Aid and development

The United States has followed through on criticisms of the recent crackdown on the Cambodian opposition and civil society by linking its multimillion-dollar aid package for 2017 to improvements in human rights. ...

The ancient Silk Road sprawled across tens of thousands of kilometers, reaching east to west from Ja­pan to Venice and passing through five seas. Together, the road and maritime trade routes linked more than 40 countries throughout Asia, Europe and Africa, fostering early globalization.   ...

The European Union and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) have agreed to provide a grant of €33.1 million to support the third phase of Cambodia’s Public Financial Management Reform Program, state news agency AKP announced Friday.   ...

Cambodia has appealed to Germany – a country renowned for its skilled technicians and engineers – to provide vocational training to support the Kingdom’s growing industrial sector, a Commerce Ministry official said yesterday. ...

The Ministry of Mines and Energy has received $30 million in funding from the Scaling Up Renewable Energy in Low-Income Countries Program (SREP) – an arm of the global Climate Investment Funds initiative – for a solar energy development program that includes home systems, mini-grids ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday blithely brushed aside a recent threat from the European Parliament to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Cambodia over human rights abuses, challenging the body to follow through. ...

The government of Cambodia and the World Bank today signed agreements for four projects to improve road surfaces, manage fisheries, improve livelihoods from agriculture in targeted rural communities, and increase access to health care, with funding from the International Development Association, or IDA, the World ...

The European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution accusing the Cambodian government of laying politically motivated charges against the opposition and calling for aid cuts if its respect for human rights fails to improve—a loud echo of a resolution it passed just six months ago. ...

One in every four children in Cambodia under the age of 5 has not had their birth registered, but a new program aims to tackle the problem at the commune level using mobile phone technology, according to UNICEF. ...

The Japanese government will continue providing scholarships to young Cambodian government officials wishing to study in Japan, continuing a tradition of bilateral scholarship that began in 2000, officials said yesterday. ...

About 80 U.S. troops are in Cambodia for Pacific Angel 2016, an annual humanitarian-aid mission that runs through June 18. ...

Cambodia’s large and growing debt to its northern ally China is a growing concern for observers who worry about the undue influence this may afford the regional superpower. ...

The U.S. accused the Cambodian government of scaling back the space for free speech and the World Bank of failing to learn from its mistakes in justifying its decision to abstain from a recent Bank vote that approved a sheaf of new loans to Cambodia. ...

The World Bank’s decision earlier this month to resume lending to Cambodia after a five-year moratorium has drawn criticism from development experts.   ...

The World Bank has approved $130 million in developmental aid aimed at reducing poverty in Cambodia, signalling its first direct re-engagement with the Kingdom since it left in protest in 2011 after one of the largest forceful evictions led by the government displaced more than ...

As Cambodia continues its battle against raging thunderstorms and stifling droughts, officials from a variety of ministries attended a three-day workshop last week on how to incorporate the wide-ranging effects of climate change into the national and provincial budgeting process.   ...

The World Bank’s board of directors could vote today to renew a project for landless families in Cambodia that has run into major problems, a move that would effectively lift a five-year freeze on lending its own money to the country in protest over forced ...

The first tranche of fire trucks headed to Cambodia in a deal the government struck with China last year to furnish the country with fire-fighting vehicles for the provinces arrived on Wednesday, the head of the national police force’s fire department said.   ...

A UN spokesperson has rejected a government reading of a UN convention used to justify banning people with disabilities from performing in the streets. ...

Cambodia and Japan began Monday a four-year project to restore the ruined western causeway at Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple.   ...

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed to provide $30 million in grants for renovation of Chroy Changvar Bridge ...

Russia plans to join the International Coordinator Committee to safeguard and develop the Preah Vihear historical site, an official confirmed yesterday. ...

The UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide $36 million to the Commerce Ministry to help improve market access for poor farmers and small entrepreneurs. ...

The World Bank on Monday said it still predicted strong growth from the Cambodian economy—led by garment exports—and only a moderate cooling over the next few years despite a “faster than expected” slowdown in China, Cambodia’s biggest foreign investor.   ...