Southeast Asian foreign ministers opened their annual meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, yesterday to discuss and further strengthen Asean community building and enhance regional cooperation. Lao Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Saleumxay Kommasith attended the 52nd Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and Related Meetings hosted by Thailand. Those present ...

If Southeast Asia is to truly be a single tourist destination, give visitors from afar a single visa to travel freely. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is undertaking a tourism marketing campaign to mark its 50th anniversary this year. It is called “Visit ASEAN@50: ...

The greater data sharing, transparency and cooperation between Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam and dialogue partners will improve management of the Mekong River, the Mekong River Commission said. The MRC said, in its 13-page long commentary note on a 2020 study exploring the effect of Chinese ...

High profile CEOs, prominent businessmen, ministers and leaders of ASEAN, India and Timor-Leste will gather in Phnom Penh next week for the launch of the three-day World Economic Forum on ASEAN, which kicks off on May 10. “There will be many high profile businessmen and companies ...

SET-listed PTT Plc, the national oil and gas conglomerate, is branching out into property management, according to a key company official. The move is part of a plan to diversify into other sectors at a time when global oil prices remain weak, said Auttapol Rerkpiboon, ...

Vietnam’s prolonged drought, coupled with an extensive buildup of salinity, have driven five provinces in the country’s rice bowl to declare a state of emergency. “This year’s drought and salinity have been way more devastating than what we saw four years ago,” said Nguyen Thien Phap, ...

The toll tax on Vientiane-Vangvieng expressway was hiked to keep up with the value of kip reducing against the US dollar.The Laos-China Expressway Development Cooperation Co., Ltd announced its new toll rates would apply from 1 January, on the 109.11 km expressway that connects Vientiane Capital with ...

The Don Sahong Hydropower Project on the Mekong River in Champasack Province has officially come online.Turbines have now entered commercial operations, according to Chinese construction contractor, Sinohydro Corp Ltd.The US 401 million hydropower project, near Khone Falls in Champasack Province, was completed 48 days ahead of schedule, ...

Water in the Mekong river in this northeastern border province has turned from yellowish-brown to greenish-blue — a strange phenomenon that makes the river look beautiful but could be a sign of danger, according to a local media report. The water in the Mekong river is ...

For the fourth year in a row, Transparency International has rated Cambodia the country perceived as ASEAN’s most corrupt, and just ahead of North Korea and Afghanistan for the entire Asia-Pacific region. The 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index, which scores and ranks 176 countries and territories ...

Local communities along the Mekong River are asking the government to establish a fund, made up of collected tax revenues from development projects on the waterway, to compensate villagers affected by them. “This fund [should] not be a corporate social responsibility scheme,” said Ormbun Thipsuna, president ...

1. The Third Lancang-Mekong Cooperation(LMC) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting was held in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, China on 15 December 2017. H.E. Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, H.E. Prak Sokhonn, Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International ...

Deadlines have been extended for Mekong Business Initiative’s MATCh innovation accelerator. MATCh, Mekong Agri Tech Challenge, is seeking mature startups aspiring to enter new markets and budding startups with agritech solutions and products. The Greater Mekong Sub Region is rich in natural resources and ripe with opportunities to make your launch successful.  The startup accelerator track is accepting ...

China’s upstream activities along the Mekong River have long been contentious — but a recent study has sparked fresh scrutiny over its dam-building exercises, reigniting warnings that millions of livelihoods could be destroyed. A U.S.-government funded study by research and consulting firm, Eyes on Earth, found that Chinese dams ...

The U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia on September 28 hit the country with a growing list of criticisms over alleged human rights abuses, which Cambodia parried with the apparent support of neighboring states, including Burma, Laos, Thailand and China. Rhona Smith, in a presentation ...

A network of environmentalists is getting ready to protest against a Chinese government survey of the Khon Pi Long rapids in Chiang Rai. The Chinese team on April 18 began its 50-day study of the rapids, which lie along the Mekong River. Environmentalists fear China wants ...

Deputy Transport Minister Thaworn Senneam called for the appointment of a committee on safe labour mobility during the 24th Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Ministerial Conference held online on Wednesday. The meeting was also attended by GMS ministers from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. The ...

Mother of Rivers, Giver of Life The Mekong is the world’s 12th longest river and a crucial lifeline for many in Southeast Asia. Known as the Mother of Rivers (แม่น้ำโขง) in Thailand and Laos, the Mekong brings abundant food and resources to the six countries it ...

This toolkit is for anyone intending to upload or share any datasets as open data on the Open Development Mekong’s (ODM) datahub. It is meant to be used to help guide users of ODM’s datahub through a process of assessing the risks and benefits involved with ...

The Annual Country Reviews reflect upon current land relations in the Mekong Region, and has been produced for researchers, practitioners and policy advocates operating in the field. Specialists have been selected from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to briefly answer the following two questions: 1. ...