Kep and Pursat provinces were granted asean environmental awards in Brunei on Tuesday evening, a first for Cambodia. according to the Environment Ministry, a committee consisting of all asean member countries evaluated and chose Kep for the asean Environmentally Sustainable Cities award, while Pursat was granted <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/%e1%9e%81%e1%9f%81%e1%9e%8f%e1%9f%92%e1%9e%8f%e1%9e%80%e1%9f%82%e1%9e%94-%e1%9e%93%e1%9e%b7%e1%9e%84%e1%9e%81%e1%9f%81%e1%9e%8f%e1%9f%92%e1%9e%8f%e1%9e%96%e1%9f%84%e1%9e%92%e1%9e%b7%e1%9f%8d%e1%9e%9f/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Transport Ministry said yesterday it has asked the World Bank for a $110 million loan to upgrade National Road 4. Speaking after a signing ceremony with a Chinese company to repair two other national roads, Transport Minister Sun Chanthol said the ministry and the World <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/government-seeking-loan-to-repair-national-road/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

In an effort to improve the governance of the Kingdom’s mining industry, with a focus on increasing revenue generation, the government has approved 11 articles largely concerning export permits for mined resources. a September 22 sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, but released by the <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/path-to-responsible-mining/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The 50 percent drop in revenue of the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ) recently announced for the first nine months of the year is due mainly to a significant decline in land sales, a senior official said yesterday. according to the initial, un-audited revenue statement <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ppsez-revenue-drop-due-to-land-sales/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia has vowed to improve collaboration with regional partners in a bid to enhance counter-terrorism cooperation while there is no sign of terrorism in the country, according to a senior government official.The pledge was made during a two-day asean Defence Ministers meeting that kicked off <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-pledges-to-fight-terrorism-threat/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A lAbor rights Activist hAs AppeAled to the government to Assist migrAnt workers in ThAilAnd to cAst their votes At the up coming commune council elections.A smAll number of the roughly 1 million CAmbodiAn workers in ThAilAnd who hAve mAnAged to register to vote will <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/lAbor-Activist-seeks-Aid-for-migrAnt-workers-who-mAy-be-unAble-to-vote/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The Wildlife Conservation Society has said it is committed to continue working with the authorities and other partners to protect Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary after three conservationists, including one WCS staff member were killed last month. Tern Soknai, a forest ranger with the Environment Ministry, Sek <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/killings-fail-to-deter-wcs/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

In two operations last week, Wildlife alliance officials rescued three pangolins in Kampong Speu province and on Thursday arrested a banteng poacher alongside Military Police in the Cardamom Mountains. Following a two-week investigation into suspected wildlife traders, a team from the environmental NGO raided two <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/banteng-poacher-arrested-pangolins-rescued-in-separate-busts/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Despite a court-ordered land title in their favour, 163 families in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district last week watched excavators rip apart their homes at the behest of two district deputy governors. The forced eviction, denounced in a petition delivered on Friday to Prime Minister Hun <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/families-make-plea-to-pm-hun-sen-over-eviction/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A study the LAo government hAs used to clAim the XAyAburi dAm would be hArmless if redesigned hAs been criticised for not Addressing concerns About the project’s effect on fish in the Lower Mekong river. LAo Vice Minister of Energy And Mines VirAponh VirAvong wAs reported <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/xAyAburi-study-questioned/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

Two Cambodian women escaped Thailand on Friday a week after being trafficked across the border and sold into sex slavery in a Thai karaoke parlour, according to the rights group adhoc and anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection officials. Tan Kimrany, an officer for adhoc’s Women’s Rights <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/women-flee-from-thai-karaoke-parlor-slavery/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Ministry of Justice has called on the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to re-examine whether the decision to sentence 13 Boeung Kak women to two and a half years in jail was just, according to a letter obtained by the Post yesterday. The letter was <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ministry-eyes-boeung-kak-sentence/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Phnom Penh Municipality has begun construction work on a road skirting the area formerly taken up by the Boeng Kak lake, according to a statement posted on the city’s website. On Monday, the municipality held an inauguration ceremony for construction of a 615-meter concrete road <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/city-starts-building-road-near-boeng-kak-lake/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Corruption remains a major impediment to Cambodia’s development, but the systemic practices associated with it can be curbed if the government takes serious action, a transparency advocate says. Preap Kol, executive director of Transparency International Cambodia, told VOa Khmer in a studio interview recently that Cambodia <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/corruption-continues-to-stymie-development-transparency-advocate-says/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia is the one of the least competitive countries in the region, hampered by corruption, a poorly educated workforce and inefficient government, according to a recent study. The annual Global Competitive Index, conducted by the World Economic Forum, showed a large uptick in reported corruption for <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-least-competitive-in-region-on-global-index/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Cambodia is ramping up efforts to attract US investment, especially because it benefits from trade preferences due to its status as a least-developed country, Cambodian Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh says. Cambodian products can be imported duty free to a number of markets, including Europe and <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-boosting-efforts-to-attract-us-investors/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

Phnom Penh governor Kep Chuktema denied a report that appeared Tuesday on the government-run news website agence Kampuchea Presse (aKP), which claimed that the municipality has plans to build a subway beneath the Tonle Sap River. according to the aKP report, the Phnom Penh municipality will <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/governor-denies-any-plans-to-build-subway/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

A long dAy of negotiAtions fAiled to resolve A fActory dispute yesterdAy At A compAny thAt supplies to mAjor internAtionAl brAnds GAp, Levi’s And H&Amp;M. After more thAn 1,500 workers from SL GArment Processing (CAmbodiA) fActories in the cApitAl’s MeAnchey district mArched to the Ministry of <A href='https://opendevelopmentcAmbodiA.net/news/no-deAl-in-sl-gArment-fActory-fAce-off/ ' clAss='cAmbodiA-color'>...A>

The Stung Treng Provincial Court yesterday questioned a Council of Ministers official and her husband over accusations that they tried to cheat a land-titling program spearheaded by Prime Minister Hun Sen, a military police commander said. Meas Sokun, who works for the Council of Ministers’ legal <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/official-questioned-over-abuse-of-land-project/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>

The Thai company set to build Laos’s Xayaburi hydropower dam will not begin construction until a study determines the dam’s environmental effects on the Mekong River, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Friday. Yingluck reaffirmed her commitment to the study, which Mekong River Commission countries <a href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/yingluck-vows-to-halt-xayaburi/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...a>