Economy and industry

Vietnam plans to build a 130-kilometer expressway linking the southern localities Can Tho City and Ca Mau Province in the 2021-2025 period. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc recently tasked the Ministry of Transport to study the feasibility of constructing the four-lane Can Tho – Ca Mau ...

In a document informing the PM’s conclusion in a meeting with leaders of the Mekong Delta localities, PM Phuc called for the engagement of the whole political system in implementing the Government’s resolutions on supporting COVID-19-hit people and solutions to remove difficulties facing business and ...

Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) has today downgraded the Government of Laos’s issuer rating to Caa2 from B3 and changed the outlook to negative. This concludes the review for downgrade initiated on 19 June 2020. The decision to downgrade the rating to Caa2 reflects Moody’s assessment that ...

Thailand wants to completely do away with physical identity cards, and instead replace them with a new digital ID system that will give people more control over what data they share. Improving the nation’s digital identity system is a “genesis block” of the digital economy, says ...

The UK Government and the Bank of Thailand (BoT) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), forming a strategic partnership on financial services to support Thailand’s inclusive economic recovery and green growth in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Under the MoU signed on 7 ...

Development should be Myanmar’s number one priority. In the lifetime of today’s children, it has the potential to become a developed country. Combined with measures to fight inequality, finding the right path to development is critical for a successful transition to democracy. It’s also critical ...

It is 9 a.m. on a sultry Sunday morning off the coast of Koh Phangan, a popular tourist island in the Gulf of Thailand. More than 30 divers are getting ready to plunge into the tropical waters — not to marvel at the underwater world ...

As US-China tensions turn towards the Mekong River and its dams, the area near Laos’ latest hydropower project on the river is already seeing major controversy around existing dam projects. The Lao government is preparing to start construction on the Luang Prabang Dam, a 1,460-megawatt (MW) project that will be ...

Myanmar has suspended a 380-megawatt hydropower project at the Manipur River in Chin State due to high risks, U Tun Naing, Deputy Minister for Electricity and Energy, told the Hluttaw last week. “After a review at the State Economic Coordination Committee Meeting, this project was found ...

Cambodia’s embrace of new coal power projects is making the Southeast Asian state “less attractive” to international brands producing in the country. In a letter addressed to the Cambodian government and seen by the Nikkei Asian Review, several major companies expressed concern about the country’s plans ...