News

Cambodia has announced it will shutter the office of the inter-governmental Mekong River Commission in Phnom Penh, relocating its functions to neighboring Laos. ...

Laos must be prepared to steer and drive the agenda in promoting and strengthening Asean integration under the three pillars, namely Political Security, Economic and Socio-Cultural, to chair Asean effectively. ...

Lao National Assembly and the National Assembly of Cambodia have vowed to continue the exchange and mutual support between the two legislative bodies. The vow was made at a meeting held in Vientiane between the high-level parliamentary delegations led by the Lao National Assembly President Ms ...

Being landlocked and poor has always placed Laos at a disadvantage to its more powerful neighbors. The only body of water that offers Vientiane an international reach is the Mekong River, which flows through the heartland of Southeast Asia. Now, that river, which laps the western ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen left on Thursday for two-day visit to Laos. The delegation accompanying Hun Sen included Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Cabinet Minister Sok An and other members of the Royal Government. A number of agreements will be signed during his visit. The Ministry of Foreign ...

Heads of the national united fronts from three Indochina countries will meet in Vientiane on Wednesday for the Second Summit Meeting. The Lao Front for National Construction (LFNC) President, Dr Phanduangchit Vongsa, informed the media about the planned agenda last week. President of the Solidarity Front for ...

The controversial Don Sahong hydropower dam, which Laos says it will soon build just a kilometre from the Cambodian border, will not have significant effects on the Mekong River, according to an environmental impact assessment paid for by the dam’s builder. Obtained yesterday, the report – ...

The World Wildlife Fund, one of the biggest conservation groups, has called for an emergency meeting with the Mekong River Commission (MRC) in the wake of Laos’ decision to proceed with a second dam on the river. There are fears that this move will seriously undermine ...

After a five-year break, Lao Airlines will revive the Phnom Penh-Vientiane route with direct flights three times a week starting in November, the company’s representative said yesterday. Ek Narun, assistant to the general manager of Lao Airlines in Phnom Penh, said tickets will be available for ...

Five Southeast Asian countries, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam, are targeting a double-digit growth rate of international visitors annually by 2015 under the theme “Five Countries – One Destination”, according to Hoang Tuan Anh, Viet Nam’s Minister of Culture, Sport and Tourism. In a ...

In 2010, the Ha Tien Vegas Entertainment Resort, a casino investment on Kampot province’s border with Vietnam that included luxury karaoke rooms and suites, launched with high hopes of attracting Vietnamese gamblers. At the end of December, Ha Tien Vegas closed down. To the north, in ...

Lao PDR says it will consider joining Thailand and Cambodia’s single visa scheme launched late last year saying it will help to boost Mekong region tourism. A senior official at the consular department in Vientiane told the Vientiane Times, last week, that the government would hold ...

Laos is considering a single-visa scheme with its neighbours Thailand and Cambodia to promote balanced development in the subregion, officials said. The Lao government will hold talks with Cambodia, possibly at the end of this month, to learn from Phnom Penh’s experience in this matter, a ...

After years of discussion, the Cambodian and Thai governments on Tuesday agreed at the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Co-operation Strategy (ACMECS) summit in Laos to establish a Cambodian-Thai Business Council in a bid to enhance trade and investment between the ASEAN neighbours after a decline in ...

The first buses directly connecting Thailand and Cambodia left Bangkok on Thursday, headed for Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, with the launch of a regular service to bolster tourism and economic ties between the two countries. The first airconditioned bus from Bangkok to Phnom Penh left Mor ...

Cambodian-Japanese bank Maruhan Japan opened an office in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on Saturday, making it the second Cambodian bank and the first Japanese bank to come to that country. Maruhan’s presence in Laos would boost economic and investment ties between the two ASEAN member ...

Connectivity is crucial to the process of building the Asean Community, and ties in with the effort to market the region as a single tourist destination, the grouping’s chief said. “Asean is in the process of building the Asean Community, and in the process of building ...

Representatives of the ten ASEAN nations met on Sunday in Laos’ capital of Vientiane to launch the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF), where they pledged to expand tourism cooperation and discussed creating a pan-ASEAN tourist visa. The ATF, which was first held in 1981, is designed to ...

Regional conservationists criticised the Mekong River Commission (MRC) yesterday for leaving the controversial Xayaburi Dam off its agenda at this week’s annual ministerial meeting in Luang Prabang, Laos. Laotian authorities said they would confirm their decision to go ahead with the hydropower project in the mainstream ...

THE [sic] Ministry of Tourism plans to organize an annual River Festival along the Mekong and Tonle Sap in a move to attract tourists, officials said. Additionally, it wants to raise awareness for environmental protection with a “Clean City Day” on February 27. The Minister of ...

BANGKOK- First bus services between the two Kingdoms of Cambodia and Thailand had their debut on December 29, said the Transport Co., a Thai state enterprise under the Transport Ministry. The service includes the Bangkok-Siem Reap route, a 424-kilometre trip that takes about seven hours. ...

The seventh investment–trade–tourism promotion conference for the Cambodia–Laos–Vietnam development triangle took place in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum on December 5. The event attracted the participation of representatives from over 400 domestic and foreign businesses. Vietnam is investing in 50 projects worth close to ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia has called upon Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda for his support in encouraging more investments and tourism from Japan to help strengthen bilateral ties between the two Asian nations. The request was made at a meeting on Monday during the ...

As Asian and European leaders gather for high level meetings this month in Cambodia and Laos, the luxury living quarters and extensive security arrangements made for their arrivals have come at considerable human and environmental expense. Government authorities went on a building spree ahead of this ...