Bangkok to Beijing train: Mekong River railway bridge opens
Travellers are one step closer to an epic train journey from Bangkok to Beijing as a new railway bridge over the Mekong River has opened, linking Thailand and Laos by rail for the first time. This milestone, completed last month, leaves just a few dozen miles of a trackless gap before the route can finally reach China. With the launch of this ...
Puntid Tantivangphaisal
Govt sits idly by as China churns up the Mekong
Recently, a coalition of civil society groups, which has monitored development on and along the Mekong River, issued a frightening statement. Fluctuations of river flows during the past three decades have been at record highs, they said. That is a big deal for people whose livelihoods ...
Nauvarat Suksamran
Mekong River dying a slow but certain death
A confluence of drought and dams along the Mekong River has renewed concerns about the future of the 4,700-kilometer waterway, upon which tens of millions of people depend for their livelihoods in China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The number of dams impeding the Mekong’s flow ...
Six Mekong nations call for accelerated action to eliminate malaria before 2030
The governments of Cambodia, China, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam have together called for accelerated action to eliminate malaria in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) by 2030. Signing a joint Ministerial Call for Action at the World Health Assembly in ...
Rain brings relief to Thailand's drought-stricken provinces
The number of drought-hit provinces has more than halved after rain made an appearance in the upper North and Northeast, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department said Sunday. Department chief Chatchai Promlert said 40 provinces were reported as drought-hit until the weekend, when welcome rain eased the ...
Courting ASEAN: US influence in the region has diminished but what comes next for ASEAN?
China and the US have long courted Southeast Asian nations, trying to bring them into their respective spheres of influence and establish a foothold in the region. No one nation dominates completely, but over the last couple of decades, China has stepped up its diplomatic ...
John Pennington
All in the same boat: Tourism potential along the Mekong
A recent field trip to Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, organised by the Thailand Research Fund was aimed at promoting a community-based research project on managing social and cultural tourism routes. The project, extending into Sakhon Nakhon and Mukdahan, will help ASEAN Economic Community policymakers assess tourism potential along ...
The 97km that frustrate China's mastery of the Mekong
Ninety-seven kilometres of rocks in Thai waters stand between Beijing and dominance over the Mekong, a mighty river that feeds millions as it threads south from the Tibetan plateau through five countries before emptying into the South China Sea. China has long wanted to dredge the ...
AFP
Application deadline for Mekong Innovative Startups in Tourism (MIST) Startup Accelerator extended
Due to a blossoming of interest from tourism startups in Viet Nam post-Tết, MIST will be extending the application deadline for startups based in Viet Nam to March 24. However, applicants wishing to take advantage of the deadline extension must still email mist@mekongbiz.org before March 10 ...
MIST
ACMECS and CLMV need reforms
Open regionalism remains on track in the Mekong region although there is an anti-globalisation wave and rising protectionism in other parts of the world. Regional integration has been and will be one of the main foreign policy objectives of the Mekong countries. The 8th ACMECS (Ayeyawady-Chao ...
Curtains to rise on new Mekong film festival
The Mekong Mini Movie Festival will make its debut at TRAVEX this Friday as a year-long event to celebrate the myriad faces and experiences of the Greater Mekong Subregion, promote the region as a single tourist destination, and attract business. Jens Thraenhart, executive director of ...
S Puvaneswary
The hidden costs of hydropower
Hydropower is one of Southeast Asia’s biggest renewable energy sources, however, many still remain oblivious to the damaging side-effects of hydropower projects. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), hydropower capacity in the region grew almost threefold from 16 GW to 44 GW between ...
B Grimm signs MoU for power line in
B GRIMM Power recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Poipet PP SEZ Co, one of the largest industrial-estate operators in Cambodia, to develop a power-transmission line at its industrial park in the western city of Poipet. This will be the company’s starting point in ...
Drug prevention fight a cross-border effort, Mekong countries confirm
Representatives from Laos, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam gathered in Vientiane on Friday for the opening of a centre that will foster close cooperation and support for the fight against illicit drugs in the region. []Speaking at the ceremony, Major General Somvang said: “Currently, drug ...
Mekong province seeks $6.7m from government to check coastal erosion
Ca Mau, which once benefited from coastal accretion, is now asking for US$6.7 million from the government to deal with relentless erosion. Vietnam’s southernmost province has a coastline of more than 250 kilometers and the sea has eaten along 80 percent of it, by 50 meters ...
Mekong communities struggle as China tests dam equipment
Water levels on the Mekong River, which flows through China and five other countries before emptying into the South China Sea, have dropped once again after Beijing revealed it was testing equipment at one of its 11 dams in the upper reaches of the vital ...
Leonie Kijewski
Pollution, Overfishing Threaten Important Cambodian Lake
A rich fishery in Southeast Asia is at risk because of overfishing, pollution and hydroelectric dams. The Tonle Sap is a freshwater lake in the middle of Cambodia. The lake shrinks and expands by thousands of kilometers, depending on the season.[]“There are plans to build ...
Kevin Enochs
Roping in China to deal with challenges of the Mekong
Although the Mekong is popularly seen as a South East Asian river, its headwaters are located in China, where it is known as the Lancang. From there it flows through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The future of the Mekong, though, will be heavily ...
Amata gets IFC backing in sustainability push
The industrial sector in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam contributed 32.3 per cent of the region’s GDP in 2017 and provided an estimated 20 per cent of the employment, said the IFC, the private-sector arm of the World Bank. It said that industrial zones provide ...
