Vietnam’s demand for energy has increased at the approximate rate of 12% per year between 2006 and 2015, according to the Vietnam Energy Outlook Report 2017 produced by Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry & Trade. Whilst its current installed capacity is only 3.876 million kWh, it will need to produce 245 billion kWh by 2020, according to analysis by the multinational law firm, Clifford Chance in 2017.

Human rights are rights that are fundamental to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, or religion. However, due to the diverse cultures and varying political structures in Southeast Asia, tackling human rights issues remains a major hurdle for the region.

In 1930, economist John Maynard Keynes wrote in an essay titled “Economic Possibilities For Our Grandchild” that with the technological advancements of the future, people could be working as little as 15 hours a week. Just like the industrial revolution, many thought the introduction of automation in workplaces in the 21st century would revolutionise labour – freeing workers from long hours at the factory and spend more time on leisure activities.

After a great year for the Vietnamese economy, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc is determined to take the economy to greater heights. Speaking at the Vietnam Economic Forum held by the Communist Party’s Commission for Economic Affairs last week, Phuc declared, “We must try to transform Vietnam from a beautiful girl into a new economic tiger in Asia.”Despite a slow start to 2017, Vietnam came out as one of the best performing economies in Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia produces 90% of the world's rice supply, which means global rice supply is significantly affected whenever extreme weather conditions disrupt production cycles. Extreme weather conditions, however, are increasingly common as the result of global climate change. Prolonged droughts in Thailand, for instance, during the mid-2016 period resulted in a 16% drop in rice production due to the lack of water supply delaying harvests.

In 2017, Vietnam’s retail industry growth totalled US$129.6 billion rising 10.9% from the year before. This covered all sections of retail, including fashion, food & beverage, and convenience stores. Key to this growth, especially in supermarket and convenience stores, is foreign investment, which has seen large players enter the market since 2007, and who still aim to expand their slice of the pie.

ASEAN this week This week The ASEAN Post covered a wide range of stories ranging from geopolitics to the energy sector.

In 2017, Vietnam deputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue announced aims of increasing the number of businesses operating in Vietnam from 500,000 to one million by 2020. Given the relative low costs of operating in Vietnam, a youthful pool of talent from which to recruit, and a tech savvy generation to market to, this target appears achievable. Vietnam’s startups grew 14% in the first quarter of 2017, with 39,580 startups entering the market.

Just a short three years ago, Pham Thu Huong had no email address, no Facebook account, and no time ever spent at the internet cafes that sprout like weeds around Vietnam.

Vietnamese police have seized US$3 million worth of heroin hidden inside packets of tea and smuggled from Laos on Thursday, which is the largest recorded haul of the drug in the country.According to AFP, “a police sting in the mountainous northern Vietnamese province of Dien Bien on Tuesday caught a man aged 44 and a woman in her late 30s, carrying 170 kilogrammes of heroin on the back of their motorbikes.” The drugs were also said to be smuggled over from Laos and packed into scores of packe