Economy and commerce
Investment
Groups want US help in improving transparency in extractive industries
Anti-corruption advocates say they want the US government to help them push for transparency in the extractive industries, as ongoing mining continues to disrupt the lives of many Cambodians. At least 120 companies, most of them Chinese, have obtained mining licenses in the last decade, as ...
Lead-up to poll saw SLCs spike
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s 2012 ban on the allocation of economic land concessions was supposed to halt the unpopular practice of turning over large swaths of property to developers. And going by the numbers last year, it worked. But in the vacuum, according to local rights ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lead-poll-saw-slcs-spike
Report shows workforce still lacks skills
Cambodia lacks the skilled labor force necessary to advance the economy and the government must find ways to create more valuable work as it faces fierce regional and international competition, according to a new report released Thursday by the World Bank. The report, “East Asia Pacific ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/report-shows-workforce-still-lacks-skills-58432/
Economic expansion of Cambodia; an opportunity for Thai entrepreneurs
The retail marketing business in Cambodia has been growing at approximately 8% a year for the last 10 years and is expected to increase by 7.5% a year from 2014-2018. This economic expansion and greater purchasing power of Cambodians, is seen as presenting great opportunities ...
National News Bureau of Thailand
http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/newsen/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNRPT5705080010001
‘Burst’ of land disputes sees dozens of Cambodians charged: rights group
Cambodian authorities have charged nearly half as many villagers in land dispute cases in the first three months of this year as they did in all of 2013, a local rights group said Thursday, adding that most of the rows stemmed from government-granted land concessions. Following ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/land-05082014175124.html
Survey says firms confident despite deadlock
Local and foreign firms have a high level of confidence in the current economic climate in Cambodia despite the political deadlock in the country since last year’s disputed election, and are optimistic about business over the next year, according to a study to be released ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/survey-says-firms-confident-despite-deadlock-58295/
Report sees increasing foreign investment in industrial sector
The latest CBRE Cambodia Market View on the industrial market is upbeat about investment in the Kingdom, despite frequently touted political risks. “Cambodia remains an attractive destination for industrial work and operations, with low inflation rates of 2.9 per cent and comparatively low minimum wages,” says ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/report-sees-increasing-foreign-investment-industrial-sector
Parkson to build malls and lease out space
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 ...
Jagdev Singh Sidhu
http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2014/05/07/Parkson-to-build-malls-and-lease-out-space/
Rubber company suspends projects as World Bank investigates
A World Bank-supported rubber company accused of land grabs has suspended some of its projects, as an investigation by the bank continues. The Hoang Anh Gia Lai company, which received support from the bank’s International Finance Corporation, said in a decision following an April 2 ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/rubber-company-suspends-projects-as-world-bank-investigates/1908775.html
Villagers’ crops destroyed over land dispute
Representatives of a community locked in a land dispute with a Vietnamese company in Kratie province returned home from Phnom Penh late Tuesday after failing to garner support from Prime Minister Hun Sen, while an official at the company said it had begun destroying villagers’ ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-crops-destroyed-over-land-dispute-58183/
Union says three workers arrested over wing star protest
At least three workers were arrested Tuesday morning outside the Wing Star Shoes factory in Kompong Speu province, where the Free Trade Union (FTU) has been leading a strike calling for benefits and back pay, according to police and a union representative. An FTU representative said ...
Mech Dara and Sany Sinary
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/union-says-three-workers-arrested-over-wing-star-protest-58169/
Momentum building for GTI
The next stage of Grand Twins International’s (GTI) listing on the Cambodia Stock Exchange – public subscriptions – has had a positive response, according to the head of one of the country’s brokerage firms. Svay Hay, CEO of Acleda Securities, a registered broker for GTI, said ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/momentum-building-gti
Vietnamese funding curbs will not delay hospital development
Despite Vietnamese state-owned companies withdrawing funding from projects outside of their core business, the $20 million expansion of the Vietnamese-backed Cho Ray Phnom Penh Hospital remains on track, the hospital’s head said yesterday. In July 2012 the Vietnamese government requested that state-owned enterprises withdraw investment in ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/vietnamese-funding-curbs-will-not-delay-hospital-development
Bus company sues strikers
After grappling with weeks of on-again, off-again strikes, the Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation bus firm has filed complaints against 20 former employees for incitement, making threats and using the company uniform without permission. General manager Chan Sophanna said yesterday that the company filed the complaints to ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bus-company-sues-strikers
Garment protest trial defendants deny charges
Defendants in a mass trial of 25 men and teenagers accused of joining a string of violent garment worker protests continued to profess their innocence during the second day of hearings at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday. Twenty-three of the men were arrested in ...
Khy Sovuthy and Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-protest-trial-defendants-deny-charges-58166/
Families petition City Hall over wall built in road
More than 170 families in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district submitted a petition to City Hall on Monday complaining about wealthy businessman Khun Sear’s decision to build a wall in the middle of a road in their neighborhood. The road in Chak Angre Leu commune is under ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-petition-city-hall-over-wall-built-in-road-58176/
Giant development in Cambodia hinges on Chinese buyers
There is an island in Cambodia that, unlike others in Southeast Asia, is not the object of an ownership dispute. But it is equally clear whom its current owners would like to land there: Chinese property buyers. If all goes according to plan, Koh Pich — ...
Chris Horton
http://www.property-report.com/cambodias-mega-development-lures-chinese-investors-34672
Giant Development in Cambodia Hinges on Chinese Buyers
There is an island in Cambodia that, unlike others in Southeast Asia, is not the object of an ownership dispute. But it is equally clear whom its current owners would like to land there: Chinese property buyers. If all goes according to plan, Koh Pich — ...
Chris Horton
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/realestate/commercial/giant-development-in-cambodia-hinges-on-chinese-buyers.html?_r=1
Protest planned for 2nd day of garment protest trials
Some 500 supporters of union leader Vorn Pao and 24 others arrested during a string of garment worker protests since November will rally in front of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday on the second day of their trials, a union official said. All 25 ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protest-planned-for-2nd-day-of-garment-protest-trials-58141/
A way of life falls with trees
The Phnong ethnic minority in Mondulkiri province have heard the promises of development before. With increasing investment and the selling off of the region’s forests will come new roads and schools, they are told. But people in this ancient community, tired of seeing their sacred forests handed ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/way-life-falls-trees
Families ask Hun Sen for help to reclaim farms
Dozens of representatives from at least 100 recently evicted families accused of illegally occupying state land in Kratie province traveled to Phnom Penh on Monday morning to petition Prime Minister Hun Sen for his help getting their land back. The families say local authorities have been ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-ask-hun-sen-for-help-to-reclaim-farms-58137/
Aeon microfinance booms with mall on horizon
When Sor Songheng, a manager for an accountancy firm, wanted to replace his cheap Nokia phone a few months ago, he set his heart on a top-of-the-line iPhone 5S worth $780—nearly his entire monthly salary of $800. But instead of scrimping and saving for months to ...
George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/aeon-microfinance-booms-with-mall-on-horizon-58122/
Hun Sen to visit Russia
Russia invites some Ministers of Cambodia to visit Russia to sign Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral consultation between the two countries, a government official said. The invitation was made during a meeting Monday between Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Dmitry Tsvetkov, new Russian Ambassador to ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=YjA5ODNhZGM4YzI
Ministry fails to settle fears over Koh Kong dam
A meeting at the Ministry of Mines and Energy on Friday about plans for a controversial hydropower dam in Koh Kong province failed to assuage fears among those trying to stop the project that construction had already been approved. During Friday’s meeting, officials from the ministry ...
Zsombor Peter and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-fails-to-settle-fears-over-koh-kong-dam-58021/