Cambodia bags premier tourism award
The European Council on Tourism and Trade (ECTT) on Wednesday awarded the Kingdom the title of the world’s best tourism destination for 2016. Cambodia outperformed some 30 contestants, including last year’s winner Ethiopia, an African country, thanks to her innumerable attractions, rich cultural history, civilization, ancient ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/26221/cambodia-bags-premier-tourism-award/
Cambodia: Farmers eager to grow organic veg over rice
Cambodian farmers are eager to cultivate organic vegetables rather than rice, as not only do vegetables command higher prices, but they are also quicker to grow. According to the World Bank, vegetables fetch an income of $1575 per hectare while it is $544 per hectare ...
Fresh Plaza Team
http://www.freshplaza.com/article/160852/Cambodia-Farmers-eager-to-grow-organic-veg-over-rice
Employers want more productivity following wage hike
Factories in Cambodia’s garment industry say they need more productivity out of workers if they are to survive a new wage hike.Earlier this month, the government agreed to raise minimum wage to $140 per month, a figure managers said would damage the industry. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/employers-want-more-productivity-following-wage-hike/3015378.html
Court spats, violence underscore rising political strife in Cambodia
Political tensions increased in Cambodia this week, with opposition lawmakers boycotting a session of the country’s National Assembly on Monday and ASEAN parliamentarians voicing concerns over the country’s “deteriorating political climate” as the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) asserts ever-tighter control over the Southeast Asian ...
Morm Moniroth, Yang Chandara, and Khe Sonorng
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/working-12012015152652.html
Upgraded training program for elite forest rangers
The first graduates of a special training program for elite forest rangers began work this month in Preah Vihear’s protected forest.The 29 newly-minted rangers will be responsible for leading efforts to stop illegal logging, land clearance, and poaching in a forest that is home to ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/20991/upgraded-training-program-for-elite-forest-rangers/
Crackdown halts illegal timber trade with Vietnam: gov’t
The illegal timber trade to Vietnam, a key nexus in a shadow industry worth billions of dollars, has been all but eliminated, an official said yesterday in summarising a new report from the government’s anti-logging commission, a claim met with disbelief by more than one ...
Mech Dara and Igor Kossov
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/crackdown-halts-illegal-timber-trade-vietnam-govt
Freight rail services gather pace
Freight rail shipments have gained traction since commercial rail traffic resumed on the Kingdom’s sole operational railway line in 2013, but Royal Railway, the private company with a 30-year concession to operate the Kingdom’s railway network, is pressing for more growth as it seeks to ...
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/freight-rail-services-gather-pace
New checkpoints on Lao border
More border checkpoints will be opened between Cambodia and Laos after both countries agreed to increase bilateral trade yesterday. The decision came after a meeting in Phnom Penh between Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Lao counterpart Thongloung Sisoulith after a series of talks related ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/26583/new-checkpoints-on-lao-border/
Mango exports to S. Korea stalled
In December, South Korea announced that it planned to import dried mangos from Cambodia and the news was heralded as a sign that the country’s lackluster mango export sector was improving. However, a lack of machinery in the Kingdom has meant that the South Korean ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28400/mango-exports-to-s--korea-stalled/
Cambodia calling
‘Third wave’ of Thai investment now under way with businesses planning for the long term as the economy matures and Thai-Cambodian relations improve. Today Thai investors are flocking back to the country, lured by strong growth, a stable political environment and open policies. ...
Umesh Pandey
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/692156/cambodia-calling
Microcredit, a ‘double-edged sword’ strategy for migration
In Cambodia, as credit becomes increasingly available, more people are taking loans from microfinance institutions to help with migration.As of June 2015, microfinance institutions lent more than $2 billion, compared to $1.6 billion dollars in 2014, according to the Cambodia Microfinance Association. ...
Ten Soksreinith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/microcredit-a-double-edged-sword-strategy-for-migration/2979173.html
KPP to build border homes
The newly legal Khmer Power Party is delaying the construction of its headquarters, instead using the money to build houses near the Vietnamese border, its leader said yesterday. Serey Ratha said houses will only be constructed on Cambodian land, but added that the KPP would ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kpp-build-border-homes
Tycoon senator opens up on Thai power deal
Cambodia’s electricity generation reached 2.714 billion kilowatt hours last year, of which 1.851 million KWh was generated by hydro dams and 863.02 million KWh by coal-powered plants. Household access to electricity rose 18.8 percent, compared to 2013, according a report from Cambodia’s Electricity Authority. ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/19173/tycoon-senator-opens-up-on-thai-power-deal/
All citizens enlisted in crackdown on illegal logging
After setting up the National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) in an attempt to show that the government was trying to stop illegal logging, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday called on all citizens to join the battle, saying people even had the right to make citizen arrests ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/24392/all-citizens-enlisted-in-crackdown-on-illegal-logging/
World Bank to vote on ending punitive 5-year funding freeze
The World Bank’s board of directors could vote today to renew a project for landless families in Cambodia that has run into major problems, a move that would effectively lift a five-year freeze on lending its own money to the country in protest over forced ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/world-bank-to-vote-on-ending-punitive-5-year-funding-freeze-112778/
Krabey island resort 70% complete
A $20 million resort being developed on Krabey Island off the coast from Sihanoukville is about 70 percent complete and will open on schedule in mid-2017, according the Ministry of Tourism. Tourism Minister Thong Khon told Khmer Times that the island development was progressing as planned, ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/29359/krabey-island-resort-70--complete/
Gov’t names illegal logging profiteers, but courts won’t prosecute
More than a month has passed since National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) named the people it suspects of profiting from the trade in illegal timber, but not a single arrest warrant or court summons has been issued since. As perpetrators continue to go unpunished, the illegal ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21780/gov---t-names-illegal-logging-profiteers--but-courts-won---t-prosecute/
Singapore’s HLH Group plans $10 million farm food processing park
Singapore-listed HLH Group Ltd will invest $10 million in an agricultural food processing park, which is due to be fully operational next year, the Singapore Business Review reported yesterday. The 400-hectare park will be in Kampong Speu province’s Oral district, said Kim Koung, an official of ...
Opposition to end boycott
Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) MPs are to end their boycott of parliament, saying the national interest takes priority.The boycott started in May after security forces tried to arrest deputy party leader Kem Sokha after he refused to attend court for questioning over an alleged ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/32072/opposition-to-end-boycott/
$100 million freshwater aquarium planned
A $100 million freshwater aquarium, part of which will be a research and breeding center, is being planned for Phnom Penh. The project, revealed in a meeting between Prime Minister Hun Sen and a visiting Japanese delegation from the Japan-Cambodia Association on Friday, will be funded ...