Economy and commerce
Cambodia looks to put its rice on the world’s plate
For as long as Cambodian rice farmers can remember, their product has had an unsavory reputation. Tough, dirty and unmilled, it was impossible to cook evenly, and even farmers traded it as pig feed in exchange for cash or better-quality rice from Vietnam or Thailand. Even ...
Bilateral investment treaties offer investment protection through arbitration
Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) are intra-state legal mechanisms which encourage foreign investment. This is particularly so as they provide foreign investors with Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms to enforce investment protections through international arbitration against the host state before a neutral tribunal. Cambodia has signed over ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=YTQ5ZWI5NTZjN2F
Cambodia's rubber exports up 91 pct in H1
Cambodia has seen a 91 percent rise in dry rubber exports in the first half of 2014 as revenue from the exports increased only 3 percent due to global decline of rubber prices. During the January-June period this year, the country exported 42,190 tons of dry ...
ASEAN-China Center News Staff
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2014-07/29/c_133518119.htm
US-listed education provider moves in
US-listed firm Nord Anglia Education has taken over the management of Northbridge International School, the education provider announced earlier this month. Nord Anglia, which currently operates 29 schools stretching from the US to the Middle East, to China, on July 10 took over the day-to-day operations ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/us-listed-education-provider-moves
Forestry revenues falling short
Rights groups have called on the government to increase tax rates for logging companies amid the latest domestic revenue figures. According to the Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, timber exports produced $9.4 million in government tax revenue during the first half of the year, up ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/forestry-revenues-falling-short
Tourists to Cambodia's Preah Vihear heritage site up 53 pct in first quarter
Cambodia’s world heritage Preah Vihear temple greeted 63,610 local and foreign visitors in the first half of 2014, up 53 percent over the same period last year, a report from the Preah Vihear provincial tourism department showed Tuesday. The temple welcomed about 56,870 local visitors and ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2014-07/29/c_133518016.htm
Gov’t gives telecom firms time to digest new draft law
The ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC) has postponed a two-day meeting with telecom firms to discuss a controversial draft law leaked to the Post last week, which details the government’s plan to assert control over the industry. A representative from one telecommunications provider who wished ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/gov%E2%80%99t-gives-telecom-firms-time-digest-new-draft-law
Cambodia’s ongoing human trafficking problem
Svay Pak is an internationally known district for child sex in Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh, where foreign men come to seek sex with young girls. According to a 2011 study by ECPAT Cambodia, around 75 percent of the victims of sex trafficking within Cambodia were children. The study also ...
Kyla Ryan
http://thediplomat.com/2014/07/cambodias-ongoing-human-trafficking-problem/
‘A threat to Cambodia’s sacred forests’
In southwest Cambodia, at the foot of the Cardamom Mountains, is a single dirt road that meanders through the heart of the pristine Areng valley. Ten miles down this road, villagers have set up an encampment to stop a hydroelectric dam project that they fear ...
New York Times News Staff
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/opinion/a-threat-to-cambodias-sacred-forests.html
Cambodia Business Conference opens registration
Cambodia’s business community is anticipating keen interest from overseas investors as registration for the country’s international investment conference opens this week. The International Business Chamber (IBC) of Cambodia investment conference will take place on October 6th and 7th at the Intercontinental Hotel in Phnom Penh. The ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=ZjIyZDgyN2M0ZDQ
Anglers ‘invading’: Villagers say rivals taking over fish lot
More than 200 residents from seven villages in Ratanakkiri province’s Taveng district have filed a complaint to the local Administrative Fisheries Department and two right groups over claims that rival anglers in the area are collecting fish in their protected lot by poisoning the catch. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/anglers-%E2%80%98invading%E2%80%99-villagers-say-rivals-taking-over-fish-lot
Workers clash: At factory in Kandal, fight over protest
Melees at a garment factory in Kandal province between striking workers and employees who are against the industrial action have left five people mildly injured. Employees at the Tae Young factory began striking a week ago, calling for two administrators at the plant to be fired, ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-clash-factory-kandal-fight-over-protest
Interested, but not yet committed
From the finance to the education sector, the interest from companies looking to list on Cambodia’s nascent stock exchange is on the rise, a CSX official said yesterday, after a meeting with some of the Kingdom’s largest firms. Some 30 companies, the CSX say, are eyeing ...
Daniel de Carteret and May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/interested-not-yet-committed
Telecom law outrage
Cambodia’s telecom sector is outraged over a draft law handed down by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC) on Wednesday, which details a government plan to assert control over the industry. In what is being labeled an “unprecedented, draconian” effort to nationalise the industry, the ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/telecom-law-outrage
On the march: Days-long strike shifts to district HQ
After striking for more than a week, employees at Phnom Penh’s Sun Well Shoes yesterday marched to Por Sen Chey district hall, demanding their voices be heard. Some 300 people marched from their Veng Sreng Boulevard factory with a list of seven demands, including the ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/march-days-long-strike-shifts-district-hq
ICT federation launched in Cambodia
The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Federation was inaugurated here on Thursday with an aim to advance Cambodia to a digital age, officials said. Speaking at the launching ceremony, Kan Chanmeta, secretary of state of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication, said the federation would be ...
Shanghai Daily News Staff
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=231571
Minister lauds controversial sugar industry
Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Wednesday lauded the country’s controversial sugar industry and the jobs it has created, saying that companies operating in the sector need to be defended against the widespread criticism they have been receiving. Rights groups and the opposition CNRP have undertaken ...
Khuon Narim and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-lauds-controversial-sugar-industry-64810/
After deal, unions expect support
News of an end to a year-long political deadlock has labour union leaders believing the opposition party can bring their interests to parliament, but a lack of follow-through could cost the Cambodia National Rescue Party vital support from one of its key interest groups. Different union ...
Sean Teehan, Mom Kunthear and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/after-deal-unions-expect-support
Cambodia earns 532 mln USD tax revenue in H1
Cambodia collected 532 million U.S. dollars in tax revenue during the first half of 2014, up 13 percent over the same period last year, said a news statement released by the General Department of Taxation on Wednesday. The revenue came from an increase in income taxes, ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2014-07/23/c_133505529.htm
China pledges to buy 100,000 tons of rice from Cambodia
A Chinese company is preparing a memorandum of understanding with Ministry of Commerce (MOC) pledging to buy 100,000 tons of rice from Cambodia, according to Sun Chanthol, Minister of Commerce. The intention was made clear during a meeting between the Minister of Commerce and Song Xiaoguo, ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YTA3MzBlMTE0MTY
Easing sex trade laws ‘could lower’ HIV rate
Decriminalising sex work could slash the world’s HIV infections by a third or more, according to a new study. Published yesterday in health journal The Lancet, the paper says that punitive treatment of sex workers can “elevate HIV acquisition and transmission risks”. In Cambodia, which has Southeast Asia’s ...
Laignee Barron
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/easing-sex-trade-laws-%E2%80%98could-lower%E2%80%99-hiv-rate
Price woes fuel corn farmers’ fears of lackluster sales
Corn farmers and dealers in the country’s northwestern provinces fear a decline in sales this season as local storage facilities become increasingly scarce and demand from Thai importers declines. Khun Thorn, president of Ta Sdar Samky Farmer Community in Battambang province, told the Post yesterday that ...
Chan Muyhong
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/price-woes-fuel-corn-farmers%E2%80%99-fears-lackluster-sales
Deadlock end lifts business spirits
Cambodia’s business community welcomed the news yesterday that the county’s longest-ever parliamentary deadlock had come to an end – a resolution investors say will help ease fears of political instability. The ruling Cambodian People’s Party and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party yesterday struck a deal ...
Eddie Morton and Daniel de Carteret
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/deadlock-end-lifts-business-spirits
Cambodia's Angkor artifacts to be exhibited in China
Eighty masterpieces from Cambodia’s renowned Angkor Wat Temple will be displayed in China for six months, aiming at promoting cultural ties between the two countries. Cambodian Minister of Culture and Fine Arts Phoeurng Sackona and Liu Shuguang, director general of the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/culture/2014-07/22/c_133502962.htm