ASEAN and the world

Jason Aldean has taken home the coveted Entertainer of the Year award at the 51st annual Academy of Country Music Awards.

Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the most famous garden in Britain and a worldwide icon as widely known as Oxford, Cambridge, the Queen, Wimbledon...

The 20th ASEAN Finance Ministers’ Meeting (AFMM) kicked off in Vientiane, Laos on April 4th.

The 38th ASEAN Law Association (ALA) Governing Council Meeting convened in Ho Chi Minh City on April 2nd, bringing together delegates from ten ASEAN member states.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will pursue its nuclear and ballistic missile program in defiance of the United States and its allies, a top Pyongyang envoy said on April 1st, adding that a state of "semi-war" now existed on the divided Korean peninsula.

The 4th ASEAN Chief Justices’ Meeting took place in Ho Chi Minh city on April 1st, focusing on the institutionalisation of the meeting itself to improve the efficiency of the cooperation mechanism in the bloc.

On March 31st, the International press simultaneously reported and highly appraised the newly-elected Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA) of Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

Hungarian writer Imre Kertesz who won the 2002 Nobel Prize for Literature for fiction has passed away at age 86.

The second regional workshop on building a post-2015 Initiative for ASEAN Integration Work Plan (IAI) was held in Jakarta, Indonesia, on March 30th.

(CPV) - ADB and four Bangladesh banks, The City Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, Pubali Bank, and Southeast Bank, signed trade finance program agreements for a total value of USD40 million on March 31st 2016.

The ASEAN member countries and China have agreed to strengthen pragmatic law enforcement cooperation, to better cope with security challenges and set up a law enforcement college to train police.

(CPV) - ADB has approved a project loan of nearly USD197 million to continue rebuilding highways and bridges damaged in Pakistan’s worst-ever floods in 2010.

(CPV) - Growth is slowing across much of developing Asia as a result of the continued weak recovery in major industrial economies and softer growth for the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

(CPV) - Pacific economies face lower growth and tighter fiscal conditions this year due to low commodity prices and severe cyclones, says a new ADB report launched on March 30th 2016.

Viet Nam’s economy continues to perform well against a volatile global back drop, ADB said in a new flagship report launched on Marck 30th 2016.

U Htin Kyaw, a member of Myanmar’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, was sworn in as President of Myanmar in the capital of Nay Pyi Taw, on March 30th.

On March 28th, the US’s Denver Art Museum officially returned a 10th-century sandstone sculpture to Cambodia, which was taken from a Cambodian temple during the civil war-era.

Everland is the theme park at Everland Resort in the Republic of Korea (RoK). It has been ranked tenth in the world for amusement park attendance.

Myanmar's Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing pledged to cooperate with the new government to ensure a smooth transfer of power.

Bangkok is hosting the 12th Asia Pacific Orchid Conference (APOC 12) to offer a platform for international experts to share their knowledge and views on the development of orchids in their respective countries.

(CPV) - ADB has approved a USD123.3 million loan for a new water tunnel to help modernize Manila’s water supply, reducing the risk of shortages as demand for water rises in tandem with the city’s booming population.

President Barack Obama has arrived in Argentina for his first state visit.

On March 24th, the Myanmar Parliament officially approved a list of 18 ministers who were submitted by newly-elected President Htin Kyaw.

Thailand’s gross domestic product (GDP) is threatened to be cut by 0.6 to 0.8 percent in 2016 due to severe drought, according to a recent research from the University of Thailand Chamber of Commerce (UTCC).

A seminar themed “ASEAN-India Relations: A New Paradigm” took place in Jakarta, Indonesia on March 24th, drawing delegates from all 10 ASEAN nations and their partner countries, namely Russia, the US, Australia, and New Zealand.

The majority of provinces in Cambodia are facing some level of drought, with a few confronting a severe shortage of water, local newspapers reported on March 23rd.

The first Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) leaders’ meeting kicked off in Sanya city of China’s Hainan province on March 23rd, drawing leaders of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, China and Vietnam.

The first Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) leaders’ meeting kicked off in Sanya city of China’s Hainan province on March 23rd, drawing leaders of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, China and Vietnam.

(CPV) - ADB President Takehiko Nakao participated in the China Development Forum (CDF) on March 20th – 21st and the 9th Asia Solar Energy Forum on March 21st.

Australian broadcaster SBS has announced the Eurovision Song Contest concept will come to Asia.