Economy and industry
Vietnam targets high growth to 2020

Vietnam aims to achieve annual average economic growth of 6.5 per cent to 7 per cent through 2020, striving to turn itself into an advanced industrial country soon, according to the Resolution of the 12th National Party’s Congress. The Resolution, approved and made public at the ...
More inflows to Thai capital market expected: TMB

The Thai stock and bond markets are expected to witness new investment inflows in the short term following the Bank of Japan’s decisions on 29 January, said TMB research. “Expectations run high that other central banks in Asia including the People Bank of China and Bank ...
Thai police rescue 29 Myanmar trafficking victims
Thai authorities have rescued nearly 30 Myanmar victims from alleged human traffickers’ hands in Phuket province. Keep reading ...
Government tackles Thais illegally working abroad

Thailand’s Department of Employment is aiming to tackle the growing problem of Thais travelling abroad to work illegally, especially in South Korea. Arak Phrommanee, the department’s director-general, said there had been an increasing incidence of Thais travelling to South Korea as tourists and then picking up jobs without ...
KOICA conducts hydropower pre-feasibility study in Laos
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has sent a group of Korean experts to Vientiane province for a pre-feasibility study of a small hydropower pilot project from 12-31 January. The main objective of this preliminary study is to make a proper evaluation on the feasibility of ...
Price wars to subvert gains made by SMEs

Cambodian entrepreneurs and business leaders on 30 January stressed the challenges for firms in the hospitality and retail sectors that adopt an aggressive pricing policy, suggesting a more value-added approach instead. At the 2nd Global Alumni Convention – a forum that brings together Cambodian graduates who studied ...
Yangon buses in a feud for gas

A row has flared between Yangon bus owners and the regional transport authority over access to compressed natural gas. Ma Hta Tha, the Yangon Region Supervisory Committee for Motor Vehicles, says it is inviting buses to sign up to receive more CNG, but some owners ...
Demand for seasonal Tet workers on rise
The rising demand for part-time workers as Vietnam’s Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday approaches is creating more opportunities for workers and students to earn money and gain work experience. Tran Quang Trung, a fourth year student of the Hanoi University, said he had been offered a part-time ...
Quarry incident raises alarm for work safety
When rescue workers retrieved the last body from a collapsed quarry in Yen Lam District, Thanh Hoa Province on 23 January, it raised the total number of work-related deaths in the central province to 20 since the beginning of 2016. The quarry collapse itself led ...
Strong Vietnam GDP growth, low inflation forecast for ‘16

Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) will likely grow 6.82 per cent this year, 0.12 percentage points higher than that predicted by the National Assembly last November in its resolution on the socio-economic development plan for 2016, the Centre Institute of Economic Management (CIEM) said on ...