Asean-China talks set for Cambodia
Cambodia will host the 20th Asean-China meeting aimed at boosting further discussions on the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) which could lead to finalizing the framework of the Code of Conduct (COC). ...
Cheang Sokha
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36998/asean-china-talks-set-for-cambodia/
Government denounces US,EU criticism of Adhoc 5 detention
The government has lashed out at the U.S. and E.U. over their criticism of the detention of five current and former rights workers in Cambodia for more than a year, adopting the language of its critics by calling their statements “politically motivated.” ...
Matt Surrusco
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-denounces-us-eu-criticism-of-adhoc-5-detention-129201/
Questions linger over second accused ship
A second ship accused by the NGO Mother Nature of illegally exporting dredged ocean sand last week is expected to arrive at a port in China today with a cargo of silica sand, which is exempt from the ban, the ship’s owner said yesterday. ...
Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/questions-linger-over-second-accused-ship
Garment industry exports up, jobs down
Exports grew at a solid pace in 2016, rising by 7.2 percent to $7.3 billion, but the number of registered exporting factories fell by 10.4 per cent, while the number of workers declined by 2.9 per cent, compared to 2015. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/39024/garment-industry-exports-up--jobs-down/
Ministries to pilot use of budget reform tool
The Financial Management Information System (FMIS), a reform initiative designed to improve the governance and transparency of national budget management, will be applied to 10 government ministries later this year after a successful implementation of the scheme at the National Treasury Department, officials said yesterday. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ministries-pilot-use-budget-reform-tool-0
As company clears land, Bunong villagers fight for ancestral home
The land concession overlaps the site of the Bunong community’s old village, their spirit forest and their burial grounds—religiously significant areas that, according to Bunong beliefs, are not to be disturbed or logged at the risk of incurring the wrath of local spirits. ...
Brendan O’byrne
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-company-clears-land-bunong-villagers-fight-for-ancestral-home-132609/
Deal gives UAE more confidence to invest
The Kingdom’s investment authority signed an agreement yesterday to promote and protect investments between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Cambodia, a move government officials hope will attract foreign direct investment from the oil-rich Gulf state, which currently stands at almost zero. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/deal-gives-uae-more-confidence-invest
Hun Sen calls for closure of anti-trafficking group after CNN report
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday called for the closure of a Christian anti-trafficking NGO during a heated tirade at a graduation ceremony, condemning them and CNN for broadcasting an “insulting” story about girls who were sold into sexual slavery by their own mothers. ...
Kong Meta, Erin Handley and Soth Koemsoeun
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hun-sen-calls-closure-anti-trafficking-group-after-cnn-report
Amid strife, the CNRP is a party on pause
When Cambodia National Rescue Party President Kem Sokha stood arm-in-arm with three newly minted deputies earlier this year, the quartet seemed eager and ready to address the party’s next challenge at hand: critical commune elections that could greatly bolster grassroots support. ...
Mech Dara and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/amid-strife-cnrp-party-pause
Families regain land as claims given approval
More than 200 families who have been locked in land disputes with sugar firms will have at least some of their land returned to them after the Ministry of Land Management approved their claims yesterday, though hundreds more families are still waiting for resolution. ...
Soth Koemsoeun
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/families-regain-land-claims-given-approval
Vietnam nationals arrested in Kratie timber bust
Six Vietnamese nationals were arrested on Wednesday afternoon in a Military Police raid that saw 30 officers confiscating at least 100 illegally felled trees and 10 logging vehicles from an economic land concession in Kratie province’s Snuol district near the border with Vietnam. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vietnam-nationals-arrested-kratie-timber-bust
Working underground in Ratanakkiri
Both the miners and brokers at the mining site said the land on which the mining is conducted costs roughly $10,000 per hectare per year in a deal between the rubber plantation owner and a gemstone businessman who they referred to as the “boss”. ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5098126/working-underground-ratanakkiri/
China deals swiftly signed
Cambodian and Chinese officials and business leaders yesterday signed 19 agreements during a visit to Phnom Penh by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, boosting Chinese investment at a time when the regional power has upped its economic and political support for Hun Sen’s government. ...
Hor Kimsay and Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/china-deals-swiftly-signed
More evictees may have recourse through IFC
Rights groups say families being forced off their land by development projects recently revealed to have World Bank Group backing could probably file successful complaints against the institution, effectively forcing it to help the families save their homes or at least win better compensation. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/evictees-may-recourse-ifc-119213/
Oil firm ready to ink production-sharing agreement
Executives at Singapore-listed energy firm KrisEnergy Ltd say they have settled terms with the Cambodian government and are ready to sign a long-awaited production-sharing agreement that would pave the way for the first-ever extraction of petroleum from Cambodian territorial waters. ...
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/oil-firm-ready-ink-production-sharing-agreement
Parties’ funding plans differ
The two main political parties contesting the upcoming commune elections revealed disparate campaign budget plans yesterday, with the opposition pledging to spend over $1 million and a spokesman for the ruling CPP saying his party will not be creating a central campaigning budget at all. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/parties-funding-plans-differ
Deal gives UAE more confidence to invest
The Kingdom’s investment authority signed an agreement yesterday to promote and protect investments between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Cambodia, a move government officials hope will attract foreign direct investment from the oil-rich Gulf state, which currently stands at almost zero. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/deal-gives-uae-more-confidence-invest
Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen challenges US to cut all aid to his country
The United States announced on Friday it was ending funding for the election, and promised more “concrete steps”, after the Supreme Court dissolved the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) at the request of the government, on the grounds it was plotting to seize power. ...
ABC News staff
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-19/cambodia-tells-us-to-cut-all-aid/9166672
Post-Khmer Rouge PM dies
Pen Sovann, Cambodia’s first prime minister after the Vietnamese invasion in January 1979 that swept the Khmer Rouge from power and a serving opposition member of parliament, passed away at his home in Takeo province’s Duan Keo town on Saturday evening aged 80. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/31437/post-khmer-rouge-pm-dies/
Technical issue mars voter list publication
Prospective voters ran into problems yesterday during the first publication of the country’s new voter lists. Citizens will have until January 14 to check their names and information on voter lists to confirm they are correct, either in person, at registration offices or online. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/33877/technical-issue-mars-voter-list-publication/