Bilateral development assistance
Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members
Eviction pain lingers in Phnom Penh
Three years after authorities demolished the last houses in Phnom Penh’s Group 78 community, evictees relocated to the outskirts of the capital are still struggling, the Housing Rights Task Force said yesterday. More than 200 members of the Group 78 community gathered close to the site ...
Toll Royal to Restart Rail Services Next Month
Less than four months after suspending work on Cambodia’s dilapidated railway network, Toll Royal Railways (TRR), the network’s operator, has informed the government that it will recommence transporting construction materials needed to build the southern line on Aug. 1, company officials said yesterday. The decision to ...
As European leaders try to save the euro, uncertainty about fallout in Cambodia if they don't succeed
It’s after midnight in Sihanoukville and British teenagers are clogging the walkways, pushing past one another to drain free shots at the bars. In Kep, elderly French tourists sun themselves at the upscale Sailing Club while Spaniards and Germans eye the offerings at Phnom Penh’s Central Market. In spite of the growing fears ...
Tales of ‘blood-stained’ sugar
The European Union should immediately remove trade preferences it gives to Cambodian sugar companies accused of human-rights violations including land grabs, representatives of the affected communities told a press conference in Phnom Penh yesterday. Community representatives from Koh Kong, Kampong Speu and Oddar Meanchey provinces said ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070457189/National-news/tales-of-blood-stained-sugar.html
European Union Grants $54 Million to Cambodia
The European Union yesterday pledged to support Cambodia with three grants totaling $54 million, including one payment to help bolster the country’s ability to organize its public finances, officials announced at a press conference in Phnom Penh. “The E.U. will continue to support Cambodia with ...
Relocation Woes Persist: Australia
The Australian Embassy conceded that problems have plagued the relocation process of about 160 families moved to Trapeang Anhchanh on the outskirts of Phnom Penh last September. The families were moved for a railway rehabilitation project partially funded by the Australian government’s AusAID. “We agree on the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062156934/National-news/relocation-woes-australia.html
Railway Evictees Tussle With High Debt Levels
Adding to a growing body of research into the flaws of Cambodia’s $142 million railway rehabilitation project, a report published yesterday said soaring debt levels are crippling families forcibly relocated by the project. In the report by land rights organization Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), researchers tracked ...
Cambodian rail delays, cost blowouts: leaked report
Australia’s Fairfax media has obtained a leaked official report into a troubled and controversial Cambodian rail project being funded by AusAID and the Asian Development Bank. The report outlines poor construction, botched surveys leading to the evictions of families ...
Sweden Donates $3.97M to Khmer Rouge Tribunal
The international side of the Khmer Rouge tribunal has had its financial woes briefly allayed by a $3.97 million pledge from Sweden to fund operations for the next two years. ...
B Kak 15 Petition Sent to Japanese Embassy
Boeng Kak protesters continued their fight for the release of 14 women and one man imprisoned since May 24, delivering a petition to the Senate and the Japanese Embassy on Friday that they hope will spur new intervention in the long-running land dispute. More than 100 ...
South Korea Donates Trucks to Cambodian Gov’t
The Republic of Korea donated more than 200 military trucks to the Cambodian government last month, a port official said yesterday. Sam Heng, administrative chief of the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, said the 241 trucks were strictly for transportation. “The trucks arrived before the elections. They’re military cargo ...
Obama visit on track
Another senior United States official has said that President Barack Obama will visit Cambodia in November for the East Asia Summit and the US-ASEAN summit. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012052856420/National-news/obama-visit-on-track.html
Australian Gov’t Ordered Railway Investigation
The Australian government yesterday said it has been aware of poor working conditions and inappropriate surveying methods used on Cambodia’s railway rehabilitation project since February and had ordered that the project’s partners investigate the matters. “The Australian Government was alerted to possible concerns about workplace health ...
Oz aid cuts won’t touch Cambodia
Despite major foreign aid budget cuts at home, Australia had upped its assistance to Cambodia by about US$17.4 million for 2012-2013, the embassy here said yesterday. Australia would provide a total of $95.3 million in “official development assistance to Cambodia”, the embassy said in a statement. ...
Australia Pledges $3M for Information Departments
The Australian government has pledged $3.02 million toward three provincial information departments, which it said would help “increase citizens’ ability to voice their opinions.” ...
Exports to EU show promise
Cambodia’s exports to the European Union increased by 40 per cent to a total value of US$1.3 billion in 2011, according to European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, who is in Phnom Penh for the ASEAN-EU Business Summit. “I think it is fair to say ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012040255365/Business/exports-to-eu-show-promise.html
Hun Sen Urges Action to Double Region's Bailout Fund
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday urged the economic leaders of the Asean bloc to go through with a plan to double a bailout pool, funded largely by China, Japan and South Korea, to prevent future financial crises in the region. Opening the Asean Finance ...
EU Launches Food Security Program Aimed at Minorities
The European Union has launched a $4.5 million program aimed at increasing food security among indigenous minorities in Ratanakkiri province, including those whose land has been affected by the growing number of economic land concessions in the area. Speaking on the sidelines of the launch in ...
Drug connection denied
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s nephew Hun To has emphatically denied all allegations published by Australian newspaper The Age about his involvement in a heroin-trafficking and money-laundering syndicate targeting Australia. Hun To, whose wife and children reside in Melbourne, Australia, told the Post yesterday that he plans ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032755268/National-news/drug-connection-denied.html
EU assists land reform
The European Union had provided more than US$265,000 to a land reform project that aimed to shift political will and opinion towards land and human rights in Cambodia, development partners said yesterday. The Cambodian Centre for Human Rights will spearhead the Cambodian Land Law Reform Project, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032655241/National-news/land-reform-gets-eu-assist.html
Cambodia urges Australian to strengthen economic ties
Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told his Australian counterpart Bob Carr Monday that the two countries should strengthen their economic and business ties. ”Political and diplomatic relations between the two countries are good but economic and business relations should be equally good,” he said after the meeting. ...
Australian FM hails Cambodia for rapid growth, political stability
Visiting Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr on Monday praised Cambodia for its rapid economic growth in recent years and political stability. Bob Carr said that Australian Development Assistance Program has allocated 77 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia in 2011-2012, focusing on agriculture development, health, services, infrastructure ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-03/26/c_131490522.htm
ADB Won’t Pay to Finish Rail Project
Having already spent millions of dollars, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will not foot the additional $70 to $90 million in funds still needed to complete more than half of Cambodia’s railway rehabilitation project, an official from the ADB said yesterday. Toll Royal Railways, a joint venture ...
Rail Project In Need of More Funds
The rehabilitation of Cambodia’s dilapidated railway network is nearly six months behind schedule, and with more than a year’s worth of work to do, the project is running out of money, a consultant for the Ministry of Public Works and Transport said yesterday. Paul Power, a ...