Economy and industry
Dams on the Mekong are causing mayhem
The Mighty Mekong is one of the world’s most iconic rivers, but it is at grave risk of turning into a shadow of its former self. “Everywhere you look there are indications that this river, which has provided for so many, for so long, is at ...
Highway stretch collapses into Mekong river four days after cracking
A 40-meter section of National Highway 91 fell into the Hau River, a branch of the Mekong, on Wednesday morning. The highway and the soil beneath in Binh My Commune in An Giang Province’s Chau Phu District slipped into the river after a crack opened up ...
Cuu Long
Vietnam launches digital transformation campaign
The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) launched a campaign in Hanoi on 22 May to step up digital transformation using cloud computing technology. At the launch ceremony, the MIC Minister, Nguyen Manh Hung, said that domestic telecom companies have mastered the technology and built basic platforms for distant learning, ...
Samaya Dharmaraj
Rebutting US Claims, China Says Dams Unrelated to Thai Drought
The Chinese Embassy in Bangkok on Monday dismissed a US-funded study accusing China’s dams of hoarding water in the vital Mekong River. In a statement released to Khaosod English, the embassy said the extreme drought felt by Mekong’s downstream countries in 2019 were caused by exceptionally ...
Khaosod English
Moody’s sees ‘solid growth prospects’ for Cambodia
Moody’s Investors Service says Cambodia has strong fiscal buffers to counter disruptions to trade and growth arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement released in Singapore Friday, the US credit rating agency said slowdowns in China, the EU and the US would deter Cambodia’s growth ...
Khmer Times staff
Vietnam and Mekong peers pay economic price despite low virus tolls
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam have detected far fewer coronavirus cases than their more advanced Southeast Asian neighbors, but their economies are taking a beating all the same, potentially forcing a rethink of their development models down the road. Analysts at Maybank Kim Eng expect the ...
DYLAN LOH
US Study Insists China's Dams to Blame for Mekong Drought
China’s massive dams on the Mekong River exacerbated last year’s extreme drought in downstream countries including Thailand, researchers from a US government-funded study said on Wednesday. The researchers discuss the findings – originally published by American research company Eyes on Earth Inc. – in a video conference organized ...
Khaosod English
‘Cambodia’s agricultural sector is in dire need of revitalisation’
n this time of uncertainty, one thing about Covid-19 is clear. This pandemic will lead to a sharp and unprecedented decline in Cambodian economic productivity. And the industrial and service sectors will be the hardest hit. In response to the pandemic and to the economic crisis ...
NITH KOSAL/Future Forum Asia
Mekong Delta province faces severe water shortage
The Mekong Delta province of Long An, which has been hit by severe drought this year, needs more fresh water, but can only supply about 50 percent of demand from its 35 fresh water treatment plants and stations. Nearly 736,000cu.m of water will be needed by ...
Vietnam, Laos Arrest Facebookers on COVID-19-Related Charges
Authorities in Vietnam and Laos have arrested several Facebook users on charges related to the coronavirus, with Hanoi punishing posts that challenge official reporting on the pandemic and Vientiane acting against a lockdown violation streamed live. The two arrests in Vietnam come as the Communist Party ...
RFA’s Vietnamese and Lao Services. Translated by Huy Le and Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.