People and government
Govt, World Bank Group discuss disaster risk management
The Department of Waterways under the Ministry of Public Works and Transport is concentrating on the implementation of the South East Asia Disaster Risk Management Project in Laos. The project development objective of the proposed South East Asia Disaster Risk Management Project shall be funded by ...
Abuses prevalent for Cambodia's transgender women: study

An overwhelming majority of transgender women on Cambodia’s city streets are subject to “shocking” harassment and abuse, according to a new report from the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights. The report, released on September 21, also shines a light on a disturbing new practice that has allegedly ...
USAID backs MFIs with $10m guarantee

USAID kicked off a seven-year program to guarantee over US$10 million in microfinance loans to the agricultural sector on September 20, as part of a new US effort to offer greater economic support to the country. The US development agency has signed a multi-bank loan portfolio ...
China builds nuclear power plants in border areas, Vietnam takes action

Agencies are planning to build an environmental monitoring system to control possible radioactive substance leakage from large-capacity energy reactors built by the Chinese and located 300 kilometers from Hanoi. More nuclear power plants located close to the Vietnamese border have been built in 2016, some of ...
First Japanese-run hospital opens in Phnom Penh for $35 million

“I think I want to be the first patient,” Prime Minister Hun Sen, who routinely leaves the country for medical care, said on September 20 at an opening ceremony for Cambodia’s first Japanese hospital, a state-of-the-art, $35 million facility in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district. Sunrise Japan ...
Disabled people struggle to get education, jobs: workshop
Various barriers still hinder the development of people with disabilities, particularly those living in rural areas and who lack access to education, vocational training, and employment. This was the message delivered on September 20 by Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Prof. Dr Khamkeo Sanbounkhounxay, when ...
Questions raised over vehicle spraying station
Many people are wondering what the point of the quarantine station on the Thanaleng side of the Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge actually is, given that its spray station resembles a nursery water sprinkler. Ostensibly, the spray station, through which every vehicle entering Laos must pass, is to ...
China media: opposition to hydropower dams in Myanmar is “extreme”

Opposition to Chinese-invested hydropower schemes in Myanmar is being orchestrated by “extreme” groups in the country and has been extremely damaging to joint investment projects, an influential Chinese newspaper wrote on September 19. The suspension in 2011 of the US$3.6 billion Myitsone mega dam project by former ...
Banking with a positive spin

A banking sector initiative launched on September 19 aims to advise Cambodia’s financial sector on best practices for sustainable lending while capitalising on the growing pool of international funds that could flow into green and socially responsible projects. The Sustainable Finance Initiative will conduct two years of ...
Laos, Vietnam further cooperation for ICT development
The Lao Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the Ministry of Information and Communications of Vietnam have reached cooperation agreements in relation to the development of telecommunications and information communication technology. A signing ceremony in relation to the cooperation agreements took place in Vientiane on September ...