Economy and industry
VN fruit sent to tough markets

Việt Nam exported nearly 10,000 tonnes of fresh fruit to difficult markets such as the United States, Canada, South Korea and Japan in the first 10 months of this year. This export volume doubled figures from the whole of last year. According to director of the ...
Don Sahong dam ‘no problem’, says premier

Just weeks after Laos announced its plans to begin constructing a third mainstream dam in the Lower Mekong River region, Prime Minister Hun Sen used a bilateral meeting with his Laotian counterpart to signal that the controversial Don Sahong dam will no longer receive opposition ...
ASEAN officials discuss cooperation on labour practices

ASEAN labour officials are meeting over two days in Vientiane to update progress, share experiences and seek ways for future cooperation on labour practices. The ninth meeting of Senior Labour Officials Meeting’s Working Group, on progressive labour practices to enhance the competitiveness of ASEAN, will conclude ...
Minister eyes commission to manage Thanlwin River
A Union minister is trying to launch a new tripartite commission for management of the Salween/Thanlwin River with a stated aim of avoiding disputes concerning water resources. Minister for Transport and Communication U Thant Sin Maung said the Thanlwin River Commission should include representatives from ...
CA$11.9M initiative to boost ASEAN SMEs
Canada is working with ASEAN to deliver an ambitious five-year, CA$11.9 million initiative through a partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the region.Keep reading ...
Vietnam scraps huge nuclear power plant projects

Power-hungry Vietnam scrapped plans for two multi-billion dollar nuclear power plants on November 22, citing environmental and financial reasons after the cost of the projects skyrocketed. The two plants in central Ninh Thuan province would have had a combined capacity of 4,000 megawatts and were ...
Labour Ministry forms new body to monitor workplace safety

A new National Committee on Occupational Safety and Health established under a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on November 21 will advise the government on all work-place safety issues – but excludes transportation accidents, which one observer said make up the majority of work-related ...
Thailand braces for Trump dumping TPP

Country needs to focus other bilateral and regional deals next year, officials say. Thailand should get ready to renegotiate the framework of the US-ASEAN free-trade agreement after US President-elect Donald Trump announced on November 22 that he would scrap the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal in his first ...
Banned rosewood trade up

Despite the presence of a blanket ban by the Cambodian government on all trade in Siamese rosewood since 2013, exports of the precious timber to Vietnam increased in the third quarter of this year, according to Vietnamese customs data compiled by US-based NGO Forest Trends. ...
Cabinet approves five decrees to boost economy, improve administration

The government cabinet has approved five new and amended draft prime ministerial decrees to boost socio-economic development and improve administration. They are the draft Decree on Government Bond, Decree on Tourism Fund, Decree on Technical Positions of Civil Servants, amended draft Decree on Private Education Institute ...