Japan has said that it will help Southeast Asian countries train large language models in their local languages to promote the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) in the region.

The central banks of Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and India are teaming up to start an instant cross-border retail payments platform by 2026, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) said on July 1.

The 24th Meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC 24) was held in Singapore on June 8.

Over the last decade, Vietnam has become a top destination for investment in manufacturing – more desirable than other Southeast Asian nations like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines). There are some overarching themes behind the reasons why Vietnam is more attractive to investors than those countries.

Members of the Vietnamese Embassy and representative agencies in South Africa recently attended the ASEAN Sports and Family Day hosted by the ASEAN Committee in Pretoria (APC).

The Delta variant of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which was first detected in India, has continued to spread in Southeast Asian nations, with Indonesia recording the highest rate of infection.

Thailand’s Public Health Ministry said it will increase the capacity of Bussarakham Field Hospital to 4,000 beds in a bid to cope with a possible surge in infections from the Delta variant of COVID-19.

Southeast Asian nations reported an increasing number of new COVID-19 infections on June 17.

The total number of deaths related to COVID-19 in Thailand hit 1,012 after 24 more fatalities were reported on May 30, according to local health authorities.

The health ministry of Laos on May 16 reported 21 new cases of COVID-19, including 10 locally-transmitted infections.

The Cambodian government has introduced a “strategic plan for COVID-19 vaccination campaign to build socio-economic resilience in Cambodia by 2021” in a bid to accelerate the vaccination of all people aged 18 and over in high-priority areas.

Southeast Asian nations continue to report a large number of new COVID-19 cases.

Social responsibility practices in Southeast Asian fishery sector discussed

The Japanese government will set up a fund worth 250 billion JPY (some 2.4 billion USD) to support Japanese companies' "smart-city" projects and to help further decarbonisation measures in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations, reported the Nikkei Asia.

ASEAN Foreign Ministers on October 27 issued a statement on recent floods and landslides that caused huge losses of life and property in Southeast Asian nations.

Southeast Asian nations are beefing up measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 amid complicated developments of the disease in many countries around the world.

Indonesia records the highest daily number of COVID-19 cases on August 27 with 2,719 cases, bringing the country’s total count to 162,884.

Indonesian health authorities are trying quinine as a possible treatment of COVID-19 while also acquiring other kinds of medication touted as promising drugs in some other countries, a senior official has said.

The number of COVID-19 infections continued to increase in Southeast Asian nations on April 25.

Many Southeast Asian countries on March 16 said that they are continuously implementing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.