ASEAN energy officials set sights on regional power grid
Energy officials will seek to better connect ASEAN members’ electricity grids into a regional energy network over the next five years to better utilise the countries’ respective strengths and weaknesses in power generation, it was announced at a meeting of the bloc in Myanmar’s capital ...
Vietnam launches national day against trafficking in persons
Vietnam held a ceremony was held in the northern border province of Lao Cai on July 30, aiming to raise public awareness of the importance of human trafficking prevention and control. Speaking at the event, President of the Vietnamese Women’s Union Nguyen Thi Thu Ha said ...
500kg ganja found on Mekong riverbank
A drug suppression team of the Mekong Riverine Unit seized 500 kilogrammes of compressed dried marijuana left on the bank of the Mekong river in That Phanom district late on Tuesday night. R/Adm Jaraskiat Chaiyaphan, commander of the Nakhon Phanom MRU, said a team on routine ...
PATTANAPONG SRIPIACHAI
Egco funds 7 new power projects
Electricity Generating Group has budgeted more than Bt30 billion this year for seven power projects both in Thailand and overseas, according to company president Chanin Chaonirattisai. Six of the projects are under construction and scheduled to start commercial operations between this year and 2019, including three ...
Finance Ministry plans reforms in five areas
The Finance Ministry is going ahead with economic reforms in five areas, while standing ready to invest in infrastructure in the hope of making Thailand a transport hub for the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) subregion. Speaking at an event called “SET in the ...
Mekong countries get Covid-19 help
The Defence Ministry will donate 20 mobile negative pressure cabinets to Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar to support their efforts to control the spread of the novel coronavirus. Negative pressure cabinets allow medical staff to safely collect respiratory secretions from patients infected with Covid-19. Ministry spokesman, Lt ...
MONGKOL BANGPRAPA & WASSANA NANUAM
Cement exports set to rise as more factories start production
VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN) – The export value of cement is expected to rise further as several cement factories have been built and are ready to go into production. In 2016, Laos earned just US$200,000 from cement exports, which shot up to US$47.6 million in 2017 and US$47.8 ...
News Desk
Law needed to regulate Thai investors’ abuses abroad: Thai, Myanmar groups
Community groups in Thailand and Myanmar have urged protection of human rights and prevention of environmental impacts – after Thai entrepreneurs were reported to have carried out abusive and environmentally damaging acts in neighbouring countries. Some 27 Thai non-government groups and the Dawei Development Association, a ...
Alibaba plans trade centre in Thai
E-commerce giant Alibaba Group is still investing in Thailand, planning to set up a regional electronic-trade centre and logistics system here to link Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam markets, Industry Minister Uttama Savanayana said. In response to China’s biggest e-commerce company also setting its foothold ...
Law and judiciary
There are many similarities in the structure and establishment of courts, laws and judiciaries across the Lower Mekong, despite their differences in types of government (republics, socialist, constitutional monarchy, etc). They also face some of the same challenges in adherence to rule of law, and ...
Mekong-Lancang cooperation contributes to addressing regional challenges
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh on February 20 suggested that the Mekong-Lancang cooperation (MLC) should contribute to consolidating coordination between countries in handling regional challenges and bringing about long-term benefits for people. The mechanism should aim for strengthening the economy’s resilience in the face ...
Worrying days for the Mekong
Water levels at Southeast Asia’s largest river may be at its lowest levels in a century. Low rainfall, high temperatures and poor dam regulations are contributing to a historic low at the Mekong, affecting the region’s agriculture and fishing industries and leading to rapidly drying taps. Chinese ...
Jason Thomas
Mekong sandbanks obstruct cross-border boat services
The lowest level of water in the Mekong river in several decades has caused sandbanks to emerge, obstructing boat services across the border between Thailand and Laos, according to a local report. The low level of water has been caused by many factors including drought and ...
Pattanapong Siripiachai
Mekong action results in huge haul of drugs
More than 32 million methamphetamine pills have been seized thanks to a two-month-long coordinated anti-drug campaign by countries in the Mekong Delta, says the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB). The joint campaign was implemented in Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia since December, and ...
Thai PM calls for Japanese firms to invest more in Mekong region
Thailand’s Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha has invited Japanese small and medium sized enterprises to invest more in the Mekong Subregion- by taking advantage of its logistic transport links, with the expectation that the region will be able to take a step forward together. Prayut spoke ...
Mekong River's new colour a sign of trouble
The Mekong River has recently acquired an aquamarine colour that may beguile tourists but also indicates a problem caused by upstream dams, experts say. The river usually has a yellowish-brown shade due to the sediment it normally carries downstream. But lately it has been running clear, ...
AP
Call for ban on Mekong dams
A group of 50 youth, community and civil society representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand gathered to celebrate the International Day of Action for Rivers in Kratie province on March 14. They used the event in Sambo district to urge the government and the ...
Big meth seizure on Mekong bank
Rangers made a large seizure of methamphetamine pills and arrested three men in Tha Uthen district of this northeastern border province on Sunday night. The drugs were found by a unit from the 21st Ranger Task Force patrolling the Mekong river bank in Tha Uthen district, ...
PATTANAPONG SRIPIACHAI
Expo held to boost Lancang-Mekong sub-regional trade and investment
The 2019 Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Exposition opened Thursday in Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province, aiming at boosting sub-regional trade and investment. More than 2,000 merchants from home and abroad are expected to attend the five-day event, which has set up 1,800 booths in five ...
Push for more investment in CLMV
Despite the strong economic growth of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, very few Thai companies have sought to capitalise on their economies, say government and industry officials. The Industry Ministry’s Department of Industry Promotion found only a few large enterprises such as PTT Plc, the ...