Bilateral development assistance
Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members
CMAC eyes budget bump of $13 million
The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) is looking to increase its annual budget to $33 million this year amid a need to upgrade its life-saving equipment, an official said yesterday. Approximately $10 million has already been raised, according to CMAC director Heng Ratana, who expressed confidence ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cmac-eyes-budget-bump-13-million
Made here, owned there
At the end of a well-paved road just past the city’s airport sits a cluster of factories. Each one is barely discernible from the next – grey concrete walls and blue aluminium roofs. But one factory in the lot, MAG (Cambodia), is different. In a country ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/made-here-owned-there
EU Parliamentarian Probes Sugar Plantations in Cambodia
A member of the European Parliament is in Cambodia investigating agri-business firms accused of evicting hundreds of families while benefiting from a free-trade scheme with Europe worth millions of dollars, according to the NGO Equitable Cambodia. The visit from France’s Patrice Tirolien follows a resolution the ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eu-parliamentarian-probes-sugar-plantations-in-cambodia-51166/
France fronts $359 million
The French Agency for Development (AFD) has pledged $359 million in grants and loans to Cambodia over the next three years, state news agency AKP reported Friday. ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/france-fronts-359-million
Public Warned of Traffic Delays Due to Drainage
Phnom Penh Municipality has warned the public to expect prolonged traffic disturbances around O’Russei market in Prampi Makara district after construction began in the area Monday as part of the ongoing Japan-funded drainage project, a statement from City Hall said. The public has been asked for ...
Khuon Narim and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/public-warned-of-traffic-delays-due-to-drainage-50912/
EU resolution passed against sugar abuses
The European Parliament has passed a resolution calling on the bloc’s executive body to urgently act on an EU preferential trade scheme found to have carried high risks of human rights violations in Cambodia through land evictions for industrial sugar development. In a January 16 resolution, ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/eu-resolution-passed-against-sugar-abuses
Obama Signs Off on Aid Cuts to Government
U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday signed a spending bill that suspends some funding to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government until an independent investigation into last year’s disputed national election is carried out, or until the opposition CNRP ends its boycott of parliament. The bill targets ...
Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/obama-signs-off-on-aid-cuts-to-government-50886/
US Passes Bill to Suspend Some Aid to Cambodia
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a spending bill that would suspend some funding to Cambodia until the government carries out an independent investigation of July’s disputed national election and reforms its electoral system, or until the opposition ends its boycott of parliament. The ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-passes-bill-to-suspend-some-aid-to-cambodia-50778/
US Support to Cambodian Military Under Scrutiny
As military police began a 10-day training program with the U.S. military in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, questions are being raised again over Washington’s ongoing support to Cambodian security forces involved in serious human rights abuses. On January 3, military police officers opened fire with AK-47 ...
Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-support-to-cambodian-military-under-scrutiny-50670/
Construction on $35 Million Hospital Set to Begin in April
Construction on Phnom Penh’s first international-standard critical-care center is expected to begin in April, and when completed it will offer state-of-the-art medical technology and highly trained staff, according to an official with the Japanese firm in charge of the project. “[Construction] is supposed to start from ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/construction-on-35-million-hospital-set-to-begin-in-april-50596/
Global Fund backs off threatened cuts to grants
The Global Fund has backed down on its threat to cut or reduce health grants to Cambodia worth more than $100 million, saying they considered the fraction of misused funds that have been returned thus far a sign of sufficient good will. In a letter sent ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/global-fund-backs-threatened-cuts-grants
National health survey ready
International donors along with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Planning kick-started the Kingdom’s fourth Demographic and Health Survey in the capital yesterday. ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/national-health-survey-ready
Official Says ‘Strategic Partnership’ With Japan Won’t Irk China
Returning from a state visit to Japan on Tuesday, a member of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government dismissed the possibility that newly upgraded ties with Japan and Cambodia’s decision to join its Asean neighbors in a “freedom of overflight” pact with Tokyo might strain its ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/official-says-strategic-partnership-with-japan-wont-irk-china-49410/
Cambodia Upgrades Diplomatic Relations With Japan
Prime Minister Hun Sen agreed to upgrade Cambodia’s diplomatic relations with Japan to a “strategic level” during talks in Tokyo on Sunday, but also thanked his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, for making efforts to mend relations with neighbor China, according to media reports. During a state ...
Phorn Bopha and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-upgrades-diplomatic-relations-with-japan-49386/
Hun Sen in Tokyo for Meeting With Japanese Prime Minister
Prime Minister Hun Sen was scheduled to meet with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Sunday, a day after Japan and the member states of Asean agreed to ensure “freedom of overflight” in the region. The agreement will likely be taken as an affront by ...
Phorn Bopha and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-in-tokyo-for-meeting-with-japanese-prime-minister-49350/
Hun Sen to pen accords with Abe
Infrastructure-funding agreements and a memorandum on military cooperation will be signed when Prime Minister Hun Sen visits Japan next week, the government said yesterday. The premier will meet his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, in Tokyo late next week, a statement released yesterday by the Ministry of ...
Cheang Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hun-sen-pen-accords-abe
Aid Pledges Continue Despite CNRP Calls for Delay
Germany has pledged $64 million in aid donations to Cambodia for this year and next, amounting to a “substantial increase” over the past two years of official German assistance to the country, the German Embassy announced on Wednesday. Germany’s new aid package, the majority of which—$54 ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/aid-pledges-continue-despite-cnrp-calls-for-delay-48718/
Germany provides 64 mln USD to Cambodia for development projects
The German government on Wednesday signed up to provide 64 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia for two-year projects in health, rural development, governance reform, and education. According to a press release after the signing ceremony, 27 million U.S. dollars would be allocated to health, 26.5 ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/131204/germany-provides-64-mln-usd-cambodia-development-projects
Japan to Open ‘State-of-the-Art’ Hospital in Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh could have its first international-standard medical facility if a Japanese plan to construct a critical-care center equipped with state-of-the-art medical technologies and highly trained doctors, nurses and surgeons goes ahead, according to local officials and Japanese government documents. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/japan-to-open-state-of-the-art-hospital-in-phnom-penh-48433/
Japan to Assist Cambodia With Election Reform
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged to help Cambodia with electoral reforms, following a request by Prime Minister Hun Sen to send experts to the country ahead of future polls and amid an ongoing dispute over national elections held more than three months ago. The ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/japan-11182013183828.html
Rights Group Wants Abe to Press Cambodia on Poll Probe
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who makes a visit to Phnom Penh this weekend, should leverage his country’s aid to pressure the Cambodian government to launch an independent probe into fraud and other irregularities in disputed elections, a rights group said Thursday. As head of the ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/investigation-11142013171238.html
Japan's Orix to Buy 6% Stake in Cambodia's Acleda Bank
Orix Corp., Japan’s top leasing company, has agreed to buy a 6% stake in Cambodia’s largest bank by assets, Acleda Bank PLC, according to people close to the matter. It would be the first investment by a major Japanese financial institution in the Southeast Asian country, ...
Atsuko Fukase and Chun Han Wong
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304644104579191612248592376
EU aids Cambodia in combating illicit trafficking, use of nuclear, radiological materials
The European Union (EU) signs Wednesday to provide Cambodia with equipment to detect illicit trafficking and criminal use of nuclear and radiological materials. The agreement was inked between EU Ambassador to Cambodia Jean Francois Cautain and Om Yentieng, vice-chairman of the Secretariat of National Counter-Terrorism Committee. Under the deal, ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-11/06/c_132863880.htm
Transparency Needed to Follow Aid Money
The aid sector needs more transparency to ensure that the public knows exactly where and how money is being spent, a consortium of NGOs said Tuesday. Tek Vannara, deputy executive director of the NGO Forum, said at a workshop in Phnom Penh that while the Council ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/transparency-needed-to-follow-aid-money-46691/