Bilateral development assistance

The U.S. pledged $35 million in development aid to Cambodia in the first part of a three-year, $137 million package announced on Wednesday at a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon and U.S. Ambassador William Heidt, according to a U.S. Embassy statement.   ...

Korea will provide a $13.3 million concessional loan to renovate the Stung Siem Reap Phase II flood mitigation project after a deal signed yesterday between the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Korea Export and Import Bank. ...

Japan agreed to provide Cambodia with a $181 million loan yesterday to help the renovation of National Road 5 linking Phnom Penh to Poipet, to help expand the Japanese Bridge and to assist in demining operations throughout the Kingdom. ...

The Japanese Friendship Bridge in Phnom Penh is set to receive a $29.4 million renovation courtesy of the Japanese government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday. ...

Although loans to build infrastructure from the Japanese government may fall slightly this fiscal year, when grants and technical assistance are added to the total, overall assistance is likely to rise, Naoaki Kamoshida, a counsellor at the Japanese Embassy to Cambodia, said during a recent ...

The European Union is increasing its development grants to Cambodia by almost 50 per cent in 2016 compared to the previous year, according to a Friday statement. ...

The European Union pledged €10 million in preparation of the upcoming 2017 and 2018 elections yesterday, which the National Election Committee (NEC) hopes to add to in a new budget they will be submitting to the government, according to NEC officials. ...

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong is in China this week for official talks aimed at strengthening trade and security ties. ...

The European Union (EU) last week announced this year’s recipients of 8.2 million euros ($8.9 million) in grants to civil society, with much of the money going to nongovernmental groups whose stated goal is to make the country’s elections more open and inclusive.  ...

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has started work with Cambodia on patent applications, a move which will allow firms from both countries to hasten the process. ...

Six months after the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the Cambodian government to scrap a draft NGO law that came into effect in August, the E.U. announced on Monday that it had pledged 8.2 million euros (about $8.9 million) to local and international ...

Cambodia’s prime minister defended his government’s energy policy on Wednesday and hit back at environmentalists opposed to hydropower plants by suggesting their electricity be cut off and they should use resin torches instead. ...

The Japanese government Friday granted nearly $20,000 to repair and upgrade fascilities at schools in two provinces. ...

After five years of building, the 24-million-U.S.-dollar Angkor Panorama Museum, invested by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), opened in northwest Cambodia’s Siem Reap city, a local English newspaper reported on Monday. ...

Loans from Japan to Cambodia will help finance work on a key highway upgrade. The loan package totals US$150 million and will be used for the project to upgrade Cambodia’s National Road No 5. ...

The Chinese government has agreed to donate $3.5 million to build a ninth building inside the compound of the Senate on Norodom Boulevard, Senate Secretary-General Oum Sarith said on Tuesday following the signing ceremony in Phnom Penh. ...

A museum bankrolled by North Korea on Cambodia’s tourist trail in Siem Reap is ready to open, according to local media.The $10 million Grand Panorama Museum sits near Cambodia’s famous Angkor Wat temple complex and is scheduled to open on December 4. ...

The European Parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling on the Cambodian government to revoke the arrest warrant for opposition leader Sam Rainsy, with its parliamentarians suggesting some $435 million in aid be canceled if it is ignored. ...

A U.S. State Department official told the country’s Senate on Thurs­day that recent political events in Cambodia, including the beatings of lawmakers outside the Nation­al Assembly and the removal of opposition officials from their seats and positions in parliament, were a cause for “grave concern.” ...

For many Southeast Asian countries, Japanese developmental aid may be synonymous with building bridges, roads and public facilities. But besides its infrastructure-building capacity, Japan is also boosting one of the strategic tools of diplomacy at its disposal: human resource development. ...

Despite failing to meet many of the expectations of its foreign donors over the past two decades, Cambodia’s government has never struggled to secure aid from abroad. ...

A three-year vocational training project aimed at creating employment opportunities in the electronics industry while eliminating electronics waste, or e-waste, wrapped up yesterday, with its organisers calling for more funding in order to continue its training component. ...

As Cambodia has the highest rate of deforestation among developing countries. Experts say that the country needs a more sustainable development plan to protect its ecosystem. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday called for more investment from France, telling business leaders in Paris that they could access the entire region when the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) kicks off at the end of the year. ...