Environment and land
Development of SMEs, startups allotted B96m
The Commerce Ministry has vowed to spend 96 million baht next year to help develop startups and raise Thai brand awareness in the world market. According to Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn, the ministry is committed to moving ahead with plans to promote Thai small and medium-sized ...
PM welcomes new WB Country Director in Vietnam

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc congratulated Ousmane Dione on his appointment as new Country Director for the World Bank in Vietnam at a reception at the Government’s headquarters in Hanoi on October 4. He said the WB is important to Vietnam and bilateral relations are being ...
Thermal power plants increasing on Hau River

Why are coal-run thermopower plants located on the Hau River? Why do the plants all use Chinese technology? Will there be another Formosa on the Hau River? These are questions raised by environmental experts about the appearance of many coal power plants believed to threaten the ...
Ministry calls meet on rice scheme suspects

The Justice Ministry has invited anti-graft agencies to a meeting next week when it is expected to name the people to be probed in the 853 alleged corruption cases connected to the rice-pledging scheme. The Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission last week said it had received 853 ...
Large M&A deal could change Vietnam’s sugar industry

Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group HAGL has finally confirmed that it is negotiating with Thanh Thanh Cong on the transfer of its sugar mill in Laos to TTC. As both of them are giants in their field, the deal is expected to lead to big ...
Thousands killed by air pollution yearly: study

A new study by the World Health Organization has found 3 million deaths a year are linked to exposure to outdoor air pollution, with nearly 90 percent of those deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries like Cambodia. The WHO said Southeast Asia bears one of ...
PM orders West Lake fish-death probe

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc on October 3 asked Hà Nội People’s Committee to handle the West Lake mass fish death incident, of which fish losses have already reached 60 tonnes and counting. PM Phúc also ordered district authorities to work with water service agencies to inspect ...
Protesters told not to behave ‘lawlessly’
Villagers have been reprimanded over an unsanctioned protest staged outside the Mandalay Region government’s office last week. The Thabeikkyin township residents were seeking a meeting with the chief minister over gold mines they allege have encroached on village territory over the last few years with ...
EU provides satellite training for Forestry Administration

The European Union has begun training Cambodia’s Forestry Administration to use satellite imagery to crack down on deforestation. Members of the EU’s Joint Research Centre have been meeting with forestry officials since September 26, teaching them how to analyse images captured by the EU’s Sentinel-2 satellite ...
Japanese businesses eye VN agriculture

An increasing number of Japanese firms are interested in investing in Việt Nam, particularly in the agriculture sector, Tanoi Masahiko of Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said at a meeting on September 27. He said the increased number of businesses participating in the ...