Economy and industry

Laos has dismissed fears that its next hydropower dam on the Mekong River would devastate downstream communities after neighboring countries and rights groups raised their doubts at a regional forum in the capital last week. The tiny landlocked country announced its intentions to go ahead with ...

For more than two decades, communities in Southeast Asia have been facing threats from the expansion of hydropower development. Dams have been justified by the governments of Southeast Asian countries as the main development agenda, which would generate large amounts of income and contribute to ...

The Mekong River Commission, member countries and relevant partners yesterday discussed procedures for a technical review of Laos’ planned Luang Prabang hydropower project. About 200 people comprising representatives of member countries Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, civil society, academics, private sector and development partners were in ...

Vietnam is powering ahead of the rest of Southeast Asia as it pushes for greater reliance on renewable energy. The region, long criticized for lagging behind in its efforts to adapt to more sustainable ways, is still heavily reliant on coal consumption. Vietnam, however, has bold ...

Although Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha announced Thailand’s commitment to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) in 2017, outbound investment remains a largely unregulated sector. Thai firms are significant investors in ASEAN countries, and Thailand’s foreign direct investment (FDI) in the region ...

The government is encouraging the building of environmentally-friendly hydropower plants to ensure green growth and sustainable poverty reduction, according to a senior government official. “The government is highly encouraged to promote environmentally-friendly and sustainable hydropower projects,” Deputy Minister of Natural Resource and Environment, Ms Bounkham Vorachit, ...

Countries in Southeast Asia are building fewer coal-fired plants than expected as lenders distance themselves from the polluting technology. A new report from Global Energy Monitor (GEM) finds that new coal capacity has fallen sharply from a peak of almost 13 gigawatts (GW) in 2016 to ...

The state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) is planning to talk with power authorities in Cambodia and Myanmar to trade electricity from Thailand at a combined capacity of 500 megawatts. Patana Sangsriroujana, deputy governor for policy and planning, said Egat has been ordered by Energy ...

Nguyễn Gia Liêm, Deputy Director of the Department of Overseas Labour, under the Ministry of Invalids and Social Affairs, talks to the Thời báo Kinh tế Việt Nam (Việt Nam Economic Time) on the issue of illegal migrant workers Which European countries have officially accepted Vietnamese ...

Nguyễn Chí Dũng, Minister of Planning and Investment, talks to the Government portal on what the country has done to help the Mekong Delta region develop sustainability. What mechanisms do we need to attract different resources to invest in the Mekong Delta region? In the context of ...