Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) has today downgraded the Government of Laos’s issuer rating to Caa2 from B3 and changed the outlook to negative. This concludes the review for downgrade initiated on 19 June 2020. The decision to downgrade the rating to Caa2 reflects Moody’s assessment that ...

Rights groups and researchers have welcomed Thailand’s decision to cancel a Beijing-backed project to dredge and blow open a shallow and rocky stretch of the Mekong River along the Thai-Lao border. The move is a rare victory for groups and communities fighting to save Southeast Asia’s ...

The Don Sahong hydropower dam in Laos has begun operations and this week connected its power grid to Cambodia, a Cambodian official said on Wednesday as the country steps up electricity imports after continued power outages last year. Don Sahong, which was designed for an installed ...

Laos and Morocco have made satisfactory progress in bilateral relations and cooperation over the past two decades, with the two countries in Asia and Africa cooperating in various sectors, an audience in the capital heard Wednesday. Diplomats outlined highlights of the relationship to date at ...

More Japanese investors are seeking to locate factories at Pakxe-Japan SME Specific Economic Zone in Champassak province in moves set to generate hundreds of jobs for Lao people. Approval of planned investments by the companies is expected between now and the end of this year, ...

Authorities in northwestern Laos are forcing hundreds of families to relocate to make way for the expansion of a lignite power plant, setting the stage for a dispute over compensation with residents who say they will be shortchanged by the communist government’s ambitious development plans. A ...

The lower three Mekong Countries, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam as well as environmental groups, have expressed concern about the Don Sahong dam’s impact on the environment, movement of fish and water quality and flow. The project has yet to be approved by the Mekong River Commission, ...

The Laos-China railway project will bring in locomotives, electric multiple unit (EMU) trains and other equipment to conduct the first trial run of the railway in October. The plan was presented at the 10th Laos-China Railway Project Steering Committee Meeting held in Vientiane on Wednesday, attended ...

Laos is the latest country to report a local transmission of Zika virus, according to the World Health Organization, as fears mount over the mosquito-borne illness that has been linked to birth defects. Asia has seen only a sprinkling of cases of the virus, but a ...

Six years ago, Central Embassy, Bangkok’s newest shopping mall, celebrated its opening with aplomb, attracting several thousand local celebrities to a glitzy affair. This luxurious and futuristic-looking mall was described by Travel & Leisure as a “monster of a shopping complex”. During the same month, the World ...

Laos is ready to play the role of ASEAN chair and host the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits which will be held back-to-back in Vientiane next year. Lao Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alounkeo Kittikhoun and Malaysian ambassador Than Tai Hing co-chaired an Asean Consultative Meeting (ACM) in ...

More Lao fishermen have been arrested in southern Thailand for illegally entering the country as they tried to return home from Malaysia, where they had been working in the fishing industry for years, the fishermen and local officials said. Like an earlier group arrested on Dec. ...

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Phạm Bình Minh and Lao Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith co-chaired the sixth ministerial consultation in the northern province of Quảng Ninh on Wednesday. Both sides expressed their delight at the considerable development of bilateral ties in various areas, with ...

Heavy rainfall over several hours caused flood waters to inundate farmlands and cut off key road routes in Khamkeuth district, Borikhamxay province, an official has confirmed.Officials in at-risk areas are monitoring river levels including Phao and Kata Rivers through to the Nam Thern River, which ...

Experts from several ministries and international organisations met in Vientiane yesterday to discuss and share experiences as part of framing a draft regulation for occupational health and safety. The creation of the Management of Occupational Safety and Health Decree is in line with the Ministry ...

A pipeline stretching from central to north-east Thailand promises to “promote Thailand as an energy hub in the region” and “increase energy security”, according to the Ministry of Energy. Construction began in mid-2019, despite local communities objecting that the largely Chinese-financed project could worsen flooding ...

The Sixth International Conference and Exhibition on Water Resources and Hydropower Development in Asia, held in Vientiane last week, gathered experts in the field to discuss how hydropower could be developed in the most beneficial ways. The conference, which ran from 1-3 March, discussed the experiences ...

Storm Noul hit southern Laos on Friday after passing through Vietnam, bringing heavy rain and flooding to many areas. In Xekong province, the main road in Ta-oy district was flooded on Friday, causing problems for traffic. A local official said “Livestock was moved to higher ground ...

Lao villagers displaced by two Chinese-backed dam projects and now living in resettlement communities in uphill areas of two provinces say they fear their new homes will fall off nearby cliffs due to landslides caused by annual monsoonal rains. Some of the more than 100 families ...

Nineteen domestic and foreign companies have expressed their interest in developing the planned Vientiane-Pakxe expressway, a senior government official has said. The Ministry of Planning and Investment recently called for local and foreign investors to apply for participation in the mega project by submitting an ...