Government

Police seized more than 54 kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine in the border province of Stung Treng in June – one of the biggest drug busts in the country’s history. Analysts caution that large drug busts like this will only become more common as Cambodia ...

Candidates for Myanmar’s main opposition party are continuing to face hurdles campaigning in Arakan State, with local administrators in several townships reportedly declining to facilitate the party’s activities. The Irrawaddy spoke with six candidates from the National League for Democracy (NLD) competing in races in northern Arakan ...

A United Nations rights investigator raised concern on 28 October about whether Myanmar’s election next month could be considered free and fair because dozens of candidates had been disqualified and hundreds of thousands of people denied the right to vote. Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur on rights in ...

Laos and the Republic of Korea have enjoyed growing bilateral relations and cooperation over the past two decades since they established diplomatic ties on 25 October 1995. Officials of both sides hailed the diplomatic and cooperation achievements at a ceremony this week at the Lao Embassy ...

Laos and Thailand have made progress in their cooperation on border demarcation as well as collaboration in economic, health and social development efforts. This was the conclusion of the 20th Lao-Thai Joint Commission meeting held in Chiang Rai, Thailand, earlier this week, co-chaired by Laos’ Deputy ...

Laos failed attempt to win a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council in a secret vote in New York was greeted with relief on 29 October by a leading Lao human rights group, which urged the communist government to adhere to U.N. rights treaties ...

The Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund from the Republic of Korea has signed a loan agreement for US$80.8 million (about 658 billion kip) with the Lao government. The funds will be used for the development of the Xepian-Xenamnoy hydropower plant in Champassak province. The loan agreement was ...

The Lao government has renewed a policy that rewards veterans who excelled in the revolutionary fight for national liberation, with targeted groups to be awarded under the new system. Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong last month inked the eight-page governmental decree to replace the previous one promulgated ...

The Lao government has instructed central and local state organisations to use up to 35 percent of the annual total budget allocated to them to repay debt they have accumulated. The instruction was part of debt payment measures resolved by the annual government meeting where the ...

Ethnic minorities in Ratanakkiri province have accused local authorities of selling community forest land to a provincial court official and threatening to put them in jail, according to a complaint filed on 27 October. The complaint was filed to the provincial office of rights group Adhoc ...