Economy and industry

It was a significant Thursday night. An iconic Filipino choral group performed at Cambodia’s iconic Chaktomuk Theatre, symbolising the power of music in connecting two nations whose culture, history and language vary. Agnes Alpuerto and Som Kanika join the friendship concert by the Philippine Madrigal ...

Thailand and Laos on Friday signed an agreement on building the fifth friendship bridge between Thailand’s Bueng Kan province and Laos’ Bolikhamsai province. Thailand’s Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith and Lao Public Works and Transport Minister Bounchan Sinthavong presided over the signing ceremony on Friday. Arkhom said Thailand’s ...

China’s massive infrastructure spending in Southeast Asian nations under the Belt and Road Initiative has run into a series of problems including substandard work and money wasted on unprofitable projects, a new report has warned. The Belt and Road Initiative, launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping ...

Laos has agreed in principle to provide data and information about water resources and management plans involving the Mekong River directly to Thai authorities to assess the water situation and take action to prevent floods in eight northeastern provinces. Somkiat Prajamwong, secretary-general of the Office of ...

Too often, proponents of a specific dam apply this faulty logic and tell decision makers that a crocodile is really just a gecko.  For example, the debate on the Xayaboury Dam on the Mekong River in Laos—a massive dam that, in terms of environmental and ...

On a trip down the Mekong Delta, Professor Joe McDonald’s thoughts turn to the potentially serious disease that is data fever – and how it might be prevented. Rowing down the tiny stream through the impenetrable jungle of the Mekong Delta, it’s 39 degrees in the ...

The government has given the green light to Tadsakoi Power Company Limited to build the Tadsakoi hydropower project in Sepon district, Savannakhet province. A concession agreement for the project was signed recently in Vientiane between Minister of Planning and Investment, Dr Souphan Keomixay, Deputy Minister of ...

Across the river from Myanmar’s colonial-era old capital of Yangon, low-slung shanties dot rice fields that extend into a bucolic rural distance. But that could soon change if local property developers and their deep-pocketed Chinese backers build the Yangon New City Project, an ultra-modern design with ...

Thailand’s crackdown on exploitation and slavery in its multi-billion dollar fishing industry will only succeed if its neighbours step up and adopt anti-trafficking laws, said a labour rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Thai fishing vessels are increasingly registering in nearby countries to avoid scrutiny ...

The European Union kicked off a five-day fact-finding mission in Cambodia on Monday to determine whether it should continue to benefit from a tax-free EU trade scheme, based on the state of human rights and democracy in the Southeast Asian nation. In February, the EU announced ...