Reposted from East Asia Forum
By Lex Rieffel, Brookings Institution
The global policy community has focused on the political challenges facing the government of President Thein Sein in Myanmar and paid little attention to the economic challenges. More…
A worker dries Chinese sausage at the Kim Chanthou handicraft factory in Phnom Penh
Cambodia’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are busily preparing for the ASEAN Economic Community’s free flow of goods in 2015 and are probably not that different from the other 10 ASEAN member states’ own SMEs. More…
A bank employee removes a bundle of rupiah banknotes at the Bank National Indonesia (BNI) in Jakarta
(Reuters) – Little more than a dozen years after the region’s crippling financial crisis, Southeast Asia is looking more a safe haven than a risky bet, with foreign investors souring on China and India and pouring money into markets proving resilient to the global gloom. More…
Reposted from The Phnom Penh Post
Don Weinland
Access to the region’s largest collective financial resource, the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund, could be easier than expected for Cambodia, according to an Asian Development Bank economist.
Initiated in May, the fund is expected to lend up to US$4 billion and leverage up to $13 billion for the region’s infrastructure needs until 2020.
ASEAN countries and ADB have provided initial equity of $485 million for the fund. More…
Reposted from The Phnom Penh Post
By May Kunmakara
North Korea yesterday proposed to lower tax and trade barriers with Cambodia. The proposal, if made into a formal agreement, would join a long list of agreements between the two countries that have never been followed through.
The proposal, made by the country’s ambassador to Cambodia, Hong Ki Chol, during a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon and attended by the Post, would make Cambodian and North Korean businesses exempt from paying “double tax”, or tax in both countries. More…
Until recently, Myanmar had been under military rule for over four decades
This article was originally published on 3 April 2012
For most Canadians, Burma (or Myanmar) is an exotic and repressive country out in Asia somewhere between Thailand and India, run by a ruthless military junta primarily known for violently crushing any opposition and keeping Nobel Peace Prize winner and honorary Canadian citizen Aung San Suu Kyi under endless house arrest. More…
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Cambodia’s Internet penetration more than doubled to 3.1 per cent of the population in 2011, up from 1.3 per cent a year earlier, according to the Internet World Stats website.
The country had 449,160 Internet users at the end of last year and 491,480 Facebook users at the end of March. More…
Reposted from Moneyweek
By Lars Henriksson
About five years ago I had the fortune to take a month-long tour through Myanmar with a group of Burmese and Japanese friends. For the most part, we travelled on buses – relics from Word War II that were crammed with people throughout our trip. Our fellow passengers offered us miniature wooden stools placed in the middle of the aisle to sit down on. And we stared out the window at the strange country that rushed past. More…
Reposted from The Philippine Information Agency
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, April 10 — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat has announced the extension of ASEAN’s technical cooperation with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) until 2015.
The Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, on behalf of ASEAN and Haruhiko Kuroda, the President of the ADB signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which will see the continued cooperation between ASEAN and the ADB in the area of economic and financial integration and capacity building of the ASEAN Secretariat, a statement from the ASEAN said. More…
Thai Prime Ministers Yingluck Shinawatra and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong attend an ASEAN meeting
PHNOM PENH: Asian leaders Tuesday called for Western sanctions against Myanmar to be lifted after its historic polls, as they held summit talks also dominated by North Korea and maritime disputes with China.
The call came amid international praise for Myanmar’s by-elections Sunday which gave democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate and former political prisoner, a seat in parliament for the first time. More…
