Government
ANP aims for two-thirds of Rakhine State’s seats
As the two major national parties, the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party and the opposition National League for Democracy, square off in advance of the November 8 election, attention is also being directed to the prospects of the country’s many ethnic-based parties. The Arakan ...
Cambodia pins economic hopes on AEC
Cambodians are expecting a ‘seamless transition’ when the ASEAN Economic Community is launched in two months and hopefully heralds a second investment wave, capable of transforming this country’s pool of unskilled labor into a manufacturing hub. The first investment wave followed Cambodia’s ascension to the World ...
Advance polling kicks off
Advance voting got under way on 29 October for those unable to cast a ballot in their constituencies on polling day next weekend, many of whom are soldiers and civil servants. The early ballot comes after overseas nationals cast advance votes earlier this month ahead of the ...
UN rights envoy raises election credibility fears
The special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar on 29 October told one of the United Nations highest-level bodies that she is not convinced the coming election will be free and fair. Yanghee Lee criticised the candidate scrutiny process for being non-transparent and for seemingly arbitrarily disqualifying ...
After 2010 fraud, advance vote concerns remain in Kayah State
In 2010, shortly before the 7 November election, U Tun Shwe, a local administrator and Union Solidarity and Development Party official from Chigwe village, Bawlakhe township, was given an unusual task: Place a tick on blank ballot forms next to the USDP logo. The votes were ...
Chinese leader to pay state visit to Vietnam
Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a State visit to Vietnam from 5-6 November at the invitation of Vietnam’s General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Truong Tan Sang, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced. Keep reading ...
ASEAN seeking solution to post-war unexploded bombs
An expert working group’s third conference on humanitarian mine action within the framework of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+) was held in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on 29 October. The event, organised by the Institute for International Relations under the Vietnamese Ministry ...
Ministry's IT skill standards expected to improve
The information and technology (IT) skill standards introduced by Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications will help training centres, employers and employees evaluate the competency of IT staff, experts have said. In May, the ministry issued a decree outlining skill standards for professional staff in the IT ...
Lao Ministry to deploy teachers to wipe out illiteracy
The Ministry of Education and Sports is sending over 20 volunteer teachers to educate illiterate rural areas around the country early next year to replicate an earlier successful Saravan province pilot programme. The teachers will come from the Physical Education Teacher Training College, Dongkhamxang Teacher Training ...
Lao Government to negotiate for lower interest-rate rail loan
The Lao Government has entrusted a committee in charge to negotiate with China to lower the interest rate of a loan Laos intends to borrow from China to develop the planned Laos-China rail project. Minister of Public Works and Transport Dr Bounchanh Sinthavong told the recent ...
