PHNOM PENH — China’s Hainan Ruijin Investment Holding Group planned to invest in rice plantation, cow farm and tourism development in Cambodia, the group’s chairman Pan Xiaoping said Wednesday. Pan said during a meeting with Heng Samrin, president of Cambodia’s National Assembly that his company decided to establish an overseas branch office in Cambodia to focus on the threeprojects. Pan did not say when the projects will be started. Heng Samrin pledged full support for those projects, which he said will be good to boost thedevelopment of Cambodia’s economy. “Foreign investment is a key factor to accelerate economic development in Cambodia,” he said.   ...

The government is beset with high-level corruption, a lack of transparency in public procurements, poor auditing practices and political interference in the country’s main anti-corruption body, a report produced by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) sent to the media yesterday states. In a 66-page report that ...

A second police official in Ratanakkiri province has been suspended on suspicion that he demanded money from villagers so that their names could be included on a list of people eligible for land titles as part of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s new titling program, police ...

Almost $400 million will be invested in Cambodia’s airports over the next eight years, the trade magazine Airport World has reported. The investment will fund the extension to the international terminal at Phnom Penh’s airport, the upgrading of Siem Reap’s airport and improvements to the Sihanoukville ...

With three workers still missing after a major breach at a chinese built hydropower dam in Pursat province on Saturday, the Government’s investigation into what went wrong and why appears to be moving slowly. A large set ion of a concrete tunnel at Stung Atai ...

Malaysia is optimistic Asean is ready to be integrated into a single economic block by December 2015 despite uncertainties over growth in the euro zone and the US. International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said the 10 member countries would be able to cushion the ...

Prominent businesswoman Chhin Sokountheary yesterday announced her intention to sue Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema for falsifying documents saying she illegally occupied state land in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district in a bid to steal the land and develop a sports stadium on it. Sokountheary, 57 ...

Four NGOs asked the government yesterday to explain the decision to promote Lao Saroeun to an undersecretary of state position in the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, even though he has not been cleared of alleged corruption. “In proper practice, people under investigation for alleged corruption ...

A subsidiary of Indian firm Mesco Steel has arrived in Cambodia to begin developing a gold mine in Ratanakkiri province, according to an investor involved in the deal. Mesco Gold has paid a fee of $1.2 million to Canada-listed exploration firm Angkor Gold to develop a ...

The government wants to play a bigger role in helping local businesses remain competitive and, to this end, the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) has launched a new award to recognise companies that have achieved high produc-tivity standards. Ten companies will be awarded in ...

An employer who stands accused of beating her maid using a stick and the back of a meat cleaver will be summonsed by police in Kandal today for questioning, local officials have said. Son Leanghou, 57, a brick kiln owner, is accused of beating 28-year-old Sok ...

Suspects on trial already detained by authorities will now be forced to wear a prison uniform to court, a director at the General Department of Prisons at the Ministry of Interior said yesterday. About 7,000 of the new uniforms will be distributed to prisons nationwide, he ...

The Cambodian government has budgeted $3.5 million for tourism-related advertising and promotions in 2014, Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said yesterday. “This year the budget has reached $3.5 million dollars, half of the total budget for the ministry as we will host PATA Travel Mart 2014,” ...

Better laws and enforcement that require motorbike riders and children to wear helmets could save more than 500 lives and $100 million over the next six years, a new study says. The study, undertaken by the Asian Injury Prevention Foundation, says a new law now ...

Parkson Holdings Bhd will start building malls and leasing out space to get better margins to deal with pressure on its turnover. The departmental store company will build malls in Malacca and Cambodia, both scheduled to open in 2017. The company is also building a mall ...

The head of a construction company working to upgrade Phnom Penh’s dusty, potholed Veng Sreng Street said Thursday that the project would take twice as long to complete as expected. In November, Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong announced that a 6.5 km strip of the road—which ...

Starting later this month, 10,000 small and medium-sized businesses will be queried as part of a Japanese government-backed economic census intended to take a snapshot of activity across the private sector. beginning on February 23 and running through to March 31, Cambodia’s National Institute of Statistics ...

The latest version of the government’s draft law on NGOs, which was approved by the Council of Ministers in January, is identical to an earlier version made available to civil society in 2011, with several outstanding concerns still intact, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights ...

After years of ever-brisker sales, the smartphone market may be plateauing. Cambodians spent more than $300 million on smartphones last year, a 38 per cent increase from 2012’s figure of about $220 million, according to data from Singapore-based research firm GfK. Some 907,000 smartphones were sold in ...

Over the past six months, 19 “vulture restaurants” have led to a slight rise in the number of the birds spotted in Cambodia, according to a recent Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries report. Contrary to the name’s sound, the vultures aren’t the dish being served ...