Economy and industry
Lao gov’t gives green light to PetroTrade for Laos-Vietnam railway development
The Lao government has entrusted and given the right to the Petroleum Trading Lao Public Company (PetroTrade) to conduct a feasibility study on the Laos-Vietnam Railway Project, from Thakhaek district in Khammuan province, Laos, to the Vietnamese border. The Ministry of Planning and Investment, on behalf ...
Two Large Mekong River Dams in Laos to Start Operations by End of Year
The first two of five planned large-scale Lao dams on the Mekong river are set to go online before the end of this year, amid controversy over their impact on the environment and people’s livelihoods. The Xayaburi dam in northern Laos will start operations on October ...
Water war risk rising on the Mekong
The Mekong River, a waterway that originates in China and snakes through five Southeast Asian countries, is emerging as a new security flashpoint, similar in dynamic to escalating conflicts in the South China Sea. China has built 11 dams and has plans for another eight along ...
David Hutt
Cybersecurity Emergency Response Center established
The Ministry of Information and Communications has decided to establish the Viet Nam Cybersecurity Emergency Response Teams/Coordination Center (VNCERT/CC). The center is located in the capital city of Ha Noi and has two branches in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang City. The establishment of the ...
Dams a threat to Mekong
Almost a decade ago, Vietnam was the most vocal neighbour in opposing Laos’ first dam on the Mekong River. Now, it has become a partner in the Lao government’s Luang Prabang dam project — its fifth on the mighty river. This new partnership is worrying, ...
Chinese Support Gives Laos an Edge Over Powerful Neighbor Vietnam
A Mekong River hydropower dam scheduled to open this month worries Vietnam because the country sits just downriver from it and would be threatened by lower water flows. Officials in Hanoi aren’t wildly protesting to the dam’s host country, Laos, however, because Vietnam knows Laos has ...
Ralph Jennings
Trade union bill changes passed
The Council of Ministers approved draft amendments to 10 articles of the Law on Trade Unions without modification on Friday, leaving some unions disappointed and claiming that the majority of their suggestions had not been included. Articles 3, 17, 20, 21, 27, 28, 29, 54, 55 ...
Long Kimmarita
‘Our River Was Like a God’: How Dams and China’s Might Imperil the Mekong
ON THE MEKONG RIVER — When the Chinese came to the village of Lat Thahae, perched on a muddy bend of a Mekong River tributary, they scrawled a Chinese character on the walls of homes, schools and Buddhist temples. No one in this isolated hamlet in ...
Hannah Beech
Second Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge to open Oct 30
The second Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge across the Moei River in Tak’s Mae Sot district will be officially opened on Oct 30, according to a press release from the Highways Department. The opening ceremony will be co-chaired by Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob and Myanmar’s Minister of Construction ...
Assawin Pinitwong
Cambodia improves in WEF global competitiveness ranking
Cambodia, which has shed its status of ‘Sick man of Asia’ is becoming more competitive economically, and the world is starting to notice it. The 2019 Global Competitiveness Report, which was released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Oct 8, ranked Cambodia 106th out of ...
Jose Rodriguez T. Senase
