Economy and industry

China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam have all been urged to take steps to address regional low flows, water fluctuations and drought as the Lower Mekong River experiences record low flows for the third consecutive year. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat has said that ...

A ceremony was held Wednesday to put Trung Luong – My Thuan Expressway into service for the upcoming Lunar New Year. Nguyen Tan Dong, CEO of BOT Trung Luong – My Thuan JSC, which built the expressway, said vehicles can travel from Ho Chi Minh City ...

After years of hydropower supercharging Laos’ successful ambition to become the key power exporter in the region, Laos’ energy export market has taken a surprising turn towards coal. According to most international analysis from Carbon Tracker to Bloomberg, carbon is dying. Yet in Laos, energy carbon production went ...

Chhim Sithar knew she would be arrested when she arrived at the site of a protest organised by employees of the NagaWorld casino.  Police violently grabbed and arrested the union leader when she attempted to join the demonstration by striking workers in Phnom Penh on 4 ...

The price of accessing telecoms services in Myanmar is set to soar after the junta announced it will levy a 20,000 kyat commercial tax on the sale of SIM cards and a 15% tax on the incomes of internet providers.  The new tax law comes after ...

Vietnam is granting Can Tho, on the Mekong Delta, a special status to draw investment amid China’s growing presence in the country and the South China Sea. The National Assembly approved the plan to promote the southern city on Tuesday. With this resolution, Hanoi will grant ...

A recently promulgated update to a 2003 law on investment is redefining incentives for more than a dozen business sectors. This is only the Kingdom’s second investment law and it expands the range of environmentally focused organisations eligible for incentives. The list of eligible business sectors ...

There are many driving forces for growth for Vietnam in 2022, and the growth target of 6.0 – 6.5 percent for 2022 is quite feasible, according to foreign economists. In an interview recently granted to the Dau tu (Vietnam Investment Review), lead specialist and group head ...

Thailand’s main Covid-19 task force will meet later this week to review the suspension of its quarantine-free entry program for vaccinated visitors amid an uptick in new omicron cases among foreign tourists. The Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, headed by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, will meet ...

In early December 2021, Laos inaugurated the Boten-Vientiane railway, a 414-kilometer (km) electrified high-speed railway that runs between the capital Vientiane and the town of Boten on the Laos-China border. This US$6 billion project (equivalent to one-third of Laos’ GDP) is backed by China as part ...