Economy and industry

Some 80 delegates from 11 countries in the East Asia-Pacific region gathered in Viet Nam yesterday to discuss gender integration in rural transportation. The World Bank (WB) workshop, hosted in Ha Noi, is part of a regional Gender Capacity Programme for Rural Transport projects, including exchange ...

The Office of the Ombudsman lodged a complaint with the Administrative Court Monday demanding PTT Plc return all gas pipelines to the state. The Ombudsman accused PTT Plc, and 10 other defendants, of not returning offshore natural gas pipelines to the state after the Supreme ...

Financial integration, financial service access, and financial stability have been the central issues in discussions among Asean finance ministers and central bank governors at the meeting in Vientiane over the past few days. The ministers and governors have agreed upon the direction of regional cooperation ...

The National Assembly of Cambodia on 4 April passed a contentious trade union law, just hours after a group of pro-union demonstrators and Daun Penh district security guards clashed violently outside.“They did not explain clearly what their intentions [were to retain articles in the law],” ...

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has signed agreements with Viet Nam to provide Official Development Assistance loans worth a total of 95.17 billion yen (US$847.39 million) to develop four projects. The ODA loans are expected to enhance the country’s competitiveness and promote environmental improvements. Keep reading ...

Vietnam plans to gradually reduce rice production and switch to other more profitable crops, a plan that experts say makes sense since the country grows so much paddy and is a massive exporter of the unprofitable crop. The National Assembly’s Economic Committee recently agreed with the ...

Khammuan provincial authorities has given three months for illegal foreign workers who failed to meet the necessary conditions to apply to work legally in Laos to clear up all their things and leave the country, a senior provincial official has said. The decision was part of ...

Ethnic Shan communities in northern Shan State have called for an end to four planned hydropower dams on the Namtu River, an Irrawaddy tributary, citing irreparable damage to the environment. More than 100 people gathered in Hsipaw Township to hold a prayer service on the bank ...

The government has granted itself pervasive snooping powers to effectively monitor all electronic communication and punish anything deemed to have caused “national insecurity”, a legal analysis of the recently passed telecommunications law has warned. In a briefing paper released on 31 March, rights group Licadho ...

Cambodia’s economy is expected to remain stable this year as uncertainty surrounding China’s economic slowdown appears to ease, and backed primarily by strong performance in garment and footwear manufacturing, as well as construction, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on 30 March. Keep reading ...