Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are gathering for their 35th summit in Bangkok this week to chart a course for the region’s economic future. As we’ve argued before, Southeast Asia is re-emerging as a theater for major powers to exert geopolitical might through economic means. Amid rising headwinds in the global economy, geopolitical tensions, and the arrival of mega-initiatives like China’s Belt and Road (BRI), the ten-member bloc’s role in shepherding diplomacy across the wider Asia-Pacific region is more important now than ever.

Keep reading…

The post ASEAN Can Lead Sustainable And Inclusive Economic Development, Here’s How first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) perhaps no other topic has more of an impact on global progress than water. Water management determines the sustainability of industries, ecosystems, peace, and livelihoods, and critically impacts human health. 

[…] Half of all the bottled water that we sampled in the Mekong Delta area contained traces of at least one pesticide and some contained as many as eight.

Keep reading …

The post What Mekong Delta Communities Can Teach Us About Access to Safe Water first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

The General Statistics Office (GSO) is in the process of finalizing a set of statistical indicators for Việt Nam’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), the office said.

The set of SDGs indicators is expected to be issued within this month. …

Keep reading

The post VN to complete statistical indicators set for sustainable development first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

The government is pursuing its mission to remove Laos from Least Developed Country (LDC) status by 2020 and become an upper middle income country by 2030, a senior government official told Asia News Network (ANN) editors last week.

Deputy Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr Savankhone Razmountry, revealed the ambitious goals as he welcomed the editors when they met him on Friday.

Keep reading

The post Laos striving to graduate from LDC status, Asian editors told first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith has said the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) should be continued since the country has fallen short of achieving some of the targets. Mr Thongloun, also the Chairman of the National Guiding Committee for Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), made the proposal in his address to the inaugural meeting of the panel yesterday.

Read more

The post Achieve lagging millennium goals, targets, PM instructs first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

ASEAN Foreign Ministers (FMs) have welcomed the initiative to combine ASEAN Community Vision 2025 with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, saying this should be accorded top priority.

Keep reading

The post FMs welcome move to marry ASEAN vision with UN agenda first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

The Government of Việt Nam and the United Nations signed a new strategic plan for the 2017-21 period in Hà Nội yesterday.

The new Government of Việt Nam-United Nations Joint One Strategic Plan (OSP) has been signed between the Government of Việt Nam and 18 UN Agencies: FAO, ILO, IOM, ITC, IAEA, UNAIDS, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UN-Habitat, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNODC, UNV, UN Women and WHO.

Read more

The post VN, UN sign strategic $423m plan for 2017-21 first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Laos will have difficulties in the implementation of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda as well as pushing the country to graduate from Least Developed Countries (LDC) by 2020 without accurate and timely statistics, a government official has stated.

Addressing a statistics seminar in conjunction with the celebration of the Lao National Statistics Day in Vientiane last Friday, Minister of Planning and Investment Dr Souphanh Keomixay Keomixay said the Lao Statistics Bureau (LSB) would play a significant role regarding statistics backups.

Read more

The post Upgrade country’s statistics standards to make most of cooperation efforts, official says first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

The Lao Statistics Bureau (LSB) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has informed that it has now successfully created a strategic development plan of sustainable national statistics for 2016-25 and its vision for 2030. This will be a further step to integrate with international standards and it will be an index for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG Index).

Read more

The post Lao Statistics looks to attain international standards by 2020 first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Laos would like United Nations cooperation programmes to comply with the priorities laid out in the development plans of the countries it is assisting, to help them achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Minister of Foreign Affairs Saleumxay Kommasith stressed this perspective in his remarks at the opening session of the 2017 Regional Management Meeting for UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Asia-Pacific held in Bangkok, Thailand, recently. The minister emphasised that UN-determined programmes for countries receiving cooperation should be in compliance with the socio-economic development conditions of those countries, and especially match the priorities and focuses of national development, a press release from the ministry stated.

Keep reading

The post Laos calls for UN programmes to match development goals first appeared on Open Development Mekong.