Cross-border trade with Thailand estimated at just $1.5 million for first quarter

#Cambodia’s cross border trade with Thailand fell to $1.5 million in the first quarter as the coronavirus hit the global economy and led to closure of dozens of checkpoints.

The Thai Foreign Trade Department said the country’s overall cross-border trade, including transit trade, totalled 264.97 billion baht in the first three months, with Malaysia still the biggest partner for Thailand’s border trade.

Transit trade involves the passage of goods through more than one country.

Of the total figures, exports from Thailand totalled 187.56 billion baht, down 5.4% from the first three months of last year, with imports also shrinking 12.6% to 77.40 billion baht, resulting in a trade surplus of 110.15 billion baht.

Thailand’s border trade with four neighboring countries amounted to 195.66 billion baht, down 7.4% from the same period last year.

Of the total, two-way trade with Malaysia totalled 56.47 billion baht, followed by trade with Laos (42.68 billion baht), Cambodia (48.33 billion baht) and Myanmar (48.16 billion baht).

Cambodia had the lowest cross border trade with Thailand after Malaysia the biggest partner for border trade, followed by Laos, Myanmar.

Malaysia remained the biggest partner for border trade, with two-way trade reaching 476.15 billion baht, down 8.7%, followed by Laos (181.80 billion baht), Myanmar (180.73 billion baht) and Cambodia (146.41 billion baht) for the first 11 months of 2019.

Transit trade with Singapore, Vietnam and southern China dropped 2.2% in the first quarter, totalling 61.86 billion baht.

Transit trade to southern China recovered to fetch the greatest value after China reopened, with value rising to 28.62 billion baht, up 4.9%, followed by Singapore (19.70 billion baht) and Vietnam (13.53 billion baht).

Keerati Rushchano, director-general of the department, said outstanding performance was seen in exports to Cambodia, which saw continued growth of 14.3% in the first three months despite the deadly virus.

Higher shipments were led by non-alcoholic drinks, automobiles and parts, and livestock.

Shipments to Laos also registered an increase of 2.4% in the period, especially for computers, non-alcoholic drinks and fresh fruits.

“Overall cross-border trade remains inactive, as the pandemic scatters throughout the world and seriously hits the global economy,” Mr Keerati said. Bangkok Post

Source - Khmer Times

#Cambodia - Tourism caravan reaches final destination

The caravan entered Cambodia from Laos through the border gate in Steung Treng province.

 A caravan of 33 vehicles organised to promote tourism sites in China, Laos and Cambodia reached its final destination on Saturday.

 The convoy departed Kunming, in China’s Yunnan province, on Nov 16, crossing Laos before arriving in Cambodia on Nov 25.

The convoy crossed into Cambodia through the border gate at Stung Treng province. It then travelled to Phnom Penh, Kandal and Kampong Thom before reaching its final destination, Siem Reap. From Kunming to Siem Reap, the convoy traveled about 6,000 kilometers.

The official name of the caravan is the “Lancang-Mekong Culture and Tourism Exchange and Historical Cities Caravan Tour from China, Laos and Cambodia”.

The convoy’s goal was to promote tourism sites visited along the way as well as cultural and tourism exchanges within the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework.

The convoy was organized as part of the ‘2019 China-Cambodia Culture and Tourism Year.’

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the end of the caravan in Siem Reap on Saturday, Hor Sarun, undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Tourism, said the convoy helped promote Cambodia’s tourism potential.

“The caravan provided an opportunity to have cultural exchanges and promote tourism by visiting important sites along the Mekong-Lancang river, which is an important historical area,” Mr Sarun said.

 

Shi Ling, deputy director-general of Yunnan’s Department of Culture and Tourism, asked Cambodians to consider traveling to Yunnan province during their next vacation.

Source - Khmer Times

Thai Airways to Cancel 6 Routes to 4 ASEAN Nations, including Laos

Thai Airways International is looking into cancelling six fight routes to four Southeast Asian nations, namely Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos.

These routes, which all emanate from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, are to Phnom Penh, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Yangon, Vientiane and Luang Prabang, The Nation reported.

The Nation quoted Sumeth Damrongchaitham, President of Thai Airways as saying that these routes are all covered by a small number of flights and have low customer capacity.

Mr Sumeth added, however, Thai Airways will assign Thai Smile Airways to cover these routes instead once the cancellation plan is finalized.

The company’s decision comes amid fierce competition as airliners reduce prices stay ahead of its rivals, according to Mr Sumeth.

He added that the company will focus on rolling out promotional campaigns until year-end while adjusting its strategies to preserve its reservation rate, although next year’s strategy remains to be seen.

“Our prices this year have been reduced to a record low, and if this strategy doesn’t work, we may take a different direction, such as seeking more partners for organization tickets, increasing online channels, or giving privileges to frequent fliers,” said Mr Sumeth, as quoted by The Nation.

The company has a total debt of over THB 2.45 billion (USD80.9 million) and losses of more than THB 20 billion (USD661 million), despite being able to reduce its debts by THB 48 billion (USD1.58 billion) over the past five years, according to The Nation.

Source - The Laotian Times

Baby saved from #Laos dam disaster by Thai cave rescue volunteers

The rescue of a baby boy, terrified and hungry after days without food, has been captured in a viral video showing the infant survivor of a dam collapse in southern Laos being carefully carried through swirling flood waters and waist-high mud.

Footage of volunteers from Thailand rescuing 14 people, including the baby, went viral when it was released on Friday as an increasingly international relief mission scrambles to save lives in a disaster that has left scores dead and missing.

 The survivors were stranded by flood waters after they fled up a hill on Monday as the Xe-Namnoy dam broke under heavy rain, leaving several villages devastated by flash floods.

    The Thai team, who waded several kilometres through rushing water carrying uprooted trees and debris to rescue the group, are fresh from efforts to help free a youth football team trapped in a cave in the north of their country.

 A member of the Thai Rescue Team volunteer group helping a young flood survivor to keep warm close to the swollen river in Attapeu province.

 They have now come to help out in neighbouring Laos, which is poorly equipped to deal with natural disasters of this scale.

    "The boy is four months old. He didn't have fever but he was crying, maybe because of the cold weather," Kengkard Bongkawong, one of the rescuers, who is from Thailand's northeast, told AFP.

  "The baby was crying and looks terrified. Actually they were (all) still terrified of the rushing water."

    The video had been watched nearly half a million times hours after it was posted online on Friday.

    Earlier this week officials said 27 bodies had been retrieved so far, with the country's prime minister reporting 131 missing.

    But on Friday the governor of Attapeu province Leth Xiayaphone revised down the toll to five, saying the larger number previously given was "unconfirmed information".

 A Thai Rescue Team volunteer group rescuing flood survivors, including a baby trapped in a remote village, close to the swollen river in Attapeu province. 

Secretive Communist authorities in Laos are not used to international scrutiny and have blocked access to foreign media, complicating efforts to establish the exact death toll.

    The dam disaster has also raised serious questions over Laos' big bet on hydropower to propel it out of poverty.

Source - TheNation

 

Thousands flee as dam breaks in #Laos

THOUSANDS OF people have been displaced from their homes and an unknown number killed in Laos’ southern Attapeu province following the collapse of part of a hydroelectric dam under construction following heavy rains.

The disaster came hours after an official of the construction firm warned of imminent danger.One of five saddle dams supporting the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy Dam collapsed at 8pm on Monday, releasing 5 billion cubic metres of water. The news of the tragedy only reached Bangkok yesterday morning.

Houses in Attapeu’s southern Sanamxay district were swept away, claiming lives, and several hundred people were missing, according to the state-run Lao News Agency.

 Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith suspended his monthly cabinet meeting and led senior government officials to Sanamxay to monitor rescue and relief efforts.

 Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith suspended his monthly cabinet meeting and led senior government officials to Sanamxay to monitor rescue and relief efforts.

The collapse of the support dam caused flash flooding in six Sanamxay villages – Yai Thae, Hinlad, Mai, Thasengchan, Tha Hin and Samong. Hinlad and Mai were particularly hard hit.

Pictures and videos shown on state-run and social media showed the chaotic evacuation of people from inundated areas. Many people were seen clinging to the roofs of their houses, surrounded by water. 

There were claims on social media of many people dead and missing, but no official report from local authorities as of press time.

Authorities in Attapeu pleaded for agencies to provide emergency aid for the victims, including clothing, food, drinking water and medicine.

Attapeu Planning and Investment Department Director Soulichanh Phonkeo told the Vientiane Times newspaper that some victims were washed away in the torrent, but many managed to grab tree branches and wait for rescue.

“We need a large number of boats to rescue them from the danger area,” he said.

An official of Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy Power Co (PNPC) had on Monday issued a warning of danger at the dam. In a letter, the company’s head of resettlement, Lee Kan Yeol, told colleagues in Champasak and Attapeu provinces that, “Saddle Dam D is not safe and is in very dangerous condition” due to heavy rainfall.

He advised that the saddle dam’s failure would unleash five billion tonnes of water into the Xe Pian River basin. Lee said people living along the river downstream should be moved to higher ground to avoid an “unfortunate accident” if the heavy rain caused one.

The 410-megawatt Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy Dam is expected to generate 1,860 gigawatt-hours of power when completed. The project is budgeted for US$1.2 (Bt40 billion).

PNPC is a joint venture formed in March 2012 by SK Engineering and Construction (which has a 24-per-cent stake), Lao Holding State Enterprise (26 per cent) and Korea Western Power and Thailand’s Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding (RATCH), which together hold the balance of shares.

.

FOR THE BEST GLOBAL HOTEL & FLIGHT BOOKINGS

.

 RATCH director Kijja Sripatthangkura said Saddle Dam D was one of five sections surrounding the main dam and its collapse would not affect power production from the project. 

But he noted that 600 million cubic metres of water had flooded seven villages and affected more than 6,000 people in 1,700 households. His company was coordinating with officials at the site about repairing the damage, he said, but the work could not begin until more water can be released from the main dam.

Pianporn Deetes of the conservation group International Rivers said there were major risks with dams that are not designed to cope with extreme weather conditions such as very heavy rain. And unpredictable extreme weather events are becoming more frequent in the region due to climate change, she said. 

“This disaster also shows the inadequacy of warning systems for the dam construction and operations,” said Pianporn, who has long monitored dams in the Mekong River basin. 

“The warning appears to have to come very late and was ineffective in giving people advance notice to ensure their families’ safety.”

Source - TheNation 

#Laos Receives Four Russian Mi-17 Helicopters

Russian Helicopters, part of the Rostec State Corporation, has completed its first service contract to the Lao Ministry of Defence, transferring four repaired Mi-17 helicopters at an official handover ceremony on Wednesday.

The ceremony was held at the Vientiane air base and was presided over by Lao Deputy Minister of Defence, Phouvong Vongphom, who inspected the helicopters.

A crew from the Lao Air Force made a demonstration flight in the repaired helicopter during the event.

“We prepared an offer to repair another batch of Mi-17 type helicopters at the request of the Lao party. I hope the decision will be made shortly,” said CEO of Russian Helicopters, Andrei Boginsky.

The two sides held talks on supplies of new aircraft and continuation of cooperation in service and maintenance of earlier deliveries.

The Lao aircraft fleet includes over 20 civil and military helicopters. Laos operates Ka-32T helicopters in addition to the Mi-8/17 type.

Source -Laotian Times

#Laos drug lord ‘Mr X’ jailed for life by Thai court

A major Laos drug lord dubbed ‘Mr X’ was jailed for life on Tuesday by a Bangkok court, as Thailand battles record meth trafficking through its borders.

Xaysana Keopimpha, a swaggering Laotian who before his arrest paraded his celebrity links and penchant for sports cars on social media, was picked up at Bangkok’s main airport in January last year.

He was accused of being a kingpin in a meth smuggling ring that funneled tons of Myanmar made yaba pills and ice — crystal meth — through Communist Laos and into Thailand.

The Laos route south is increasingly used by trafficking gangs keen to reach markets in Thailand, Malaysia and as far as Australia and Japan — where the price of the drug steepens.

A Bangkok court initially handed Xaysana the death penalty but reduced it to life imprisonment after he admitted several charges of drug smuggling, including over 1.2 million yaba pills in a case dating back to 2016.

“Due to his confession during the investigation process, the court decreases his sentence to life imprisonment,” a Criminal Court judge said in his ruling.

. 

FOR THE BEST GLOBAL HOTEL & FLIGHT BOOKINGS

.

 Evidence pulled from mobile phones linked Xaysana with a smuggling network that used Nong Khai, the Thai border point with Laos, to move drugs south, the judge added.

Standing handcuffed in his prison uniform, Xaysana did not react as the verdict was delivered.

Details of Xaysana’s colorful life unspoiled after his arrest last year.

Investigators say he boasted a contacts book stuffed with the rich and powerful, including Thai celebrities, who may have helped shield his narcotics cartel.

According to Thai police, Bangkok and its surrounding suburbs offered crucial hideaways and protection for the drug syndicate, with high-end car dealers and celebrities helping to launder Xaysana’s profits.

They allegedly helped move drugs manufactured in the “Golden Triangle” — a lawless border region where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar all meet.

Rampant corruption across the zone has allowed the drug trade to flourish.

Record amounts of yaba and the more addictive ice are being seized by Thai police.

. 

.

 But drug experts say the seizures are as much a sign of surging production as improved police work given cartels have easily been able to make up for confiscations and there has been no palpable increase in street prices. 

 In January, a Thai naval patrol seized 11 million meth pills from traffickers using the Mekong River to move drugs Laos into Thailand.

Cops said estimated the haul to have a street value of up to US$100 million (THB31 billion) — with yaba pills worth up to US$10 (THB310) a pop in parts of Southeast Asia.

Laos’ opaque authoritarian communist regime has also turned the insular country into a sanctuary for both drug and wildlife traffickers fleeing more aggressive policing in Thailand.
The highest quality yaba pills (15-20 percent meth purity) come from the factories of the North and South Wa — armed ethnic groups in a self-governing state on the Myanmar-China border — and by the Lahu hill tribe.
.
Source - Coconuts.co
. 

#Laos May Get Free Public WiFi System

Business Korea Magazine reported that the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT has announced on the 6th of February that the latter’s information and communications technology (ICT) including free public WiFi system construction constitutes this year’s special contribution project of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) and collaboration projects will be launched with Laos, Vietnam and Nepal in that framework.

The ministry plans to launch a free public WiFi system construction project in Laos, an augmented reality (AR) tourism content development project in Vietnam, and a digital disaster communication system construction project in Nepal.

 .

 .

The duration of the special contribution project is from March this year to February or August 2019. The budgets required for the subprojects range from US$30,000 to US$55,000.

Established in 1979, the APT is an international council for telecommunications development in the Asia-Pacific region. The purposes, among others, of the special project include technology transfer to APT member countries and the overseas expansion of South Korean business interests. The project will be based on the ministry’s fund specially allocated for the APT.

Source - Laotian Times

Lao Inmates Break Out of Cambodian Prison

Five Lao prisoners made an attempted escape from Stung Treng provincial prison on Saturday, but were recaptured before venturing far.

Security guards fired warning shots into the air as the five prisoners, all from Laos, broke through an exit gate. The inmates made their escape attempt during shower time as guards were not paying close attention, according to reports.

“They ran from the prison at 2:45PM and took their chance to make an escape when we let them have a bath,” said prison director Chhim Thida. “There were a total of five inmates. All of them were from Laos and had committed drug-related offences. Three have already been convicted, while the other two inmates are awaiting trial.”

Security guards fired warning shots into the air which stopped the escapees in their tracks.

Laos year a Lao national and four Cambodian inmates were also caught attempting to escape from the ceiling of their cell.

Source -  Laotian Times

Hun Sen calls Lao to withdraw its forces from #Cambodia territory

Addressing at the official nomination ceremony of the President of the Royal Academy of Cambodia held at the Peace Palace, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Lao forces have to withdraw from Cambodia’s land.

Cambodia’s sides called Lao’s counterparts at different level several times to respond this territory dispute, but Lao seemed ignoring this, therefore Hun Sen put the ultimatum.

According to Hun Sen, a group of Lao forces mobilized to Cambodia’s territory by boats in April to prevent the Cambodia to build the road along the border in O’ Alay and O’ Ta Ngav in Stung Treng, northeastern province border to Attapeu - a province of Lao. After this Lao forces are mobilizing, they haven’t normalized those areas until today.

“If necessary, I will flight to talk this with my Lao counterpart, but Laos have to withdraw from Cambodia’s territory, Cambodia doesn’t want war, but Cambodia has to protect our territory," he stated.

In the context of this issue, Hun Sen used to written a letter to his Lao’s counterpart since Aug. 2, 2017.

Cambodia and Lao have shared common border some 540 kilometers.

 Last information received from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hun Sen will lead a high level delegation to Vientiane on Saturday.

 his article appeared on the Rasmei Kampuchea Daily newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post

Majority of Mental Health Issues Remain Untreated in #Laos

Like all countries, the number of Lao citizens who suffer from mental health issues are abundant. However, due to the lack of treatment options readily available to patients, 41,000 people in Laos live with their mental health issues untreated.

Socio-economic development is vital to the improvement of people’s daily lives, but also heightens the risk of mental health issues due to the increased pressures of modern existence. A psychiatrist has explained that mental health issues can be triggered or provoked by things such as socio-economic difficulties and other mental burdens, along with inadequate access to diagnosis and treatment.

At a workshop themed ‘Mental Health in Laos’ earlier this week, programme manager of the Basic Needs project and a practicing psychiatrist, Dr ChantharavadyChoulamany, stated that the biggest obstacles in providing a solution to the mental health struggles in Laos, is due to the lack of resources for effective treatments.

Dr Chantharavady went on to explain that mental disorders affect nearly 12 percent of the world’s population, an estimated 450 million people, and that one out of every four people globally will experience a mental illness at some point in their lives.

Statistics have shown that 70,000 people in Laos have reported mental health issues, but  due to inadequate personnel, facilities and financial resources, only 29,000 of those people have access to treatment and mental health services. 

Dr Chantharavady added, “According to a survey by Basic Needs, anxiety disorders rank first with a rate of 33 percent followed by schizophrenia with 19 percent, epilepsy at 14 percent, psychosis due to infectious diseases 8 percent, depression 3 percent, substance/alcohol abuse 0.7 percent, dementia 0.5 percent, and mental retardation 0.1 percent.”

People suffering from mental illnesses not only have to battle the disorder itself, but with the stigma from society as well. They are not only discriminated against, marginalized and shunned in their own community, but in some cases, are subjected to emotional and physical abuse in both mental health facilities and by the public. Inadequate quality care due to lack of qualified health professionals and dilapidated facilities could possibly lead to further deterioration of their mental state of mind.

Currently, there are just two hospitals that provide mental health units, Mahosot Hospital and 103 Military Hospital, amassing over  27,000 cases.

During this year’s World Mental Health Day on October 10, the World Health Organization will be raising awareness in communities with the aim of ensuring that people with mental health conditions can continue to live with dignity, with the theme “Dignity in Mental Health”. 

According to WHO, it does so through the promotion of human rights-oriented policy and law as well as training of health professionals, respect for informed consent to treatment, inclusion in decision-making processes, and public information campaigns.

Source - Laotian Times