Travel plans to Laos ?

Laos has announced it will begin offering electronic visas (eVisa) to foreign tourists and travelers from June this year.

Establishment of the eVisa program will commence in mid-2019, according to a Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs notice issued earlier this month dated March 11.

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The move comes as the government takes steps to modernize and ensure visa procedures are faster and more convenient for tourist visa applicants, according to the notice.

It is also another means by which the government hopes to attract more tourism to the country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs consular office is working with all other ministries and departments to ensure the comprehensive and timely development of the eVisa program.

The eVisa program, it is hoped, will allow foreign visitors greater access to information and more convenience in visa processing, and will assist in making the country more widely known among tourists.

It comes as policymakers and the private sector seek to capitalize on the benefits of improved connectivity and widen the range of offerings to attract valuable tourism and travel-related income and investment.

Course -  The Laotian Times

THAI resumes flights to Europe via China airspace

THAI AIRWAYS International (THAI) yesterday resumed its flights from Bangkok to Europe after cancelling some the previous day due to Pakistan’s closure of its airspace. 

The national carrier also plans to provide special flights to some select countries in Europe in order to |help passengers get to their destinations.

Around 4,000 passengers were stranded as 16 flights arriving and 20 departing from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport were cancelled after tensions with India led Pakistan to close its airspace. 

Of the cancelled flights, 21 were of THAI, to and from Europe, and six to and from Pakistan. 

THAI usually flies over Pakistan’s airspace when going to or returning from Europe, but after the closure, the carrier had asked for authorisation to fly over China’s airspace, the airline said yesterday. 

Flight Lieutenant Pratana Patanasiri, THAI’s vice president for aviation safety, security and standards, said the national carrier has received permission from authorities to fly over China. However, he said, the permission was granted on a daily basis, so the airline needs to update the situation daily.

Also, he said, flying over China actually cuts the flying time down by 20 minutes. 

Meanwhile, a source from THAI said the national carrier has unofficially been given permission to provide special flights to substitute the flights to Frankfurt, London and Moscow that had been forced to return to Suvarnabhumi on Wednesday.

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 THAI is also seeking cooperation from its allied airlines to transfer passengers, and has asked for permission to arrange special flights to London, Paris and Frankfurt, from where passengers can easily head to other destinations. 

Thousands of passengers were stranded at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Wednesday night, as they had not been given advance notice of the cancellations. Some only learned their flight had been cancelled when they showed up at the check-in counter. 

Officials were worried if it could be a PR disaster for THAI with passengers complaining about the lack of communication about the situation.

It will take about three days to clear Suvarnabhumi of stranded passengers, said Thera Buasri, director of the Airport Authority of Thailand’s Ground Service Control.

As for flights to Pakistan, THAI re-routed its TG507 and TG508 flights yesterday by flying directly to and from Muscat and not stopping over in Karachi. The Bangkok-Lahore-Bangkok flights on TG345 and TG346 yesterday were also cancelled.

In a related development, Auramon Supthaweethum, director-general of the Commerce Ministry’s Department of Trade Negotiations, said talks on a Thailand-Pakistan free trade agreement (FTA) will not be affected by the India-Pakistan conflict.

The Kashmir border crisis between the two countries recently resulted in both countries claiming to have shot down each other’s jets and an Indian pilot being captured by Pakistan. India has since demanded the safe return of the pilot, AFP reported. 

Thailand has an FTA with India, and a pact with Pakistan has been in the pipeline since 2015. 

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 “Up to 99 per cent of the FTA chapters have already been negotiated, and we believe the pact will be concluded and enacted by the end of 2020,” Auramon said. 

She added that the FTA negotiations with Pakistan had been delayed due to its general elections, which took place in July. She also noted that negotiations between the two countries would resume this year as a video conference.

“The remaining issue that needs to be discussed is the level of market access in goods that both sides will offer,” she explained. 

Banjongjitt Angsusingh, director-general at the ministry’s Department of International Trade Promotion, said the impacts of the Kashmir conflict are still unclear, but if there were to be any negative impacts on Thai trade, they would only be for the short term. 

In 2018, the total value of trade between Thailand and Pakistan stood at Bt54.045 billion, growing by 2.77 per cent year on year. 

Of the total trade value, Thailand exports Bt47.411 billion and imports Bt6.634 billion worth of goods, giving the Kingdom a trade surplus of Bt40.776 billion, the Commerce Ministry said. 

Source - TheNation

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#Cambodia’s bid to be ‘New Macau’ stirs old wounds as Chinese cash in

SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia — A businessman leaves a smoky room $1,500 poorer from a game of Baccarat at a casino in Sihanoukville — an increasingly common scene in the Cambodian beachtown as it becomes a honeypot for Chinese gamblers and investors at a pace worrying marginalized locals.

“It’s not so bad if I lost tonight,” said Dong Qiang, adding: “I will try my luck tomorrow.”

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The coastal capital of Preah Sihanouk province — named after Cambodia’s revered late king — was once a sleepy fishing community before being claimed first by Western backpackers, and then wealthy Russians.

Today it is Chinese investment that is transforming the province — into a sizeable gambling playground for mainland tourists.


“Some gamblers lose hundreds of dollars in less than 20 minutes,” an employee from a casino told AFP, requesting anonymity.

Casinos are banned in China, although the enclave of Macau — often dubbed the “Las Vegas of Asia” — has special laws allowing a massive gambling trade.

But Sihanoukville is becoming a popular alternative. There are around 50 Chinese-owned casinos and dozens of hotel complexes under construction.

Around 30 percent of Sihanoukville’s population are now Chinese, according to the provincial governor, who said this number ballooned in the past two years.

At the Oriental Pearl Casino, business is brisk. Ten Chinese men sit silently while their cards are shuffled across the green felt table, chain-smoking under the neon glare from a nearby bank of “50 Dragons” slot machines.

But while millions of dollars change hands on the casino floors, insiders say the big money is made in “secret rooms” hosting online gambling sites.

China’s largesse.
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Cambodia’s love affair with its communist neighbor has meant a sizeable cash injection for the once-impoverished Southeast Asian country. Billions have flowed into its economy but with few questions asked about China’s abysmal rights record.

Preah Sihanouk’s governor said $1 billion has been invested by Chinese government and private businesses between 2016 and 2018.

And China’s largesse is none more apparent than in Sihanoukville, a nexus of Beijing’s “One Belt, One Road” infrastructure plan, which includes a planned highway to Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh.

China has also sought high-profile military exchanges, fuelling speculation that it wants to build a naval base off the Cambodian coast in Koh Kong province, north of Sihanoukville, with ready access to the flashpoint South China Sea.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen vehemently denied the port-building claims, despite the recent docking of three hulking Chinese warships at Sihanoukville’s port.

He also returned from a recent trip to Beijing with the promise of $588 million in aid and an increase in bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2023.

Price hikes

Real estate prices in the town have skyrocketed in the past two years, increasing from $500 per square meter to five times that for homes close to the sea, real estate firm CBRE told AFP.

The provincial governor describes Chinese money as “a diamond and golden chance for all”.
“They bring money to invest because they see our potential,” Yun Min said.
Yet swathes of new development make it harder to settle old disputes over ownership in a kingdom where land has been commandeered by prominent, government-connected tycoons and wealth and influence trump the rule of law.

“The huge Chinese investment in Preah Sihanouk province has no benefits for the poor,” said Sun Sophat, a representative of the Spean Chheah community, which has camped out on a roadside refusing to be moved from lands they say have been sold from under them by a local tycoon.

“The benefits go only to the wealthy and the powerful.”
Boeun Kang, who has lived on the road next to the disputed land for 11 years, said her desire is simple — to own a 20×30 meter plot of land, which she is willing to die for.
“We don’t know when they will take this land, but we are all ready,” she told AFP. “We are ready to die here.”

Some local shops and restaurants grumble that they have been forced to close while Chinese-owned ones now stud prime spots, and NGOs say large hotels and resorts pump out uncontrollable amounts of sewage and rubbish.

Governor Yun Min said on balance things have improved for locals thanks to the Chinese imprint.

Income has doubled from $1,700 a year in 2015.

But he conceded that the money, casinos and a surging population had also brought trouble.
The Interior Ministry last year assigned a taskforce to handle the influx of people and a rise in some crimes — such as kidnappings, extortion and prostitution.
“The situation is under control,” said Yun Min.

He added: “These (problems) exist but after we are done with (the development), it will be clean and we will get a lot more benefits from it.” 

Source - Inquirer.net