Kampong Speu province will soon be home to a Chinese-funded agricultural special economic zone (SEZ) with facilities to research plant diseases, after the Ministry of Agriculture and Tian Rui (Cambodia) Agricultural Cooperation SEZ Co., signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday. ...

Illegal forest clearing is taking place at about three times the rate it did last year, but fines for forestry and wildlife crimes have fallen dramatically, according to a progress report released last week by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries (MAFF). ...

The Foreign Affairs Ministry yesterday released a strongly worded, albeit vague, rebuttal to a harsh report released by ASEAN parliamentarians on Monday, which chided the government for its legal onslaught against the opposition and alleged the “systematic dismantling [of] democracy” in the Kingdom. ...

In the first half of 2017, revenue totals reached $52.1 million, a 67-percent rise compared with the first six months of 2016. Tourist arrivals to the park also rose by 13 percent, according to a recent report released by Angkor Enterprise. ...

Next year’s national election is unlikely to slow the rapid pace of bank lending growth but could put a temporary crimp in deposits, though the sector is expected to have sufficient liquidity to absorb the impact, according to a report released yesterday. ...

Minister for Mines and Energy Suy Sem will appear at the National Assembly on Thursday to answer questions about a more than $700 million discrepancy in data on sand exports to Singapore, according to a letter signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

Cambodia could reduce its projected carbon emissions by 57 percent over the next 30 years without taking a financial hit if it implements low-carbon development policies in five key sectors, according to a new report in the journal Energy Policy. ...

The Court of Appeal on Tuesday rejected the request of five families from Koh Kong province to nullify the deals they made seven years ago to give up their land to a local sugarcane plantation on the grounds that they were coerced. ...

After a two-hour meeting, Cambodian and Lao provincial military and border officials yesterday reached an agreement to draw back forces from two undemarcated zones where the building of outposts had recently sparked military stand-offs, according to a general in the area. ...

The cabinet will hold a debate on Friday and is expected to approve the 2018 budget of $5.86 billion, an increase of 16.2 percent from last year’s $5.04 billion, according to a government document seen by Khmer Times yesterday. ...

Preah Sihanouk provincial authorities will ask the government to deal with 10 sellers who refuse to relocate from Koh Puos – or Hawaii beach – and Lomher Kay beach.​ Vendors’ representatives have asked for compensation from provincial authorities to relocate to a new area. ...

The Ministry of Education plans to incorporate an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 community-based kindergartens – currently run by commune councils with support from NGOs – into the state public school system to ensure their sustainability, according to a new sub-decree. ...

Two activists from the conservation group Mother Nature were tried yesterday in Koh Kong for photographing a vessel at sea, with their lawyer asking the court to dismiss the charges due to a lack of evidence that they had committed any crime. ...

Poor accounting practices by ministries between 2005 and 2010 required them to seek additional government funds to the tune of $578.79 million, which was reserved for national emergencies, according to a multi-year budget analysis released on Friday by the NGO Forum on Cambodia ...

The Philippines’ Cebu-Pacific Airlines will launch direct flights to Siem Reap from Manila on April 19, according to a Cambodian civil aviation official. The Philippine airline sought to take advantage of Siem Reap’s status as a big tourist destination, Soy Sokhan said. ...

Cambodian and Vietnamese foreign ministers are to meet on Feb 10-11 to boost the economic, cultural, scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries, according to a statement of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Government on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Inter Far East Engineering Public Company Limited of Thailand to study the feasibility of turning the city’s waste into energy, according to a notice posted on the municipality’s website. ...

In the coming weeks, a task force composed of officials from the ministries of tourism, religion, culture and education will lead an expedition to a remote patch of forest on Kampot province’s Bokor Mountain where Vietnamese tourists pray, the education minister said Monday. ...

CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha walked free from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday afternoon after being questioned by a prosecutor for seven hours over his connections to a plethora of protests that broke out in Phnom Penh following the disputed 2013 national election. ...

The director of a Vietnamese company hoping to buy timber off a pair of land concessions has accused three local businessmen of cheating her out of $200,000 and asked Prime Minister Hun Sen to investigate, according to a letter published by local media. ...