News
Researchers seek alternatives to Mekong River hydropower dam
The Mekong River, flowing from the Tibetan Plateau through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to the South China Sea, is a hotbed of ecological diversity. The roughly 60 million people who live in the region, many in poverty, depend on the river and its ...
Thousands of Myanmar women forced into marriage in China: study
Thousands of vulnerable women and girls from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam are sold as brides each year, according to a new study. Keep reading ...
Myanmar moves to legalise casinos
Myanmar is considering a plan to legalise casinos. Some already operate under special provisions but changes to the law are being proposed to encourage more tourism and tax collection. A Chinese company is now working with a militia to help it develop a large border ...
Options to mitigate the impacts of the Lower Mekong Basin river damming to fisheries
Newly constructed dams threaten the delicate ecosystem of the Lower Mekong Basin. The solutions are available but as is so often the case, politics stands in the way. Keep reading ...
Trade war: Focus turns to Thailand to conclude $7 trln RCEP
Six years in the making, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is slated to transform the region into an Asean-centric, comprehensive free trade area, poised to make a large contribution to Asian and global economic cooperation. The RCEP may well become the second major Asia-led trade ...
ASEAN countries lag on renewable energy
Renewable energy sources include mainly biomass, waste to energy technology, wind, solar, run-of-river, impounding hydropower sources, ocean, geothermal and hybrid systems. The current renewable energy surge is due largely to booming solar panel deployment in China and throughout the world. It grew by 50 per ...
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia boost anti-drug cooperation
The 17th trilateral-bilateral ministerial meeting on drug control cooperation between Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia took place in Vientiane on December 6. The event creates a good chance for the three countries to review their past cooperation and learn from the experience in the implementation of the ...
Going Live: Round Table Meeting Reviews Laos’ Development Streamed On Youtube
The long, winding road to widespread and deep-rooted socio-economic development for the benefit of all people in Laos passed a milestone yesterday with the 2018 holding of the annual Round Table Implementation Meeting of Lao policymakers, stakeholders and partners including the United Nations streamed live ...
ASEAN to open markets for regional startups
Member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are expected to open their markets for startup companies from the region, especially unicorn startups, to boost development of the regional digital economy. “We also discuss ways to open the markets within ASEAN and expand ...
Lao Dam Collapse Creates Hardship for Student Far From Floodwaters
Laos’ worst flooding in decades — the rupture of a dam in July that inundated 12 villages and killed at least 43 people, leaving hundreds more missing – is still reverberating far away in the capital of the poor, landlocked country. Survivors of the flooding ...