Editor’s Note
by Mattia Peroni, Lead Editor - Mekong Belt Desk
Some plans work exactly as intended right up until they don't. In Myanmar, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing sat for his first Western interview since the 2021 coup hoping to project a rebuilt image to the world, only for TIME's "dictator" headline to trigger a public ban on the outlet and drag back into view the war and economic collapse the interview was meant to distract from. In Thailand, Bangkok's declarations of climate resilience at the UN ran headlong into a very different reality at home, as monsoon flooding across all 50 districts forced the postponement of a national election and exposed how far the city's infrastructure lagged behind its pledges. And in Laos, months of quiet containment measures against African Swine Fever weren't enough to keep the disease from reaching Vientiane's dinner tables, pushing pork prices up 50% and closing off even the informal cross-border workarounds families relied on.
Lao PDR 🇱🇦
Saleumxay Becomes Laos’ 10th Prime Minister Ahead of LDC Graduation
by Thongsavanh Souvannasane, in Vientiane
Laos’ National Assembly (NA) elected veteran diplomat Saleumxay Kommasith as prime minister on 5 October, with all 158 lawmakers present voting for him, state media reported.
Saleumxay became the 10th prime minister of the Lao PDR.
He succeeded Sonexay Siphandone, whom lawmakers elected NA president the same day. Sonexay replaces Xaysomphone Phomvihane, who died on 8 August at age 69.
Saleumxay turns 58 on 31 October and comes from Houaphan Province. He studied in Moscow and at Australia’s Monash University, and he speaks English, Russian, and French. He worked at the Lao Mission to the United Nations in New York, became foreign minister in 2016, and became deputy prime minister in 2022.
Outside observers describe him as an international-minded leader.
The Associated Press called his Western-oriented career unusual for Laos. A 2024 US-ASEAN Business Council article named him a strong contender for prime minister and credited him with managing the ASEAN Summit that Laos chaired that year.
In his first speech, he promised quick attention to food production, rebuilding infrastructure, managing minerals, major investments, tourism, tax collection, and a stable currency.
Hard numbers will test those promises. The government expects the economy to grow 5.1 percent this year, but the Asian Development Bank expects 4.0 percent and the World Bank 3.8 percent.
Inflation averaged 7.9 percent in the first nine months of 2026, Bank of the Lao PDR (BOL) Governor Bounkham Vorachit told the NA’s 2nd Ordinary Session of the 10th Legislature, which runs from 5 to 21 October. The central bank expects the full-year average to stay at 7.9 percent, above the NA’s 5 percent target.
Higher electricity prices pushed inflation up most, followed by fuel costs and exchange-rate movements.
Public debt reached about USD 14.31 billion in 2025, or 84 percent of GDP, according to BOL. The government wants to cut that to 70 percent by 2030, and it faces average foreign debt payments of USD 1.45 billion a year from 2026 to 2030. For families, higher prices mean money buys less.
Shortly after the appointment, Vietnam’s prime minister visited Vientiane on 8 October, and the two governments signed 11 cooperation documents. They agreed to speed up a highway, a seaport, an oil pipeline, and a railway. The railway would link Vientiane to Vung Ang port in Vietnam and cost about USD 6.6 billion. The Lao section stretches 452 kilometers, and construction is expected to start this year. Vietnam plans to begin its 119-kilometer section in 2027, with the line operating by 2030.
The railway would give landlocked Laos a direct rail link to a sea trade route.
Separately, Foreign Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane, Xaysomphone’s brother, has joined the 13-member Politburo of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party.
Laos also plans to leave the UN’s Least Developed Country list on 24 November, according to the UN, after first targeting 2020 and then 2024. That milestone could test the new government as LDC-specific support measures phase out.
Thongsavanh is a journalist from Laos with a background in English-language media. He graduated from the Lao-American Institute with a Diploma of the Arts in English and contributes to independent news platforms. His reporting focuses on environmental issues, socio-economic development, and geopolitics.
Thailand 🇹🇭
Thailand’s Non-Traditional Diplomatic Expansion Across North Africa
by Paranut Juntree, in Bangkok
On October 15-16, 2026, Thailand hosted the 3rd Thailand-Egypt Joint Commission in Bangkok, marking the first ministerial committee meeting between the two nations in 20 years and the first visit by an Egyptian Foreign Minister to Thailand in three decades. While framed as a bilateral milestone to double trade toward USD2.4 billion, the engagement underscores a broader strategic pivot for Thailand as it systematically expands commercial footprints across non-traditional markets in North Africa and the wider Middle East.
The primary reason for this diplomatic acceleration is Thailand’s drive to hedge against volatile demand across traditional Western and East Asian commercial corridors. Decades of structural dependence on conventional export markets have left Southeast Asia economies exposed to global economic shifts and trade fragmentation. This realignment is rooted in the Thailand-Africa Initiative, originally established in 2013, significantly revamped in December 2025 and reaffirming driven through August 2026 by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow to build a modern, results-oriented framework for South-South cooperation. Thailand’s recent high-level talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty operationalize this strategy. By executing a Joint Plan of Action (2027-2029) alongside agreements on triangular development cooperation, Thailand is converting diplomatic ties into operational economic access points across the Global South.
This bilateral momentum directly intersects with strategic regional gateways for Thailand, creating high-value synergies for Thai manufacturing, agri-tech, and logistics. Egypt’s position as a gateway to the Suez Canal Economic Zone and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) offers Thai exporters of canned food, rubber and industrial components a resilient transshipment hub into African and European markets. In return, Thailand provides Egyptian industrial inputs, such as iron and steel, a direct anchor into Southeast Asia. Establishing proposed logistics centers for Thai products in Egypt illustrates how bilateral economic frameworks can bypass traditional maritime bottlenecks to secure essential supply chains.
These bilateral breakthroughs in Bangkok stand in direct alignment with wider regional dynamics across Southeast Asia, particularly as ASEAN members push to deepen institutional ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). While major powers gathered inside the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center for the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank Group, Thailand’s strategic engagement on the sidelines highlights an execution model centered on practical economic diplomacy. Although multilateral dialogue remains crucial, domestic economic security increasingly relies on functional trade corridors across emerging markets.
To solidify these commercial gains, Thai policymakers and private sector leadership should establish concrete operational frameworks that translate high-level memoranda into sustained market integration. Securing strategic trade pathways and deepening institutional links across North Africa and the Middle East would ensure Thailand’s economic growth remains resilient without over-relying on single-region demand networks.
Paranut has a background in advocacy, with experience in policy research, communications, and civic engagement across both the NGO and government sectors. As Thailand’s Youth Delegate to the United Nations, he represented Thai youth in global dialogues on migration, education, and human rights, championing inclusive policymaking. He holds a degree in political science with a specialization in international relations.
Myanmar 🇲🇲
Rare Western Interview Brings Myanmar Junta Back Into Spotlight
by Myat Moe Kywe
A rare interview granted by Myanmar’s military juntas to a major Western outlet has ignited a sharp domestic backlash this week, even as it exposes the junta’s broader campaign to rebuild credibility with both its regional neighbors and the West.
TIME magazine published the piece, titled “Myanmar’s Dictator Wants to Rebuild Ties With the West,” on September 23, based on an interview conducted at the President’s Office in Naypyidaw on August 28 between Min Aung Hlaing and TIME’s Editor-at-Large, Charlie Campbell. It marked Min Aung Hlaing’s first interview with Western media since he seized power in the 2021 coup, and came months after Campbell first pitched the interview towards Myanmar’s regime in late April under the working title “The Future of Myanmar,” framed around regime efforts toward peace and stability.
The final product was far from what Naypyidaw anticipated. TIME’s headline flatly labeled Min Aung Hlaing a “dictator,” and the article repeatedly referred to him as a military leader who “calls himself President,” language that appears to have particularly made the regime publish a condemnation statement against TIME and Campbell. The regime responded by blacklisting Campbell, demanding the story’s removal, and banning TIME in Myanmar, accusing the outlet of failing to accurately reflect the answers given and of including “non-constructive writing, interviews with other individuals and unfounded commentaries.”
Inside the story, Min Aung Hlaing used the platform to press for sanctions relief, framing renewed engagement as mutually beneficial for Myanmar and the international community. On the long-stalled Rohingya repatriation agreement, he tied progress to the rollback of legal challenges against the state, warning that without movement the matter becomes unresolvable. He was noncommittal on a possible amnesty for Aung San Suu Kyi, saying it depends on her, while leaving room for reconsideration on the military’s part.
The interview did not occur in isolation. It follows a deliberate pattern of outreach by Min Aung Hlaing toward fellow ASEAN states since his inauguration as president, including bi-lateral state visits to Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia — trips regional and international media have cast as a “diplomatic comeback tour” as reported on Straits Time. Combined with the TIME sit-down, observers read the moves as a coordinated push to normalize the regime’s standing on two fronts simultaneously: consolidating legitimacy within ASEAN while testing the waters for a reset with the West.
Yet the article’s broader reporting undercut that narrative. It documented a military stretched by a civil war showing no sign of ending, a failing economy that has contracted sharply since the coup alongside a weakened Myanmar Kyats and collapsing foreign investment, and a regime increasingly reliant on Beijing and Moscow for military and diplomatic support.
This week’s development has put Myanmar back into the international spotlight through a rare interview with its military leader. What was intended as an opportunity for the regime to present its case to the West instead produced a storyline to reignite the story of what is happening in Myanmar, with its subsequent backlash from the regime against TIME drawing further attention to the story and the wider realities it sought to present.
Myat is a B.A. graduate in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. She has interned at The Asia Foundation in Washington, D.C., and she has also worked as a summer research assistant at the Centre for Policy and Innovation (CRPI), gaining experience in research and analysis. Her work focuses on civic engagement, gender, youth leadership, and community development.
Cambodia 🇰🇭
Cambodia Stock Index Soars to 4-Year High in August Trading Boom
by Malai Yatt, in Phnom Penh
Strong company fundamentals and resilient economic sentiment sparked a massive market rally on the Cambodia Securities Exchange in August, boosting daily trading volumes by roughly 300 percent over early 2026 averages as both local and institutional investors flooded the market.
In August, 2026, the market condition on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) gained
strong interest and active participation, with trading activity, trading volume, and share price surging sharply even as the annual dividend payout season has come to an end.
According to CSX’s official report, in August, the CSX Index closed at 541.02, an increase of 18 percent during the month and up nearly 28 percent over the first eight months of the year. Exceptionally, on August 26th, the index soared to 560.09, marking its highest level in the last four years (since March, 2022).
Furthermore, the average daily trading value in August reached KHR 3,175 million (almost $800,000), increasing approximately 300% compared to the daily figure across the first seven months of 2026.
“This positive momentum was driven by several key factors such as share prices remained
appealing relative to corporate potential and business fundamentals, historical dividend yields were strong, and listed companies reported positive financial performance and healthy growth in Q2, 2026”
CSX reported that 2,006 new trading accounts were opened in August alone, reflecting widespread public awareness and growing interest in the opportunity of generating additional income through equity investments. Alongside rising liquidity, investor participation also remarkably set a new record.
The actual figures testify to the resilient growth potential of Cambodia’s capital market. The
expansion of investor participation serves as a vital catalyst for the CSX to further broaden its services, develop new financial products, and modernize its technology infrastructure to serve a broader range of the interests of investors, the report added.
On September 10, Hong Sokhour, Royal Government Delegate in charge as CEO of the CSX confirmed that “CSX has a total of 28 listed companies, comprising 12 equity-listed companies and 16 corporate bond-listed companies. Collectively, these 28 companies have successfully raised approximately $720 million from the securities market.
Regarding the market performance, the average daily trading volume for the first eight months of 2026 increased by nearly 150 percent compared to 2025, with average daily trading value rising to $290,000, he added.
Overall, the CSX is experiencing sustained, resilient growth, driven by strong corporate performance, attractive dividend yields, and solid business fundamentals. This broadening public interest and institutional backing are providing a strong participation to expand its financial products.
Editorial Deadline 26/09/2026 11:59 PM (UTC +8)
