Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that China has been playing a critical role in contributing to the development of the Cambodian economy through direct investment and helping to develop infrastructure.  In 2016 trade reached about $4.8 billion of which exports from Cambodia amounted to href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/pm-backs-chinas-key-role/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia and China reached here yesterday six memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in order to further tighten and expand the cooperation between the two countries. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen and visiting H.E. Liu Yunshan, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-china-sign-six-cooperation-deals/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Estimates suggest that 0.38 percent of Cambodians have contracted TB, an alarming statistic for a country still recovering from decades of conflict. This rate shows an improvement from the early 2000s, when up to 1.5 percent of Cambodians had the disease. Even so, villagers who live far href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-and-the-wests-common-enemy-tuberculosis/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

China will hold its second military exercise with Cambodia in March focusing on counter terrorism, the Cambodian army said on Wednesday, in another sign of the Southeast Asian country strengthening ties with Beijing. The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces said in a statement the exercise would href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/china-to-hold-second-military-exercises-with-cambodia/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The National Social Security Fund of the Ministry of Labour said more than 1,600 workers fainted in 22 factories in 2017, an increase of more than 400 from the previous year. According to a Facebook post that published the conclusion of the 2017 annual results and href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/jump-in-fainting-cases-in-2017-for-garment-workers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Officials in Cambodia and China’s Guangdong province are cooperating to establish trade using yuan instead of US dollars, part of the two countries’ increasingly close economic relationship. The suggestion to use yuan directly, instead of using US dollars as an intermediary currency, was made by href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/deal-for-yuan-trade-with-china-in-works/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Families forced to relocate due to the construction of the Lower Sesan II Dam are asking Stung Treng provincial authorities to register their new village as indigenous collective lands. The 67 families from Sre Ko commune received authorisation to set up the new village on their href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/sesan-villagers-seek-land-titles/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Phnom Penh City Hall yesterday said that demonstrations, strikes and protests increased last year when compared to 2016. A report released yesterday said that 2017 saw 1,760 demonstrations, strikes and protests, an increase of 162 compared to 2016. Last year, there were 613 protests by citizens and href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/phnom-penh-demonstrations-rise-in-2017/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Rhona Smith, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia, who is on a three-day trip to the Kingdom, yesterday voiced her concern about overcrowding in prisons caused by an increase in temporary detentions before trials. Ms. Smith, on her third visit to Cambodia, raised href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/envoy-calls-for-prison-reform/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The first ever smartphone tax app is set to be launched next year in an effort to make tax payments by companies more transparent. The app developed by the General Department of Taxation (GDT) of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, is a platform for individuals href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/tax-app-launched-next-year/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The central banks of Cambodia and China are in talks to share customers’ credit reports in an effort to boost bilateral private investment, as a response to rising trade between the two countries. The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) director general Chea Serey told Khmer Times href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/china-cambodia%e2%80%8b-to-share-credit-reports/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Pursat provincial police have launched a week-long campaign to crack down on widespread illegal fishing. Authorities say they have confiscated and destroyed many kinds of illegal fishing equipment on the Tonle Sap Lake from Kampon Loung in Krakor district to the Kampong Chhang province border. Pursat deputy href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/police-launch-blitz-on-illegal-fishing/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

After being questioned for more than two hours at the National Assembly yesterday, Environment Minister Say Samal claimed the number of forest crimes decreased in 2016, but acknowledged that some government officials were involved in some of the crimes. A recently released report from the University href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/opposition-questions-minister/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Laillou was stunned to find that 90 percent of coarse salt and 40-50 percent of fine salt was now not iodized. And all of it was labeled as iodized. Online journal Nutrients said iodine deficiency in Cambodia had become “a serious public health problem” just href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/lack-of-iodized-salt-causes-serious-public-health-problem-in-cambodia/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodian youngsters are being invited to take part in a video contest on the theme “Asean Against Trafficking – Humans Are Not For Sale”. The Cambodia Human Rights Committee (CHRC) has announced its support for the Asean Youth Video Competition, which aims to raise public awareness href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/making-films-about-trafficking/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Villagers in Preah Vihear province locked in land disputes with five economic land concessions belonging to sugar cane firms have urged provincial authorities to resolve their conflicts. Kroeun Vong, a villager representative in Chey Sen district, said ministry officials solved some cases by giving one hectare href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/villagers-ask-for-help-in-land-disputes/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

After joining the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) family in 2016, Cambodia has been an active supporter and enthusiastic participant of the mechanism. On Dec. 21, China provided 7.3 million U.S. dollars from the LMC Special Fund to Cambodia for carrying out 16 projects in the kingdom, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/lancang-mekong-cooperation-puts-people-first-brings-benefits-to-locals/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Wah Sun Handbags International Holding unveiled plans yesterday to expand its Cambodia operations, citing the country’s low labour costs as the primary reason for the move. In a filing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the handbag manufacturer announced plans to raise up to $18 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/bag-firm-plans-to-grow-local-operations/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

A Better Factories Cambodia report shows little improvement in the continued use of short-term contracts and safety and health conditions for workers at surveyed factories, with total compliance of all exporting factories still stuck at less than 50 percent. The International Labour Organisation’s compliance program conducts href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/report-shows-little-sign-of-improvement-at-factories/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The government subsidised $51 million worth of electricity across the country in 2017 in a bid to bring down the price of electricity for low-income households, according to the Minister of Mines and Energy. Speaking at the annual conference of the Electricity Authority Cambodia yesterday, Suy href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/poor-households-given-51m-in-energy-subsidies/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...