Langda Chea entered BookMeBus in the Market Access Program of Mekong Innovative Startups in Tourism (MIST), which helps mature startups in the Mekong region to expand into new markets. Photo courtesy of MIST.
The Mekong Business Initiative, sponsored by the Australian Government and the Asian Development Bank, is sourcing international investment and facilitating regional expansion for innovative startups.
HA NOI, VIET NAM (18 December 2017) — The Asian Development Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a $150 million loan to help improve economic connectivity and raise living standards in four of Viet Nam’s northeastern provinces by enhancing basic infrastructure and services.
Lao PDR Deputy Minister of Finance Thipphakone Chanthavongsa (seated, right) and ADB Country Director for the Lao PDR (seated, left) Yasushi Negishi signed the additional grant agreement in Vientiane. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Phouangparisak Pravongviengkham (standing, second from right) also attended the signing ceremony.
VIENTIANE, LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC (20 November 2017) —The Asian Development Bank and the Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic signed an agreement on 13 November for a $10 million grant as additional financing for a project that will enhance sanitary and phytosanitary capacity and improve food safety as well as plant and animal safety in the country.
Technicians check the panel surface temperature at Thailand’s Sunny Bangchak Solar Farm, one of the largest solar plants in Southeast Asia. Photo: ADB.
The Greater Mekong Subregion has significant potential to develop renewal energy, but it also faces major challenges.
Increased access to health services can help improve outbreak response to malaria and other diseases. Photo: ADB.
Scientists are urgently calling for alternative treatments to a malaria “superbug” that now affects four countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion.
Cargo trucks pass through the Second Lao–Thai Friendship Bridge over the Mekong river, which connects Savannakhet City with Mukdahan province. The bridge has helped improved the Lao PDR’s access to seaports in neighboring countries. Photo: ADB.
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic is operating its first dry port in Savannakhet province, where it is strategically positioned along the Greater Mekong Subregion East-West Economic Corridor, at the mid-point between the nearest Vietnamese seaport of Danang, and Thai ports in Bangkok and Laem Chabang.
Ha Thi Vinh started Quang Vinh Ceramics in 1989. She has been deputy chairwoman of the Hanoi Women's Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises since its early days. Photo courtesy of Quang Vinh Ceramics.
The Mekong Business Initiative is helping Vietnamese businesswomen build their capacity to engage the government in dialogue.
The additional financing will scale up efforts to improve food safety and ensure plant and animal health, as part of an initiative to improve sanitary and phytosanitary capacity in the Lao PDR. Photo: ADB.
VIENTIANE, LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC (4 October 2017) — The Asian Development Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a $10 million grant to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic as additional financing to scale up efforts to improve food safety and ensure plant and animal health, as part of an initiative to improve sanitary and phytosanitary capacity in the country.
Rural communities in the Greater Mekong Subregion are vulnerable to climate-related disasters, such as floods, droughts, and storms. Risk financing can help people protect their livelihood and productive assets better through a combination of risk retention, risk sharing, and risk transfer mechanisms. Photo: ADB.
Risk financing can help at-risk communities better cope with the economic costs of natural disasters and extreme weather.
The project will help provide a more efficient, safe, and disaster resilient transport sector in Cambodia. Photo: ADB.
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (29 September 2017) — The Asian Development Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a $70 million loan to help provide a more efficient, safe, and disaster resilient transport sector in Cambodia, particularly by improving national roads in the provinces of Prey Veng, Siem Reap, and Svay Rieng along the Greater Mekong Subregion Southern Economic Corridor.
Greater Mekong Subregion Secretariat
Regional Cooperation and Operations Coordination Division,
Southeast Asia Department, Asian Development Bank
Address: 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City 1550, Metro Manila, Philippines
Telephone: +63 2 8632 4444 Fax: +63 2 8636 2226