ADB scales down SE Asia’s growth to 5.4 percent

– Southeast Asian growth is projected to slow from 6.5 percent in 2007 to 5.4 percent in 2008 and to stay around that rate next year, the Asian Development Bank said in a report released on September 16.

Southeast Asia’s inflation is forecast to more than double from 4 percent in 2007 to 9.4 percent in 2008 before pulling back to 6.9 percent in 2009, the bank said, stressing that ”curbing inflation is the crucial macroeconomic challenge in most Southeast Asian countries.”

The bank’s updated Asian Development Outlook 2008 ( ADO ) said that developing Asian economies will revert to a more moderate growth outlook of 7.5 percent this year and 7.2 percent next year after posting its fastest growth of 9 percent in nearly two decades in 2007.

It noted that the financial crisis has spread and has severely affected even those countries with limited exposure to the problems of the United States’ subprime market.

The revised ADO said developing Asia’s economic growth will slow down to 7.5 percent this year from its earlier forecast of 7.6 percent due to the slowing down of most economies in the region, including China and India.

Next year, it said the region will post a 7.2 percent growth, lower than the previous projection of 7.8 percent. –

Thai ruling party picks new candidate for PM

Hanoi (VNA) – Thailand’s ruling People Power Party (PPP) on September 15 nominated Somchai Wongsawat, a brother-in-law of Thai former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as its official candidate as prime minister.

Somchai Wongsawat, 61, has been acting prime minister since last week, when the Constitutional Court forced former PM Samak Sundaravej to resign as hosting cooking shows on commercial television while in office.

The executive committee of the PPP agreed to nominate Somchai when parliament meets on September 17, Bangkok Post said, adding that various committees still have to meet, but the five coalition partner-parties said they were on board with Somchai.

However, the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) rejected the nomination and vowed to continue their protest. Anyone from PPP or other coalition parties is unacceptable, the anti-governmnent group said.-

New arrest warrant issued for Thailand’s former PM

Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’s Supreme Court on September 16 issued another arrest warrant against former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for his approval of a controversial loan to the Myanmar government, local media reported.

This is the second arrest warrant issued for the former PM, the Thai news agency (TNA) said, adding that the first warrant was made for his failure to appear before the court on the Bangkok’s Ratchadapisek land deal case.

Former PM Thaksin is now sued by Thailand’s National Corruption Counter Commission for alleged conflict of interest and abuse of authority for approving the 4 billion- baht Exim Bank loan at a low interest to Myanmar telecommunication system development.

The court said the former PM, who currently lives in exile in Britain, had received a formal summons to appear before the panel for the hearing, but he failed to appear at the hearing despite his lawyers’ presence, and without giving a particular reason.

For the reason, the court determined that he intended to flee from prosecution in the case and deemed it appropriate to issue a warrant for his arrest, TNA said. –

Thailand ready to host ASEAN Summit

Thailand ’s ongoing political crisis will have no effects on its hosting of ASEAN ministerial and summit meetings, Thai government spokesman Wichienchote Sukchoterat said on September 16.

The meetings will surely be held as scheduled, the spokesman said, adding Thailand is ready to host the meetings.

“Don’t worry about who will be the prime minister or foreign minister of Thailand. No matter who takes the office, Thailand is ready to host the ASEAN meeting,” the spokesman was quoted by The Nation newspaper’s website as saying.

“Our political problems are our own internal affairs and have nothing to do with ASEAN,” he said.

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Thailand took over the ASEAN chairmanship from Singapore in July this year.-

Laos, RoK set up joint venture to plant cassava

Two companies from Laos and the Republic of Korea (RoK) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up a joint venture to plant and process cassava in Laos .

The joint venture has a total investment of 15 million USD, of which the Borkeo Army Development Enterprise of Laos holds 30 percent of the shares and the RoK’s SM Co. Ltd holds the rest.

The joint venture is planning to grow cassava on 10,000 hectares of land. In the 2008-09 period, it will grow only 1,000 hectares in Vang Vieng district, Vientiane province.

The joint venture also plans to build a processing factory to produce cassava starch and other products for export to the RoK.-

Malaysian Airlines offers low one-way fares

<!–[endif]–> Kuala Lumpur (VNA) - Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is offering one-way ticket at price of 252 ringgit (73 USD) from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne, Australia, between now and September 23 as part of its Everyday Low Fares campaign.

MAS is also offering low fares to China’s Hong Kong, Vietnam’s Hanoi, Indonesia’s Bali and Cambodia’s Siem Reap, MAS commercial director Abdul Rashid Khan said in a statement on September 16.

The lowest Everyday Low Fares on offer is from 2 ringgit (58 US cents) for travel from Kota Kinabalu, capital of Malaysian eastern Sabah state to Singapore, Philippines’ Cebu, Brunei’s Bandar Seri Bengawan and China’s Guangzhou, he said.

The low fares are also available for the Kuching, capital of Malaysian eastern Sarawak state, to Singapore as well as from Kuala Lumpur to Indonesia’s Jakarta and Yogjarkarta, Thailand’s Bangkok and Phuket, and Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City routes.-

US pledges 1.8 mln USD to Khmer Rouge trial

Phnom Penh (VNA) – The United States has agreed to give 1.8 million USD to Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge court, making its first donation to the UN-backed genocide tribunal aimed at trying regime leaders, a US official said.

The US government’s move aimed to help maintain activities of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said on September 16 during his three-day official visit to Cambodia.

He called on continued support from the international community for the ECCC.

ECCC spokesman Reach Sambath welcomed the US government’s decision.

The ECCC proposed a new budget of 142.6 million USD for the trial against former Khmer Rouge leaders at a meeting between an ECCC delegation and major sponsor countries in New York on June 20.

Under the new proposal, which is 30 million USD less than the previous one, 25 million USD is (already) used for 2006-2007, 37 million USD for 2008-2009, and the remaining will be spent for 2010.

Besides, time for the trial will be shortened by a year (2010 instead of 2011), aimed to reduce expenditure.

The Khmer Rouge is accused of killing an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians during its 1975-1979 rule.-

Tuna fishing puts sea tortoise in danger

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam has been warned to stop wanton tuna fishing that is threatening sea tortoise to extinction before its tuna products are boycotted on the world market.

The warning was raised at a round-table meeting on sea tortoise protection held on September 12 by the Department of Sea Products Fishing and Protection (APFP) in association with the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), the International Union of Nature Conservation (IUCN) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US .

International experts said it was a lesson drawn from Cambodian experiences during 2004-05 when the country’s tuna exports were banned worldwide.

APFP chief Chu Tien Vinh called for urgent tight management over sea diving for tortoise fishing, especially in the neighbourhood of the Phu Quoc Island off southern Kien Giang province as the trade has become the most dangerous threat to the rare species.

Phan Hong Dung from the Aquatic Products Research Institute also warned of a widespread habit of eating sea tortoise, causing people to hunt for the species in the three central coastal provinces.

Statistics showed that some 1,000 sea tortoise head were caught every year in Vietnam . The luxury tuna fishing often leads to the catch of turtle, drag trawls often net tortoise and sand crab netting usually catches tortoise babies.

The WWF, IUCN and NOAA are co-sponsoring a project to protect sea tortoise during sea products fishing. It provides training for fishermen and trainers, sends ships to patrol, supplies equipment for international trainers to use during the on-the-spot training and makes agreement on the members of a sustainable oceanic tuna fishing programme.–

Vietnam joins worldwide clean-up efforts

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam will respond to the worldwide efforts to make the world cleaner by launching its own clean-up campaign on September 20.

The campaign will be launched in the Mekong delta city of Can Tho , the Vietnam General Labour Confederation (VGLC), a co-organiser, said at a press briefing in Hanoi on September 17.

The VGLC said the event was co-organised by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Can Tho People’s Committee and the Australia Embassy in Vietnam .

According to the organisers, the campaign aims to raise awareness of local authorities, businesses and the community on environmental issues, particularly those pertaining to mitigating rubbish, recycling, and managing wastes.

The campaign will also call for joint efforts in reducing greenhouse gas emission, the organisers added.

They said some 400 people will cycle after the launch of the campaign to appeal to others to follow the suit to reduce air pollution.

Besides, there will be activities to encourage people to take part in a “3 billion trees for the planet” programme initiated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and clean and conserve residential environment.

The global “Clean up the World” campaign was initiated by Ian Kiernan, an Australian yachtsman.

Firstly launched worldwide by UNEP in 1993, the campaign has so far drawn the participation of around 35 million volunteers from 120 countries.-

Vietnam, China step up food hygiene cooperation

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam and China agreed to set up a cooperation mechanism on import-export food hygiene, and exchange information and technicians in this field.

An agreement to this effect was signed in Hanoi on Sept. 11 by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Luong Le Phuong and Chinese Deputy Director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine Wei Chuanzhong.

The two sides also agreed to regularly inform each other of issues arising in the process of inspection and quarantine of import-export foods and agricultural products.

On this occasion, China invited Vietnam to join a ASEAN-China training course for liaison officials in health care and plant hygiene scheduled to take place in October.-