Travel goods exports could soar as US drops tariffs
New trade privileges that allow Cambodian-manufactured travel goods duty-free access to the United States for the first time could see exports of these items increase by over 400 per cent in the coming years, industry experts said yesterday. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/travel-goods-exports-could-soar-us-drops-tariffs
Local car hire app gets a jump on Uber
With ride-hailing giants Uber and Grab yet to enter the Cambodian market, a pair of local entrepreneurs have seized the initiative and developed the first private-hire car service and smartphone application for Phnom Penh’s frenetic city streets. ...
Matthieu de Gaudemar
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/local-car-hire-app-gets-jump-uber
Rubber producers want export taxes scrapped
A group of private sector rubber producers have petitioned the government to drop export taxes on rubber products, arguing that by scrapping the tax the sector would attract foreign investment into processing factories. ក្រុមអ្នកផលិតកៅស៊ូចង់នាំឱ្យពន្ធនាំចេញត្រូវលុបចោលក្រុមអ្នកផលិតកៅស៊ូឯកជនមួយបានដាក់ញ្ញត្តិទៅរដ្ឋាភិបាលដើម្បីទម្លាក់ចោលពន្ធនាំចេញផលិតផលកៅស៊ូ ដែលលើកឡើងថា ការមិនយកពន្ធនាំចេញនៃវិស័យនេះអាចនឹងទាក់ទាញវិនិយោគិនបរទេសមកដំឡើងរោងចក្រកែច្នៃ។ ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rubber-producers-want-export-taxes-scrapped
Telecom firm takes action over embezzlement
Telecom Cambodia has suspended a manager accused of stealing $230,000 and is preparing a legal complaint against him and a former senior employee in the firm’s finance office who supposedly received the missing money, a company official said. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/telecom-firm-takes-action-over-embezzlement-93684/
Activist gets 2 more years in prison over protest
Jailed opposition activist Ouk Pich Samnang called on the international community to condemn Cambodia’s court system on Thursday after he was handed a further two years in prison for intentional violence and obstructing authorities, despite a dearth of evidence against him. ...
Ouch Sony
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/activist-gets-2-more-years-in-prison-over-protest-93939/
Compromise remains elusive in minimum wage negotiations
Factory and union representatives remain as far apart as ever over where to set next year’s minimum wage for garment workers, now at $128 per month, after hours of heated negotiations Wednesday and a vote that seemed to settle nothing. ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/compromise-remains-elusive-in-minimum-wage-negotiations-96839/
With wage talks over, GMAC calls for focus on productivity
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) is looking for a renewed focus on productivity following the conclusion of this month’s minimum wage negotiations, while supporting calls for clothing buyers to implement more sustainable purchasing practices. ...
Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia
Road safety efforts ‘insufficient’
A new study warns that a UN initiative to cut global road deaths in half by 2020 is on course to fail amid “clearly insufficient” efforts, with middle- and lower-income countries such as Cambodia at the forefront of the battle. ...
Charles Parkinson
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/road-safety-efforts-insufficient
Climate change poses threat to fish, health: report
If global temperatures continue to rise, Cambodia’s dependence on fishing and its under-developed healthcare and sanitation sectors will make it particularly exposed to the adverse effects of climate change, according to a World Bank report published on Sunday. ...
Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/climate-change-poses-threat-fish-health-report
Arrest ordered for Rainsy Facebook manager
An arrest warrant was issued on Tuesday for an assistant of opposition leader Sam Rainsy who helps run his popular Facebook page and is allegedly responsible for producing the video in which now-jailed Senator Hong Sok Hour presents a forged treaty. ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/arrest-ordered-for-rainsy-facebook-manager-101683/
Schools to learn disaster risk reduction
The Education Ministry will include an internationally agreed disaster risk reduction component in school curriculums from next year as part of a growing global move to teach students and communities how to deal with events such as flooding and major storms. ...
Chea Takihiro
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/18489/schools-to-learn-disaster-risk-reduction/
Legal passage to Malaysia for maids still some months away
Although Cambodia signed off on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia on Thursday that will once again allow the country to send domestic workers to its Asean neighbor, a Labor Ministry spokesman said it will not take effect for months. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/legal-passage-to-malaysia-for-maids-still-some-months-away-102896/
Ministry official kills village chief
A seemingly minor dispute between an Interior Ministry official and a village chief in Phnom Penh turned deadly when the official gunned down the village chief and his relative on Wednesday afternoon, according to police, who offered wildly different reports of the shooting. ...
Khy Sovuthy and Anthony Jensen
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/interior-ministry-official-kills-village-chief-103241/
Dissident files lawsuit against Hor Namhong
Sourn Serey Ratha, president of the nascent Khmer Power Party (KPP), on Monday filed a defamation and incitement lawsuit against Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, following through on a threat he made last week. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/dissident-files-lawsuit-against-hor-namhong-103578/
With AIIB, nation diversifies funding options
Though it’s extremely early days, experts this week welcomed Cambodia’s membership to the nascent China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), saying it would provide much-needed diversity of funding for the nation’s infrastructure and connectivity needs. ...
Tej Parikh
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/with-aiib-nation-diversifies-funding-options-105893/
EU to provide 10 million euros for election reform, NEC still needs more
The European Union pledged €10 million in preparation of the upcoming 2017 and 2018 elections yesterday, which the National Election Committee (NEC) hopes to add to in a new budget they will be submitting to the government, according to NEC officials. ...
Chea Takihiro
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21238/eu-to-provide-10-million-euros-for-election-reform--nec-still-needs-more/
Factories failing women: study
Despite their overwhelmingly female workforce, garment factories in Kompong Speu province fail to adequately address the maternal health and child-care needs of their staff, according to new study set to be released by the French NGO Enfants and Developpment. ...
Taylor O'Connell
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factories-failing-women-study-108780/
Factory agrees to stop poisoning neighbors
About 60 families in Battambang town gathered yesterday to demand that the owner of an ice-making factory stop releasing polluted water into the creek that runs through their neighborhood in Romchek village 5 as well as on their land. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22273/factory-agrees-to-stop-poisoning-neighbors/
Old debt on agenda for PM’s Russia visit
Prime Minister Hun Sen will attempt to renegotiate the $1.5 billion of Soviet-era debt Cambodia accrued during the 1980s when he visits Russia in May, according to a post on the premier’s Facebook page. ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/old-debt-agenda-pms-russia-visit
City police chief announces measures to rein in weapons
Phnom Penh’s police chief on Thursday blasted his subordinates for doing an inadequate job of controlling weapons issued to officers, and announced that police had begun a “weapons census” in an effort to deal with the problem. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-police-chief-announces-measures-to-rein-in-weapons-110730/