News
Indonesian Govt pushes joint ASEAN efforts on illegal fishing
Almost a year after placing a ban on renewals of licenses for large, foreign-built fishing vessels, the Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry is devising a post-moratorium national plan of action that will focus on strengthening Indonesia’s maritime policies in the context of regional integration. Keep ...
Thai PM calls for regional haze cooperation
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered the Foreign Ministry to work closely with neighbouring countries to tackle the chronic haze problem gripping Southeast Asia. Short- and long-term solutions are needed to deal with the smog caused by slash-and-burn farming on Sumatra Island in Indonesia, Gen Prayut ...
12 Pacific nations agree to historic TPP trade accord
Twelve Pacific rim countries sealed the deal late 5 October (Thailand time) to create the world’s largest free trade area, with implications for Thailand and for world trade in the 21st century. Working around the clock for days past their deadline, haggard trade ministers announced they reached ...
Thai fishing trawlers unloading catch in Cambodia
More than 200 fishing trawlers from Trat province are now docking and unloading their catches in Cambodia’s adjoining Koh Kong province to evade the strict regulations being enforced against unregistered vessels and fishing equipment in Thailand. Keep reading ...
Laos to host ASEAN ministerial meeting on rural development
Laos has confirmed its readiness to host the 9th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication in Vientiane from 13-17 October. Speaking at a press conference on 6 October on preparations for the meeting, Deputy Minister to the Government Office and Vice Chairman of the National ...
On Cambodia's Tonle Sap, Vietnamese families face mass eviction
The Kompong Chhnang provincial government is in the process of evicting about 1,000 mostly Vietnamese families who live in the floating villages on the Tonle Sap river near the provincial capital, moving them up the river as part of a five-year plan to beautify the ...
ASEAN integration will prompt ‘flood of migrants’
A senior investigator at rights group Adhoc has warned that regional economic integration will lead to a flood of Cambodians migrating elsewhere in search of jobs that pay better than those at home. Keep reading ...
World Bank trims Asia forecast but says no China hard landing
The World Bank on 5 October cut its growth forecasts for developing economies in East Asia and the Pacific but allayed fears of a hard landing for China’s slowing economy. The bank also said it expects any increase in US interest rates to have an orderly impact ...
Vietnam fruits lose ground to Thai imports even as ASEAN threat looms
Vietnamese fruit sellers are selling more Thai vegetables, making it harder for local vegetable growers to compete. Thailand is now the largest exporter of vegetables and fruits to Vietnam after surpassing China early last year. Be, who has a fruit shop on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Can Tho, ...
Vietnamese teens busted in Cambodia with endangered animals
Two Vietnamese teenagers were arrested in Kandal province on 2 October after being found illegally transporting 44 endangered tortoises, which they reportedly intended to smuggle into Vietnam for sale. Keep reading ...
