The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has officially instructed the Cambodian Embassy in Malaysia to investigate agencies that ask for exorbitant passport renewal fees for workers there, according to a statement released on Friday, though some sources said corruption in the Passport Department itself is part ...

Addressing the delegates, Chea Serey, director general of National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), stressed the role and importance of digital finance initiatives in broadening financial inclusion. She said digital finance could be a “game changer” for Cambodia’s nascent financial sector as it enables financial service ...

The government has appointed the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to draft a law to crack down on illegal activity surrounding the recently banned commercial surrogacy industry in Cambodia. Ministry spokeswoman Kheng Sam Vada confirmed the news, which was originally announced by government spokesperson and Minister of ...

The government, Hagar International and Save the Children are teaming up to address the country’s lack of social workers, hoping to beef up the social service sector and deal with the growing number of children in residential care facilities – informally known as orphanages.   ...

The government is planning to revise the Kingdom’s investment laws this year to draw more foreign direct investment as the country adjusts to the fast-changing regional and global landscapes, according to Secretary General of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) Sok Chenda Sophea. Speaking ...

The Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) will begin promoting the Institute of Standards of Cambodia (ISC) certifications by the end of 2012 in an effort to educate people about certified goods, according to ministry officials. The program is in order to boost consumer confidence ...

They’re known as the BK13 and they’re not prepared to let greedy developers take the very, very little they have. They’re 13 women – mothers, grandmothers – who live around what used to be Boeung Kak Lake – not far from the centre of Cambodia’s ...

Cambodia will start the construction of a new and more modern stadium on Friday, an official said. Prime Minister Hun Sen will preside over the groundbreaking ceremony for the stadium’s construction, covering 83 hectares of land in the commune of Bak Kheng, in the Russey Keo ...

Outspoken land activist Kuch Veng will regain his freedom in 15 days after the Pursat provincial court yesterday handed down a guilty verdict with a one-year sentence, then suspended nearly three quarters of that term. Veng has been in prison since May 19 on charges of ...

Conservationists Fauna and Flora International was to send a team to Pursat province today to investigate a man’s claim that he was attacked by a tiger. Ngem Nget, a 51-year-old farmer in Phnom Kravanh district’s Santre commune, reported that while foraging in the Cardamom Mountains on ...

Experts will begin tests today on two barrels discovered in Mondulkiri province earlier this week, which are suspected to contain chemicals used by the US in the 1970s in its war against the Viet Cong, officials said yesterday. Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine ...

Passports issued to Cambodians will soon be valid for 10 years instead of three, officials at the Ministry of Interior said yesterday. General Mao Chandara, head of the ministry’s General Directorate of Identification, said that by July, the department will begin to issue long-awaited 10-year passports. ...

The Phnom Penh municipality is finalising plans for a potential $1 million renovation of Wat Phnom, City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said yesterday. The project, which will commence at an unspecified date, will focus on combating hillside erosion while restoring worn-out structures. ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit announced campaign Friday to clean up ghost names from the lists, according to president of the unit Oum Yingtieng. Tieng said that the campaign called ‘catch corrupt ghosts’ would be launched next week. ...

Sambor Prei Kuk, the seventh-century temple of the pre-Angkorian Chenla Kingdom built by Isanavarman I, is to be submitted for consideration as a World Heritage Site to UNESCO. The announcement came yesterday at a seminar on research and conservation on the temple complex, the most important ...

Calls for big-name apparel brands to take more responsibility for working conditions in Cambodian garment factories are growing louder as representatives of retail companies ranging from H&M to Wal-Mart arrive in Phnom Penh for a semi-annual buyers’ forum this week. Since it began three years ...

A joint venture between Yayasan Restu, a Malaysian organization, and the Cambodian Muslim Development Foundation is set to establish a microfinance institution with $1 million in start-up capital. The institution will allow members of Cambodia’s Myslim community to obtain loans necessary to start small businesses. ...

The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) has said that there should be no discussions on raising the minimum wage until 2014, in response to a request from three garment industry unions for talks on a living wage for workers. The response, sent on Wednesday ...

The Kingdom is steadily implementing “digital government” systems to manage society by using modern computer techniques that require more skilled human resources, Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said on Monday. Speaking during a visit to some 2,000 retired civil servants and military veterans in Battambang ...

Fourteen building projects in Preah Sihanouk province were ordered to be demolished after a working group found their construction had failed quality inspections, provincial governor Kuoch Chamroeun said. Another 70 of 500 projects in the province, he said, are under scrutiny after having recently been ...