DEVNET

Photo: There are 49 officially recognized ethnic groups in Lao PDR. Credit: UNDP Lao PDR/Harish Murthimore

UNDP Supporting Eco-friendly Development in Laos

By Devinder Kumar

VIENTIANE (IDN) – Laos is a landlinked country bordering Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Thailand, and Vietnam. About 6.8 million people live in its 18 provinces, with most people – 68 percent – still living in rural areas. However, urbanisation is occurring at a rate of 4.9 percent each year. The country is largely mountainous, with the most fertile land found along the Mekong plains. The river flows from north to south, forming the border with Thailand for more than 60 percent of its length.

Despite still being a least developed country (LDC), Laos – officially known as the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) – has made significant progress in poverty alleviation over the past two decades with poverty rates declining from 46% in 1992 to 23% in 2015, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). "The country achieved the Millennium Development Goal target of halving poverty, however the challenge now is to ensure that all Lao people benefit in the country's development."

: Devinder Kumar; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 15 September 2017

Photo: Hambantota Port. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Sri Lanka Clears Major Hurdle For China’s Silk Route Project

By Kalinga Seneviratne

COLOMBO (IDN) - The signing of a deal between the Sri Lankan government and a Chinese company, basically transferring the ownership on a 99-year lease of the strategically located Chinese-built Hambantota Port and 5,000 acres of land surrounding it for an industrial park in southern Sri Lanka has cleared a major hurdle for China’s ambitious Maritime Silk Route project while at the same time raising concerns about security and sovereignty issues.

The government-owned Sri Lankan Port Authority has signed a 1.1 billion dollar deal agreeing to sell a 70 percent stake in the Hambantota port to China’s state-run conglomerate China Merchants Port Holdings. The Cabinet approved the deal on July 25 and the government signed it at a ceremony opened to the media on July 29.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 31 July 2017

Photo: Various guests and world leaders at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, 14 May 2017 (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

Global Development Through China's New 'Silk Routes'

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) - When China hosted a two-day conference in May to help revive the ancient trade routes from Asia to Europe and Africa it was greeted with scepticism by most of the western media. But in much of Asia the mood was more of optimism and opportunity.

CNN reported that “some countries raised concerns over the project seen as boosting Beijing's global clout on trade and geopolitics” – a reoccurring theme in many of the western media reports. While pointing out that the U.S., Japan, India and most of the European leaders had boycotted the meeting BBC described it as a Chinese bid for global leadership. Australia’s ABC said that China wants its ‘new Silk Routes’ to dominate world trade.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 23 May 2017

Photo: Pham Thi Kim Viet, a tour guide, shows visitors the map of Huế, a city in central Vietnam which was the seat of the Nguyen Dynasty emperors. Credit: Neena Bhandari.

Gender Equality Will Be Key to Achieving SDGs in Viet Nam

By Neena Bhandari

Ha Noi/Hoi An, Viet Nam (IDN) – Pham Thi Kim Viet is up before the rooster heralds the crack of dawn.The rice on the cooker is beginning to boil as she tosses freshly chopped vegetables and fish in a wok. She then hurries to wake her two daughters, 12 and four-years-old. At 7 a.m., dressed in laundered uniforms, she takes them to school on her trusted old scooter and proceeds to Hoi An, 30 km from her home in the mountains of Dai Loc district in central Vietnam, to report for work as a freelance tour guide.

: Neena Bhandari; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 27 April 2017

Children await the arrival of King Norodom Sihamoni on the streets of Siem Reap. Credit: Neena Bhandari

Education & Jobs Crucial As Cambodia Records Pro-Poor Growth

By Neena Bhandari

SIEM REAP/BATTAMBANG, Cambodia (IDN) - The once conflict ridden, impoverished country of Cambodia has made significant strides towards stability and progress, but it is still facing several socio-economic development challenges.

In 2016, it became a lower middle-income country after recording an annual average economic growth of seven percent over the past decade. “The country’s economy has trebled and the number of people living in poverty has halved in the last 15 years. We have to set development issues in the context of those successes,” says Nick Beresford, United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Cambodia Country Director.

: Neena Bhandari; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 30 March 2017

Photo: Cambodian-Thai border courtesy of www.cambodiantr.gov.kh

ASEAN Chairman Duterte Pushes For Migrant Protection Treaty

By Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) - Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has signaled his intention to push harder for the adoption of a binding regional treaty to protect the human rights of migrant workers during his chairmanship of ASEAN (Association of South east Asian Nations) this year.

Though he is strongly supported by Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, human rights advocates in the region fear that ASEAN’s “consensus” based decision making process may hinder these attempts because Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand may not agree to a binding treaty to protect migrant workers in their countries.

Though the ‘ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers’ was adopted a decade ago, there has been no attempt until now to give it some teeth in terms of a binding treaty.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 27 February 2017

UN and Thailand Launch 'South-South In Action' Series

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) has launched a publication series – 'South-South In Action' – purported to highlight the vast reservoir of developing country experiences and how these are enhancing South-South cooperation.

The first volume of the series, jointly published by the Royal Thai Government and the UNOSSC was presented at the UN headquarters in New York on January 12, one day before the Southeast Asian country handed the annual Chair of the Group of 77 (G77) and China over to Ecuador.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 29 January 2017

Photo: DEVNET Japan President Akegawa (left) and former JICA Vice President Hideaki Domichi (right), recipient of a prestigious award. Credit: Devnet Japan

Devnet Japan Praised For 'Innovative Approach' To Development

By Ramesh Jaura and Katsuhiro Asagiri

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – "My tenure in India was an awakening to me," says Hideaki Domichi who was Japan's Ambassador to that huge country with a population of more than 1.2 billion, which is "very poor" but also has "very rich people who are trading globally".

Having spent some four decades with Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and as a diplomat in the U.S., Egypt, Iran, Indonesia and India, Mr Domichi is not only immune to any "cultural shocks", as he said, but also capable of shedding prejudices and willing to open up to new ideas and perceptions.

: Ramesh Jaura and Katsuhiro Asagiri; SUSTAINABILITY; DEVNET; 30 December 2016

Photo: DEVNET Japan President Akegawa with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister TRINH DINH DUNG (in charge of Economy) at the Prime Minister's official residence.

Facilitating Agricultural Co-ops in Indochina

By Fumiyasu Akegawa*

This advertorial is part of IDN’s media project jointly with Global Cooperation Council and DEVNET Japan.

TOKYO - After ensuring cooperation from associated government ministries in Japan and United Nations organizations such as the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as well as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), DEVNET Japan is in the process of launching agricultural cooperatives in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar – the mainland Southeast Asian countries, historically known as Indochina.

: Fumiyasu Akegawa - President of DEVNET Japan; SUSTAINABILITY; DEVNET; 30 November 2016

Photo (cropped): President Barack Obama with King Bhumibol Adulyadej of the Kingdom of Thailand, at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 18, 2012. White House Photo by Pete Souza.

'Sufficiency Economics' is King Bhumibol's Best Legacy

By Lim Kooi Fong*

BANGKOK (IDN) - One of the most enduring images of the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej is that he is almost always seen with a camera around his neck or in his hand during his time visiting regions within Thailand, checking on projects, which he personally supported and followed up.For over 70 years of his reign,

Thailand’s much loved monarch kept a promise - the promise that he would reign with righteousness for the benefit and happiness of the Siamese people. JAPANESE