News
ASEAN pushing global GDP growth
Despite rising trade tensions and geopolitical risks, half of ASEAN’s member states are among the top drivers of global growth. The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) World Economic Outlook released last week painted a bleak future for the global economy which is in a “synchronised slowdown” and ...
Jason Thomas
Farmers in Mekong delta earn more thanks to agricultural restructuring
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development yesterday announced farmers in the Mekong delta have earned more thanks to agricultural restructuring. According to the Ministry, in 2019, farmers in the Mekong delta have switched 77,885 hectares of low yield rice area into growing other crops with ...
Nguyen Thanh
Vietnam government to mobilize efforts for mega transportation projects in 2020
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the government would mobilize all efforts for the implementation of major transport projects in 2020. These include the Eastern North-South expressway, Long Thanh International Airport, expansion of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, and feasibility study of North-South express railway project, ...
Hai Yen
Thailand, Myanmar agree to use baht, kyat for cross-border payments
Veerathai Santiprabhob, governor of the Bank of Thailand, and his Myanmar counterpart U Kyaw Kyaw Maung, signed two memoranda of understanding (MoU) on October 18 during the IMF-World Bank meeting in the US. The signing was witnessed by Myanmar’s Minister for Planning and Finance U Soe ...
The Nation Reporter
E-commerce spending expected to triple in ASEAN
Digital consumers in ASEAN will be spending three times as much in 2025 according to a new study from Facebook and Bain & Company. The joint study by the social media giant and global management consultants released this week found that while consumers in Southeast Asia ...
Jason Thomas
Your data isn’t safe in Thailand
ASEAN has a problem as far as personal data protection goes, and at the bottom of this rung sits Thailand. In a study of privacy and surveillance of 47 countries – four of which are ASEAN – by British tech website Comparitech, Thailand was ranked ...
Sheith Khidhir
87th joint patrol on Mekong River begins
The 87th Mekong River joint patrol led by China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand started on Tuesday from Jingha Port in southwest China’s Yunnan Province. The patrol, expected to last four days and three nights, will involve joint inspections and an anti-drug publicity campaign. The four countries ...
Li Xia
Luang Namtha SEZ eyeing more investors
The Boten Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Luang Namtha province hopes to attract more investors, especially in the fields of education and medicine. The education and medical industry zone opening ceremony was held on Friday. It was attended by representatives of the government, foreign investors and ...
Souksamai Boulom
Plastic industry in recycling push
Thais can profit from plastic waste, as well as help the environment, by adopting a more circular economy, according to one of the world’s largest plastic producers, Indorama Ventures Plc. The company’s senior vice-president Richard Jones told the Bangkok Post last week that plastic waste deserves proper management ...
Apinya Wipatayotin
“We try to not be Thai”: the everyday resistance of ethnic minorities
Surrounded by low-hanging clouds, mud and chickens in a village deep in the northern hills, a young woman tells me, “We are not Thai and we try not to be Thai. Sometimes I find myself talking to my family in Thai and I think, ‘No, ...