Bordering on mass tourism between Thailand and Laos
In the near future, tourists could find it easier to explore the border towns of Thailand and Laos when checkpoints and transportation links are widened for tourism. Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Dasta) is pushing for more tourism co-operation between border towns of the ...
Vietnam, Laos commit to strengthening traditional friendship, special solidarity
Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan and her Lao counterpart Bounnhang Vorachith reached a number of commitments to boost bilateral ties during their talks in Vientiane on 15 October. To foster cooperation between Vietnam and Laos, both sides pledged to facilitate visits by senior leaders and realise ...
More Lao workers return home from Thailand
Many of an estimated 150,000 Lao labourers working in Thailand (both legally and illegally) have continued to return home after Thailand enforced regulations relating to employment of unregistered migrant workers. In Champassak province, many workers, notably those who entered Thailand illegally, returned home as they ...
NA session ends with endorsement of new govt policy framework
The National Assembly (NA) has ended its mid-year session after endorsing four resolutions that create a legal framework under which the government and relevant authorities will carry out their duties over the next six months. Assembly President Mrs Pany Yathotou on Thursday officially closed the 9th ...
Times Reporters
China aims to develop border area with Laos
China has announced that it will invest US$31.4 billion in the Mengla economic zone in Yunnan province of the country, which shares a border with Lunag Namtha and Phongsaly provinces in northern Laos. The investment will cover more than 240 projects in such fields as transportation, ...
Vietnamese companies to mine rock salt in Khammuan, Laos
Two Vietnamese companies have inked a deal for a joint venture rock salt mining project in Khammuan province, Laos, with an engineering, procurement and construction contract signed in Hanoi, Vietnam, on 14 August. Vietnam Chemical Group and Vietnam Lao Chemical and Rock Salt Limited Company signed ...
Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam may face severe drought
Severe to extreme drought is expected to hit the four lower Mekong River Basin countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam from now until January, threatening agricultural production, experts warned Tuesday. The Mekong River Commission, in a statement, said the drought has so far brought the ...
Where Have All the Mekong River’s Fish Gone?
The Mekong was once a river teeming with fish, providing food security for millions of poor farmers as well urban centers. These days, that river of abundance has disappeared, replaced by forlorn fishers who say they’re lucky if they can secure a catch at all, ...
Tom Fawthrop
Upgrade country’s statistics standards to make most of cooperation efforts, official says
Laos will have difficulties in the implementation of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda as well as pushing the country to graduate from Least Developed Countries (LDC) by 2020 without accurate and timely statistics, a government official has stated.Addressing a statistics seminar in ...
Missing Thai paramotor flyer safe in Laos
A Thai paramotor flyer missing since he strayed across the border into Laos on 26 December is safe in Xayaboury province and expected to be sent back home in a day or two, Phusang district chief Waradisorn Onnuch said on 28 December. Keep reading ...
New Lao-Thai centre to help tackle trafficking
Thailand and Laos have decided to set up a social development centre to help tackle human trafficking, Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said on 26 September. After the 20th Thai-Lao Joint Commission meeting at a Chiang Rai hotel, Don told reporters that he had signed a memorandum ...
Modern machinery, technical skills needed to improve wood processing
Modern machines and technical skills are required to enhance the competitiveness of the Lao timber processing industry in line with other countries in the region. Chairman of the Okawa Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Japan, Mr Yuji Sonoda made the observation during an interview with Vientiane ...
Public debt of Laos set to increase due to pandemic effect
The public debt of Laos may increase to as much as 65 to 68 per cent of GDP in 2020 following a sharp fall in national revenue collection alongside an increase in loans due to the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, according to a government official. Revenue collection ...
Thai-Lao duty-free mall proposed for Vientiane
A group of Thai and Lao business people have announced a plan to spend 10 billion baht to develop a large shopping and hotel complex in Vientiane in order to cash in on opportunities arising from the coming from the coming Asean Economic Community. The massive ...
Laos' debt woes worsen as bills for China-funded dams loom
COVID-19 has rattled Laos’ debut in selling a U.S. dollar bond in international markets, adding pressure on a country whose “Wild West of dam building” splurge has put it in a precarious repayment situation, especially in regard to China, its leading lender. Sources familiar with the ...
MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR
Vietnam’s high-ranking military delegation visits Laos
A Vietnamese high-ranking delegation led by Minister of Defence General Phung Quang Thanh is on a friendship visit to Laos from 25-26 December at the invitation of Lao Defence Minister Senior Lieutenant General Sengnouane Xayalath. During its stay, the Vietnamese delegation is set to have talks ...
Thai court holds hope for transboundary justice in the Mekong
The closely watched lawsuit filed by Thai Mekong communities against the Xayaburi Dam’s power purchase agreement (PPA) has reached a critical juncture: the final day that the Administrative Court will accept evidence into the case. It has been just over a year since the Thai Supreme Administrative ...
Thailand, Laos target $8 bn in trade
Thailand and Laos are set to boost bilateral trade to US$8 billion (Bt250 billion) in the next three years, driven mainly by closer cooperation under Asean integration and the setting up of special economic zones. According to the Thai Commerce Ministry, Thai-Laotian bilateral trade rose by 14.32 ...
Chinese investor rings up majority stake in ETL
China’s Comba Telecom has vowed to provide Lao users with improved service and mobile experiences after it successfully acquired a majority stake in Laos’s ETL Public Company and stepped up its management improvement efforts. The Chinese investor bought a 51 percent stake while the Lao ...
Laos gets more funding to mitigate impact of COVID-19 on education
The Global Partnership for Education is allocating a grant of US$7 million via UNICEF to help respond to and mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s education in Laos. According to the UNICEF Laos Office, the grant agreement was signed on Thursday between Deputy ...
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