Economy and industry
PM urges more efforts in research work

The Ministry of Science and Technology has to work harder in developing the sector so that its achievements serve those of other sectors, contributing to socio-economic development in the country. Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith relayed the message on October 12 in his address to scientists, officials and ...
Govt gives green light to Vientiane province cement production

The government has agreed to allow Vientiane Hongshi Saythirath Cement Co., Ltd to excavate lime and construct a cement factory in Vientiane province after the developer completed feasibility studies. The agreement was signed in Vientiane on October 12 on behalf of the government by Deputy Minister of ...
Kayah residents protest planned Pwunchaung dam
About 500 residents of Bawlakhe township, Kayah State, on October 11 protested plans to build a dam on Pwunchaung Stream, as water and soil examination continues. Transparency and environmental impact are the major concerns for the protestors, who already sent letters to the president and state ...
Formosa Plastics taps India, Southeast Asia for growth

Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics, the island’s largest maker of key plastic materials, on Tuesday said it wanted to aggressively expand in India, Southeast Asia, Middle East, and Africa to lower its dependence on China, which has been mired in a prolonged supply glut. “We are aiming to ...
Ministry skips meeting on rice-pledging crackdown

The initial meeting of state agencies intended to expedite cases related to the previous government’s rice-pledging scheme failed to proceed on October 10 after Finance Ministry staff did not show up. Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya, who was to chair the meeting, said he did not know why ...
Textile & garment companies still attract foreign investors

Though growth in investment in the textile & garment sector has slowed down, it is still attractive in foreign investors’ eyes. The years 2014 and 2015 witnessed the massive landing of foreign textile & garment enterprises in Vietnam. In 2015 alone, $2 billion worth of foreign ...
Tourism sector ‘needs 200K new workers’

A Ministry of Tourism official announced on October 11 that the country would need an additional 200,000 trained tourism professionals if it was to fulfil its target of receiving 7 million international tourists a year by 2020. Try Chhiv, deputy director-general of the Ministry of Tourism, said ...
Shark fin trade swims on, despite ban

Pungent piles of dried fish meat fill tiny shops on the ground floor of Phnom Penh’s Phsar O’Russei as the latest catch flops in metal basins. Hanging from some stalls are bags of half-meter long, leathery, dried shark fins—destined for expensive bowls of a soup ...
Gov’t, Vietnam exchange blame on logging

Cambodian conservation officials spoke publicly for the first time on October 10 about what they described as nearly three years of corrupt practices by their Vietnamese counterparts in facilitating the multibillion-dollar illicit trade in Siamese rosewood. But their complaint comes amid allegations from Hanoi that ...
China downplays reports of sharing river waters with India
Playing down official media reports mooting a mechanism to share Brahmaputra river waters with India, China on October 10 said Beijing and New Delhi have “effective” cooperation to share data of the river flow and it is willing to continue it. “China and India have appropriate ...