The Lancang-Mekong Youth Exchange and Cooperation Center was inaugurated in Shanghai Monday, with eight universities from China, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam signing a memorandum. The center aims to enhance youth exchanges, cooperation and development among the six countries and will focus on projects of ...

While attention is focused on the coronavirus pandemic, we must also be alert to another fast-spreading hazard claiming lives — wildfires. Several people died this year fighting fires in northern Thailand. Now, hundreds of fires are burning there, in Laos and Myanmar. We expect more fires ...

Indeed, the Mekong River—the tenth largest river hosting the second largest biodiversity in the world—is a gorgeous natural treasure that six countries on the Asian continent are blessed with. Her 4,909-kilometer journey commences on the vast hills of the Tibetan Plateau, spanning the territories of China, ...

Japan plans to extend about $994 million in low-interest lending to Myanmar for such projects as railways and water treatment plants, the latest step in Tokyo’s push to bolster ties with the Southeast Asian country. This would mark Japan’s first development financing initiative for Myanmar since ...

In recent years, countries in the Mekong region have faced over-supply of methamphetamine from the Golden Triangle. Especially Crystal meth and “Yaba” a methamphetamine pill. Methamphetamine has become more accessible and available, despite efforts to disrupt supply and precursor chemicals. New strategies are needed to stop ...

As much as 80 percent of irregular migrant workers were ferried into Thailand by smuggling services, sometimes with the help of corrupt Thai officials, a recent report by the United Nations said. In a report released at a news conference last week, the UN Office on ...

In a nod to green diplomacy, Vietnam is raising the geopolitical stakes over the Mekong River, Southeast Asia’s largest body of water, which has dropped to record lows due to a severe drought and construction of large dams. Hanoi has signaled its intent to raise the issue this ...

On any list of places menaced by climate change, Vietnam’s broad and fertile Mekong Delta ranks near the top. And yet, as I wrote for Mongabay four years ago, rising seas and changing weather patterns are not the only threats to the delta’s fabled fecundity. A spasm of ...

On 6 November, the Mekong River Commission acknowledged that climate change had exacerbated this year’s wildly varying water levels on the Mekong – which saw the mighty river reduced to a trickle in parts, even during the rainy season. But the main contributor, it said, ...

Banpu Power Plc has reported its 2016 business performance, with its net profit of Bt4.13 billion, a significant increase on the Bt2.07 billion it posted in the previous year. With its strong financial status, Banpu Power has affirmed its strategic plan in operating conventional and renewable ...

Cambodia and Vietnam inked an agreement on October 26 to drop import tariffs on dozens of products in an effort to boost bilateral trade. Cambodian Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnamese Minister of Trade and Industry Tran Tuan Anh ahead of the ...

The number of the endangered Irrawaddy dolphins found in Myanmar this year has increased to 79, the highest in a decade, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society of Myanmar (WCS). The numbers include seven calves aged three months or younger. The Irrawaddy dolphins can also be found ...

The Thai government has also implemented a measure to reduce the demand for drugs in the country. This comes as new producers keep on emerging regardless of seizures.  They will keep doing so as long as there is demand. Signatories of the Safe Mekong Coordination Project have met ...

From the snowy plateaus of Tibet to the mountain gorges of China’s Yunnan province and beyond to the jungled borders of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and down to the plains of Cambodia and paddy fields of Vietnam – the Mekong River is of crucial importance to ...

Japan’s official development assistance to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has been an effective “investment in the future” for the 10-nation region and Japan, bolstering development and prosperity for both parties, according to a government paper released Friday. The ODA White Paper for 2013 calls ...

The opening of a new bridge between Thailand and Myanmar has pushed Southeast Asia one step closer to the realization of an East-West Economic Corridor, connecting the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean.  The corridor, which passes through Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, is set to ...

Cambodia has cleared more square kilometres of landmines than any other country over the past year, according to a new report by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, but is still unlikely to meet its goals in coming years. At 46.5 square kilometres, Cambodia’s demining ...

Mekong River levels are expected to rise as hydropower dams in the Upper Basin begin releasing water from upstream reservoirs. These dry season releases will affect the river’s natural flow, experts said, altering livelihoods across the basin. Regional specialists tracking the ebb and flow of the ...

Representatives from six countries along the Lancang-Mekong River launched a joint crackdown on cross-border human abducting and trafficking Tuesday in Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province. Due to low risk and high profit, human trafficking has been on the rise in recent years in the ...

Last year, while parts of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and southern Vietnam experienced a devastating drought, China held abundant water on the Upper Mekong River back from downstream communities, wiping out crops and fishing stock and bringing one of the world’s great waterways to its knees. At ...