Economy and industry

The Covid-19 pandemic could see Vietnam’s growth slow down to 4.8 percent this year, but it will remain among Asia’s fastest growing economies. The 4.8 percent GDP growth forecast, compared to over 7 percent in the last two years, is estimated on the basis of a ...

Thailand has lifted its ban to close four ports at the Mekong River to allow essential goods to be shipped to and from China as Thailand is currently facing the COVID-19 outbreak. The four ports, including cargo terminals and border crossing, were closed since March 21 ...

The Ban Ladhan Mekong River Super Major Bridge on Wednesday (April 1) achieved its main section closure over the Mekong River, and thus, major engineering works on both cross-Mekong bridges along the railway have been completed. According to the Laos-China Railway (LCRC), a joint venture in ...

Experts in Cambodia have welcomed the government’s recent halt on hydropower development on the Mekong River until 2030, but called on the government to focus on renewable energies.  The spokesman for the Ministry of Mines and Energy’s General Department, Victor Jona, told VOA on Tuesday that ...

Hydropower dams on the Mekong River are expected to reduce Vietnam’s GDP by 0.3 percentage points due to their impact on fisheries and agriculture. A paper titled “Impacts of Mainstream Hydropower Dams on Fisheries and Agriculture in Lower Mekong Basin” on the open access journal Sustainability published by ...

I sat alongside the Ou river listening to the waves lap against the half-submerged Lat Tha Hae temple in Luang Prabang province, northern Laos. Grandpa Un paused from sweeping his riverside yard and spoke to me in a strong voice. “I was born here,” the ...

SREKOR COMMUNE, STUNG TRENG PROVINCE — Fut Kheun has been keeping a close watch on the water levels at the Sesan II reservoir, in the remote Srekor commune of Stung Treng province. The ethnic Kreung villager is living close to the water at the reservoir, two ...

A 450-megawatt solar plant, the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia, will be built in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan in Vietnam, it has been announced. According to a WAM report, construction of the solar farm in Phuoc Minh commune will start in the ...

As societies around the world focus on containing the spread of the novel coronavirus, millions of people in Southeast Asia have another worry on their minds: How to put food on their table amid a devastating drought. In Thailand, historically low levels of rainfall since last summer have ...

The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission takes us over part of the Mekong Delta – a major rice-producing region in southwest Vietnam. In Vietnam, rice has been a strategic crop for national food security. Vietnam is the fifth largest producer of rice in the world, the majority of ...