The Eastern Regional Organization for Public Administration (EROPA) website acquired a new look last January 23. It also added new features such as a responsive theme, development of user experience feedback, improved search engine optimization, and an expanded public administration news section.

During the first week of the new website (23-30 January), a 79 percent increase in weekly average views were recorded. In the same time period, people from at least 60 nations around the world witnessed the site. Six of the ten largest audience sources were Asia-Pacific countries. While all the main pages were already updated, the rest of the website's features are currently being worked upon. Rest assured, all web pages will be updated in the near future and we work towards better experience in the site.

EROPA's social media outlets were also revitalized. The monthly social media reach increased by an overwhelming 545 percent in the month of January. You can follow our Facebook and Twitter profiles, as well as subscribe to our Youtube channel.

Of course, the challenge lies in keeping up with the pace we have recently began. However, we fervently hope for the best as we continue promoting dynamic and excellent public administration in the regional community and in the global village.

Reaching further! Moving faster! Building a community of students, experts, scholars, and practitioners.

They also agree to expand defence tie-ups to new areas, including maritime domain.

India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have  agreed to work together to produce military weapons and expand cooperation in the energy sector, in two of many moves coming during the visit of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Zayed Al Nahyan to India. The Crown Prince is in India as the chief guest for the Republic Day parade, an honour India gives to countries it considers key to its diplomacy. 

Last year, French President Francois Hollande was the chief guest while the year before, it was then US President Barack Obama.

The Philippines government is due to begin peace talks with communist rebels on 18 January which could end one of Asia's longest insurgencies.

President Rodrigo Duterte has said he wants to "walk the extra mile" to achieve peace, in a conflict which has claimed an estimated 30,000 lives since the 1960s. BBC Monitoring's Mark Wilson examines the challenges ahead.

FOR more than two years Thailand’s ruling junta, which seized power in a coup in 2014, has been cooking up a constitution which it hopes will keep military men in control even after elections take place. In August the generals won approval for the document in a referendum made farcical by a law which forbade campaigners from criticising the text.

There is much to dislike about the proposed constitution, which will keep elected governments beholden to a senate nominated by the junta and to a suite of meddling committees. But Mr Prayuth says the king’s objections relate only to “three or four” articles—all of which appear to limit the sovereign’s power slightly.

Lao Prime Minister (PM) Thongloun Sisoulith on Monday urged the business and public sectors in Laos and Thailand to open their hearts and break down barriers for bilateral investment and cooperation.

The remarks were made by Thongloun at the Lao-Thai Business Forum 2017 in the Lao capital of Vientiane with nearly 200 participants from the two countries, including businesspeople, officials from the Thai and Lao Chambers of Commerce and Industry and relevant ministries.

Tax will be withdrawn on construction of hydropower projects being developed by Chinese companies under CPEC.

The government is expected to withdraw general sales tax (GST) on construction of hydropower projects being developed by Chinese companies under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on the pattern of tax exemptions given to mass transits like Lahore Orange Line Metro Train last week.

Informed sources said that at least three major hydropower projects with cumulative generation capacity of over 2,700 megawatts among the priority list of CPEC would qualify for the GST waiver worth over 50 billion rupees ($473 million) to facilitate their implementation, which is currently at very early stage. The move would improve cash flows of major investors like China Gazhouba Group and China Three Gorges Corporation, they said.

Malacañang and Congress have quietly kept alive the graft-ridden pork barrel system—declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court four years ago—in this year’s P3.35-trillion national budget, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said on Sunday.

“Pork barrel has been a very corrupt and corrupting system in our political institutions, which had been shortchanging millions of Filipinos who suffer from half-baked, even ghost projects,” he said.

Any increase in Social Security System (SSS) pension should come only after the approval of the tax reform law that would make it easier to increase members’ contribution to the fund, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on Tuesday.

Diokno said President Duterte was not in the same situation as when he was a candidate who had promised voters an increase in the pensions of retirees in the private sector.

As Chief Executive, Mr. Duterte now has access to more data concerning the SSS, Diokno said following reports that the President was still looking for ways to give the pension increase while protecting the life of the fund.