Economy and industry
Seven community-based tourism projects planned in Myanmar
Myanmar’s first community-based tourism (CBT) project, one of seven planned, is up and running in Magway region, much to the delight of local residents. At a recent launch event here, community leader San Htun said the members of four villages joining the scheme threw full support ...
Thai food exports to Myanmar surge
The National Food Institute of Thailand’s Ministry of Industry says small and medium-sized food processing businesses should target Myanmar given the jump in Thai food imports. The institute revealed that Thai food exports to Myanmar increased 24 per cent last year. That makes Myanmar the world’s fourth largest importer ...
Making Bangkok a little bit safer
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is drawing up additional regulations to raise the standards of car park safety barriers and to control the brightness levels on electronic billboards. Taiwut Khankaew, director of the BMA’s Building Control Division, said discussions were under way about the new regulations ...
Vietnam Government calls on local firms to improve foreign market strategies
The Government has approved a plan to help Vietnamese businesses directly participate in foreign distribution networks through 2020 to help Vietnamese goods penetrate international markets, a senior Government official said. The project aims to promote exports by ensuring that Vietnamese products are directly sold into major ...
Greater availability of loans boosting business in Laos
“I bought my mobile phone for 8 million kips (about Bt34,500) by using First Choice because that facility enabled me to make the payment over 15 months,” a customer of the brand, Somkhith Chitdavongsor, said last week. It was the first time he had made a purchase ...
US trade treaty to aid Cambodia's TPP ambitions
As Prime Minister Hun Sen attends the US-ASEAN Summit in California on 15 February, government officials are in the midst of ongoing negotiations with their American counterparts to formulate a trade and investment agreement, which analysts say could be a stepping stone towards one day ...
Hanoi’s first elevated rail line to start service in December
After several years of sputtering, Hanoi’s notorious elevated rail project now has a new finish date with the first train scheduled to run on 31 Decembe. The Railway Project Management Unit (PMU), the investor, and the main contractor China Railway Sixth Group Co. Ltd on 13 February signed ...
Flood control: Giant Bangkok tunnel ahead of schedule
A giant new underground tunnel which promises much faster flood water drainage in Bangkok, expected to be complete early next year, will help six flood-prone areas of the capital, Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra says. The construction of the 6.4-km tunnel,linking Lat Phrao canal and the Chao Phraya River, is ...
The Mekong river: Damned if you do
The Mekong watershed nurtures extraordinary biodiversity, with new species of plants and animals discovered every year. It has also nurtured humans. Tens of millions of people—much of the population of Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam—depend on the Mekong. Planners think the Mekong has a gift to give: hydropower. ...
Myanmar’s health ministry deems Thai cosmetic products ‘unfit for use’
Products of a popular Thai cosmetics brand were found to be “unfit for use,” according to an official announcement by Myanmar’s Ministry of Health on 10 February. “Two products of ‘Forever Young’ cosmetics were found to contain prohibited chemical ingredients that can harm people’s health and [we] ...
