Smooth trade to put $2B exports in reach
Cambodia could expand its foreign trade by up to 16 percent, adding approximately $2 billion worth of exports, by complying with a new international trade protocol that aims to slice through the red tape that slows and complicates cross-border trade. ...
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/smooth-trade-put-2b-exports-reach
Tension flares up again on Cambodia’s border with Laos
Dozens of Laotian soldiers started building a post on a disputed tract of land along the border on Thursday, breaking a deal made just a day earlier between Laos and Cambodia to withdraw forces until after the Khmer New Year. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/tension-flares-up-again-on-cambodias-border-with-laos-127704/
Construction workers call for baseline wage
A day ahead of May Day, the Building and Wood Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia held a small rally outside the National Assembly demanding the inclusion of construction workers within the minimum wage framework and new guidelines for workplace safety. ...
Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/construction-workers-call-baseline-wage
Bank services VAT seen as ‘inefficient’
Banking sector leaders have expressed concern over a new government decree that places additional fees on financial services, warning that the costs of what some have described as an “impractical and inefficient” tax would likely be passed along to consumers. ...
Kali Kotoski and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/bank-services-vat-seen-inefficient
Jet’s mints first gold collateral plan
Local diversified company Jet’s Group has launched a new collateral option that allows would-be homeowners to buy gold bullion from Hong Kong that can be used to secure investments in its Cambodian property developments, a company executive said yesterday. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/jets-mints-first-gold-collateral-plan
Hun Sen gives nod to creation of ecotourism task force
Prime Minister Hun Sen approved the establishment of a new interministerial task force yesterday that will work to develop and manage community-based ecotourism locations in a bid to find sustainable ways to draw tourists to destinations across the Kingdom. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/hun-sen-gives-nod-creation-ecotourism-task-force
Foreigners working in Cambodia face permit fines
About 100,000 foreigners working without permits will be fined after Khmer New Year and potentially face jail time and deportation if they fail to get paperwork or pay their fines, the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Labour announced yesterday. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/foreigners-working-cambodia-face-permit-fines
Angkor Gold identifies northeast prospects
Angkor Gold Corp, a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed company, has announced the identification of five new prospects in Ratanakiri province, according to a company statement. the mining firm said it planned to consolidate its gold prospects in the northeastern corner of the country. ...
CSX wants more trading sessions
The Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) has requested adding four trading sessions to its two current sessions in the hopes of increasing trade volumes. The request, if approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia, could see new sessions added within a month. . ...
Year of the Snake lures 85,000 visitors to Kampot
Almost 85,000 visitors traveled to Kampot over the first three days of the Lunar New Year. The 84,917 visitors included 1,252 foreigners with the Bokor Mountain resort alone attracting 67,548 visitors including 1,004 foreigners, [a tourism official] said. ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=ZTkxNjBjZmNjN2M
Official summoned over gross misspending
The National Assembly’s banking and finance commission has called parliament’s chief administrator for questioning on Tuesday over alleged spending irregularities in a 2015 budget that included buying 30 new cars at $200,000 each and spending $25,000 on a flagpole. ...
Holly Robertson
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/official-summoned-over-gross-misspending-79259/
Angkor scrutiny: Commission to investigate park figures
The National Assembly’s Anti-Corruption Commission will visit Siem Reap this month to further probe claims Angkor Archaeological Park’s manager, the Apsara Authority, underreported ticket sales, as new figures show a drop in visitors to the World Heritage site last month. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/angkor-scrutiny-commission-investigate-park-figures-0
Hun Sen puts Mines Ministry in control of sand dredging
Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a new directive last week putting the Ministry of Mines and Energy in charge of all aspects of approving sand dredging operations in a move that one official said would help clear out a backlog of license requests. ...
Hul Reaksmey
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-puts-mines-ministry-in-control-of-sand-dredging-80544/
OCIC pitch ‘disappoints’ Chroy Changvar disputants
Residents on Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changvar peninsula embroiled in a land dispute with tycoon Pung Khieu Se’s Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation were to submit a petition to City Hall today following a new compensation offer from the authorities last week. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Daniel Pye
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/ocic-pitch-%E2%80%98disappoints%E2%80%99-chroy-changvar-disputants
One in five students ‘saw gender violence’
More than 60 per cent of Cambodian students have experienced gender-based violence in schools, with staff committing the violence a fifth of the time, according to a new research report from Plan International and the International Center for Research on Women. ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/one-five-students-saw-gender-violence
Japan to send voter registration experts to Cambodia
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday returned from an international disaster management conference in Japan, where he secured a promise from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to help Cambodia with voter registration once new election laws come into effect, an official said. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/japan-to-send-voter-registration-experts-to-cambodia-79871/
Pung Chhiv Kek declines NEC nomination
Pung Chhiv Kek, the president of rights group Licadho, has declined her nomination as the “neutral” member of the bipartisan National Election Committee (NEC), forcing the CPP and CNRP to select a new candidate for the key final position on the body. ...
Alex Willemyns
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/pung-chhiv-kek-declines-nec-nomination-81098/
Land, insecurity linked: report
Rampant land grabs, economic land concessions and a disastrous land-titling program have fostered an environment of insecurity for Cambodia’s most marginalised citizens, according to a new report, which argues that the Kingdom needs to rethink its current business-centric development model. ...
Ethan Harfenist
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/land-insecurity-linked-report
In old enemy Hun Sen, Sam Rainsy sees hope
After years of bitter rhetoric and violence, a freshly pardoned opposition leader Sam Rainsy returned from exile in France to announce the end of Cambodia’s zero-sum political culture and a new start in his relationship with Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...
Alex Willemyns and Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/in-old-enemy-hun-sen-sam-rainsy-sees-hope-82211/
UNESCO to push both adult literacy and preschool education
Months away from the end of a 15-year plan to improve education in the country, officials announced Wednesday that Cambodia still needs to make strides to meet adult literacy benchmarks and set new priorities focusing on the country’s youngest students. ...
Maria Paula Brito
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unesco-to-push-both-adult-literacy-and-preschool-education-85370/