News

International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva urged ASEAN leaders to invest in international cooperation as well as growth-enhancing reforms to fully recover and continue on the pre-pandemic path to prosperity amid a global economic slowdown. ... ...

Cambodia expects to attract more investment from India after an agreement on trade and investment was made by all ASEAN leaders last week in New Delhi. Officials said India would become a potential market for Cambodia. The agreement will encourage Indian investors to invest in ASEAN ...

The president of the Philippines, a major Asean claimant to portions of the South China Sea, says the country wants the right to solve its problems on the world stage. But Asean leaders on Tuesday sought to downplay his remarks and said they did not ...

Asean leaders Tuesday discussed the importance of expanding economic opportunity for the region, vowing to increase efforts for better trade and investment amid members states and with the US. Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of Asean, said “more and more” was expected of Asean today. “So it is ...

Prime Minister John Key has joined a launch of Asian free trade talks - but made it clear he favours a US-backed deal. The East Asian Summit wrapped up in Phnom Penh yesterday with Asian leaders formally announcing a start to negotiations towards a Regional Comprehensive ...

Asean leaders yesterday failed again to form a common front towards geo-political disputes with China over the South China Sea as the Philippines vowed to continue shouting while Cambodia tried to contain discussions to the two immediate sides. The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations hoped ...

Asean leaders have decided to delay the launch of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) for 12 months from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2015 to prepare the necessary regulations. Lao deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Thongloun Sisoulith told the Bangkok Post that Asean ...

As Cambodia prepares to host a series of top-level meetings in Phnom Penh next week, questions remain over how it will approach major issues such as the South China Sea. ... Analysts now say next week’s meeting will be a test of whether Cambodia will continue ...

Activist groups are planning to hold two separate forums this week in Phnom Penh to call attention to human rights issues and other problems in Asean countries as a meeting of regional and world leaders begin in the city. ... The assembly will meet ahead of ...

Some of Southeast Asia’s most acute problems were left unmentioned yesterday when government-sanctioned civil society groups met with Asean leaders at the regional bloc’s summit in Phnom Penh. NGOs from eight of the 10 Asean states attended the meeting, but the Indonesian delegation pulled out, complaining ...

Participants at the Asean Peoples’ Forum have called on regional leaders to halt plans to construct two controversial hydropower dams in Laos and Cambodia because of the large number of people who will be affected and the lack of public consultation. The forum in Phnom Penh, ...

Asean leaders urged the lifting of economic sanctions against Burma, while the Burmese president made his first public statement on the nation’s recent by-elections, calling them “very successful” at the Asean Summit in Phnom Penh yesterday. “Asean has consistently spoken of lifting sanctions, but now, more ...

Representing more than 1,200 delegates from the 10 Asean countries, the Asean Peoples’ Forum issued a highly critical statement yesterday to visiting Asean leaders concerning issues such as land evictions, effects of large-scale hydropower projects and the opaque nature of drafting the Asean Human Rights ...

An NGO director and a youth leader from two little-known organizations were elected by 2,779 NGO and youth association members at a meeting on March 15 to represent civil society at a meeting with Asean leaders next week, according to a statement released by state-run ...