ice sheets and glaciers are increasing the volume of ...

The newly-built Xayaburi dam has raised some key concerns about Lao PDR’s hydropower strategy. While hydropower is one of the country’s main exports, Lao PDR still has to import electricity. And although the government says the Xayaburi dam will improve access to electricity for its citizens, ...

LOEI, Thailand: The once-mighty Mekong river has been reduced to a thin, grubby neck of water in stretches of northern Thailand – record lows blamed on drought and a recently completed dam far upstream. The US$4.47 billion Thai-owned Xayaburi hydro-electric power plant went into operation this ...

Thailand, Chair of ASEAN in 2019, successfully gained the agreement of all 10 member states for “The Bangkok Declaration on Combating Marine Debris in the ASEAN Region” at the 34th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok. The aim of the joint declaration is to address the problem ...