Economy and industry

A light rail system worth more than 2 billion baht will be constructed between Phuket International Airport and Chalong intersection to boost the country’s tourism in the South. Speaking after a meeting on the Phuket mass transit system, transport permanent secretary Chartchai Thipsunawee on 17 January unveiled details of ...

Construction on a road linking Can Tho City and Kien Giang Province in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region began on 17 January  in the presence of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. The 53.3km Lo Te-Rach Soi Road will run from Thot Not District in Can Tho ...

Thailand’s energy policymakers have expressed concern that the low oil price is encouraging motorists to be careless with energy consumption.  The government is looking at raising the tax on fuel to increase its fund for campaigning for alternative fuels, said Areepong Bhoocha-oom, the Energy Ministry’s permanent-secretary.  Keep ...

Japanese government will lend 95 billion yen (US$811.53 million) in official development loans (ODA) for three transport infrastructure projects and one climate change response plan in Vietnam, the government website has reported.   The loans, whose agreements were signed in Hanoi on 15 January, were part of ...

Vietnam’s housing market is expected to enjoy another good year after record sales in 2015 aided by improved economic conditions and infrastructure and lower interest rates.   According to the industry’s estimates, apartment sales in Hanoi hit around 28,300 units in 2015, a 70 percent rise from ...

Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a new international development bank seen as a rival to the U.S.-led World Bank at a lavish ceremony on 17 January, as Beijing seeks to change the unwritten rules of global development finance. Despite opposition from Washington, U.S. allies including Australia, ...

The Defence Ministry will invest in high-technology devices to protect state agencies’ websites from being hacked again, says Gen Prawit Wongsuwan.   Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Gen Prawit said on 14 January the government is looking at various high-tech options to protect the websites from hackers ...

Greater efforts at a national level are needed to create a new wave of investments in Vietnam, Vuong Dinh Hue, head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, said. Speaking during a recent interview with Vietnam News Agency, Hue said the country’s advancing legal framework and ...

Now that the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) has officially been launched, with the goal of creating a common regional market where skilled workers can move freely, officials in Vietnam began to fear that many Vietnamese are not ready for the tough competition ahead.    Speaking at a ...

The Lao Furniture Association hopes that the furniture fair, which opened in Vientiane on 14 January, will attract more domestic and foreign investors in the sector and promote Lao wood products on regional and international markets. The Lao Furniture Association on 14 January officially opened its ...