The leaders of Japan and five Southeast Asian countries along the Mekong River plan to craft a new strategy in July for Tokyo to contribute to sustainable development of the Mekong region beyond 2015, a senior Japanese official said Thursday. “Taking this opportunity from this ...

One of six union leaders charged and summonsed for questioning over a strike that ended in government forces shooting dead at least five people in January has sent a message to authorities to hurry up and get his hearing over with. ...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international Cooperation and the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the UN Office in Geneva deplored the statement of three UN special rapporteurs who claimed that Kem Sokha’s trial was “tainted” due to irregularities. ...

A senior agricultural official is concerned by the prevalence of fake fertilizers that cause stunted rice crops and reduce farmers’ profits. Ngin Chhay, director of the Rice Crops Department in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry, told the Development Research Forum in Phnom Penh yesterday the products were ...

Duty-free agreements between regional competitors and foreign importers would put the Cambodian garment industry at risk, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said last week. Speaking to reporters after a meeting, Prasidh warned that the Kingdom’s garment sector would not be able to maintain its competitive edge over ...

Garment exports for the first half of 2011 have increased as demand from Europe and Asia grows. The relaxation of duty-free exports to Europe has sped the growth according to the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia. Exports are said to have increased by 32 percent ...

Seven union leaders representing garment workers will send a statement today urging the Ministry of Labor and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) to decrease the use of temporary labor contracts, because they erode the rights of workers, union leaders said yesterday. Rong Chhun, president ...

The military police officer who killed well-known anti-logging campaigner Chut Wutty, 46, on Thursday in Koh Kong province then died by his own hand after turning his AK-47 assault rifle on himself in an apparent act of instant suicide following the slaying of the forestry ...

Cambodia’s infrastructure is deterring highly anticipated investment into the production of raw materials to support its rapidly growing garment sector, experts say. While garment exports rose 10.2 per cent to $5.48 billion last year, the increase of raw materials imported to support this growth increased about ...

Cambodia is in need of more skilled workers in order for the economy to grow and move beyond basic manufacturing jobs, the Asia Development Bank (ADB) said in a new report. “The skills demand in Cambodia is for low-skilled workers, and this demand reinforces the current ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) claimed victory in Sunday’s national election, but saw its majority severely diminished, ceding 22 National Assembly seats to the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the party’s first major setback since the U.N.-backed election in 1993. According to ...

A move by the International Labour Organization to name and shame garment producers In Cambodia that flout workers’ rights and safety standards could damage the Industry’s reputation and result In a drastic reduction In orders from buyers abroad, accordIng to a senior manufacturIng official. Last week, ...

A financial review by USAID, the U.S. government’s development arm, into local health NGO Reproductive and Child Health Alliance (RACHA) has found financial mismanagement coupled with a lack of transparency and oversight within the organization that may point to evidence of fraudulent activity. Well-known for its ...

Four trade unions on Tuesday demanded that Cambodia’s garment and footwear manufacturers raise the minimum wage of their workers and provide them with additional benefits, threatening a nationwide strike and demonstrations if they do not comply. in a joint letter to the Van Sou Ieng, president ...

A meeting between factory management and representatives of more than 5,000 striking workers at one of Asia’s largest garment-processing factories yielded no progress. Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, has called the strike illegal because workers failed to notify the company ...

Two unions that called for a stay-at-home strike by garment factory employees Wednesday had little success in mobilizing workers after six other unions, under pressure from the government and factory owners, pulled out of the planned industrial action on Tuesday. Union leaders who pushed ahead with ...

The Takeo Provincial Court charged eight union representatives with incitement Sunday for taking part in a garment factory strike, bringing to 17 the number of unionists charged this month alone. The latest in the spate of recent arrests came just ahead of today’s high-level meeting between ...

Representatives of Cambodia’s rice sector and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) met yesterday with the international Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to discuss the implementation of a five-year program to promote the Kingdom’s agricultural products. ...

The government is not doing enough to help farmers weather the destructive effects of drought and flooding brought on by climate change, leaving NGOs to provide aid and emergency relief in cases of natural disaster, agriculture industry leaders said at a forum yesterday. ...

PTT, Thailand’s largest oil and gas conglomerate said it plans to conduct a feasibility study on petrochemical and oil refinery projects in three ASEAN countries – Cambodia, indonesia and Myanmar, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Pailin Chuchottaworn, PTT chief executive said, however, that indonesia and Myanmar ...