Myanmar, Thai to open No.2 Friendship Bridge in April
No.2 Friendship Bridge will be opened in first week of April, according to the sources. The new Bridge is aimed at facilitating transport of people and goods and vehicle travel among the six member countries of the Greater Mekong sub-region: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and ...
Inequality, Migration, & Industry 4.0 Challenge GMS Prosperity
The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries have made stunning progress over the past quarter century. Once plagued by poverty, they are now economic success stories. The GMS Economic Cooperation Program (GECP) has contributed significantly to this transformation. Since it was established in 1992 as a ...
AEC News Reporter
Sustainable Livelihoods Behind Street Vending in Thailand
When people talk about sustainable development there is rarely any mention of the many street vendors who make a living on streets in Thailand, as across the rest of Asia. []In January it was reported that the Thai authorities had arrested over 1,600 illegal migrants, mainly ...
Kalinga Seneviratne
Pak Beng dam project riles locals
Environmental activists will petition the Administrative Court Thursday to help in their protest against the new Pak Beng dam project on the Mekong River in Laos, which could bring both ecological and economic impacts to the region. They want the court to encourage state agencies, ...
Lancang-Mekong Cooperation: Blessing or curse?
The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) marked its third anniversary last week with the announcement that China’s trade with the five Mekong member countries – Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam – has reached over US$260 billion for the period, highlighting the overarching role China plays in ...
Jason Thomas
Media workers lament decline in freedom of expression in Thailand
“We are the worst, even when compared to Laos or Vietnam,” said Kulachada Chaipipat, campaign manager at the Southeast Asia Press Alliance. “Those two countries have seen stagnant, bad situations, but Thailand is going down.” Speaking on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on ...
Cambodia Seeks UNESCO World Heritage Status to Protect a Mekong Biodiversity Hotspot
A bold Cambodian plan to secure World Heritage status along their stretch of the Mekong, where the free-flowing river has sustained some of the world’s greatest biodiversity, could provide much-needed respite to a river in danger of dying from dams and over-exploitation, experts say. In Phnom Penh, the Environment ...
Tom Fawthrop
AMM49 voices concern about recent complicated situation in East Sea
The 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting took place in Laos’s capital city of Vientiane on July 24 with the participation of 10 Foreign Ministers from ASEAN member countries and the ASEAN Secretary General. The Vietnamese delegation to the meeting was led by Deputy Prime Minister and ...
Bear paws, pangolin scales: Wildlife trade flourishing in Mekong
A new study by TRAFFIC, a group that monitors the illegal trade in wildlife, has found thousands of animal parts and products – from pangolin scales to ivory and bear bile – for sale in five countries in mainland Southeast Asia, underlining the region’s struggle ...
AL JAZEERA
China, the Mekong River and Thailand’s Regional Infrastructure Fund
The headwaters of the Mekong River are located on the Tibetan plateau in China. The 4,350 kilometre-long river flows through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Thailand is seeking to establish a regional fund with its riparian neighbours. The fund is intended to provide capital ...
How better hydropower planning can avert future disasters on the Mekong
The collapse of the Xepian-Xe Nam hydropower dam in Sanamxay district of Attapeu Province, Lao PDR on July 23 is a major tragedy that took the lives of at least 34 Laotians, with at least 100 more still missing and thousands displaced. Some 50 days on, ...
Mekong water level in Kratie set to decrease
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) said on Monday that the river’s water level in Kratie province is expected to decrease by 50cm to 1.5m from April 12-19, as the outflow from China’s Jinghong hydropower station is gradually reduced by half to accommodate the Dai ethnic ...
Khorn Savi
Inaugural ASEAN Tourism Awards Japan Presented to Excellent Tours to the ASEAN Member States
he ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) has awarded eleven tour products in six categories for the trips with destinations to the ASEAN Member States (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) as winners of the ASEAN Tourism Awards Japan 2018. With the ...
GMS nations back investment boost
The region’s transportation network stands to get an investment boost after the The 21st Greater Mekong Subregion Ministerial Conference decided on a new investment plan on December 1. Six ministers from GMS countries — China, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar — endorsed an additional ...
Police who use position for personal gain should be disciplined
VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN) – The case of a well-known Lao businessman who was fined over a dubious traffic offence has been a hot topic on social media after he referred the incident to the court of public opinion.The man was driving a Jeep on Road ...
News Desk
Study assesses Phou Bia mountain’s tourism potential
VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN) – Xaysomboun province’s Information, Culture and Tourism Department and the Khamphay Sana Group have begun a feasibility study on the building of tourist facilities on Phou Bia Mountain, hoping to spur interest in environmental protection while also opening up the area to ...
Viengdavanh Banphahaksa
Thailand puts 24 provinces on alert in swine fever watch
Thailand has designated 24 provinces as “surveillance areas” for African swine fever and ordered strict animal controls in hopes of preventing an outbreak of the deadly disease that has hit its neighbours, an agriculture official said on Friday. Thailand has been on high alert since the ...
Australia, Germany, Switzerland to provide nearly USD13 m to improve Mekong’s overall state
Australia, Germany, and Switzerland on Jun 24 committed nearly USD13 million in funding to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to assist Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Viet Nam to respond to pressing challenges while safeguarding the ecological function of the Mekong River and improving people’s ...
KPL
Is China meeting its international environmental and human rights obligations on BRI?
On Thursday, April 25, 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver the keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Second Belt and Road Forum (BRF) for International Cooperation in Beijing. Heads of state and other senior government officials from 37 governments will attend, including representatives from ...
Oliver Ward
EEC tied to China's One Belt, One Road
The government says the much-touted Eastern Economic Corridor is ready to be an important part of China’s One Belt, One Road initiative, which envisions connectivity between China and Eurasia. Speaking Monday at a seminar entitled “Thailand-Hong Kong-Shanghai Strategic Partnership on One Belt, One Road,” Deputy ...