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Web-only Exclusives November 30, 2000 From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead Bad news for the Philippines - and some others From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights? |
Week of April 2, 1999
BANGKOK A compromise giving Myanmar a "passive role" at May's Joint Cooperation Committee meeting between ASEAN and the E.U. makes way for the first meeting between the two blocs in two years. The agreement allows Myanmar to be present at the meeting as an observer along with Laos, which also joined ASEAN in 1997, and possibly Cambodia, which is still waiting to become an official member.THE GROUP OF SEVEN countries are considering waiving all their development aid loans, worth some $20 billion, to 41 low-income, heavily indebted countries - mostly in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar would be the Asian beneficiaries.
Week of January 8, 1999
Vientiane As part of the 1999 Visit Laos promotion, the country's first casino is up and running, but all bets must be made in Thai baht. A joint venture between Malaysia's Suyen Corp. and the Laotian military, which is a 25% shareholder, the development is part of a larger eco-tourism effort at the Dansavanh Nam Ngum resort, a $211 million site about 90 km northeast of the capital.
Plumbing ASEAN Protocol
Laos expected President Khamtay Siphandone to be invited to December's ASEAN summit in Hanoi. Yet it was Prime Minister Sisavath Keobounphanh who got the invitation - prompting panicky bureaucrats to phone up other ASEAN missions to ask if a mistake had been made. Their unease was understandable given that, while the summit is explicitly for heads of government, in Laos there is no clear line between the head of state and the head of government. Khamtay - he's head of the party and No. 1 in the politbureau, as well as president - is unquestionably the man in charge. In fact, he in effect gave the premiership to Sisavath, who ranks a lowly No. 8 in the 9-member politbureau. Sisavath was ousted from the body in 1992 due to allegations of corruption, but returned in 1996. The whole matter threw the Laotians into a dither, although in the end they acceded to ASEAN protocol.News from Laos in 1998
News from Laos in 1997
News from Laos in 1996
News from Laos in 1995
