Economy and commerce

Cambodians need to be more courageous in challenging endemic corruption, a development expert says. Preap Kol, head of Transparency International Cambodia, told “Hello VOA” last week that the more people challenge corruption, the more likely it is they will free themselves from it. Cambodia remains one ...

Thailand’s Viriyah Insurance, one of the biggest firms of its kind in the country, is seeking to expand its motor vehicle business in Southeast Asia, according to a report yesterday in the Bangkok Post. ...

Cambodia’s bicycle exports to the European Union are expected to decline this year after changes to EU trade preferences in early January excluded Malaysian and Singaporean parts from the scheme. Under EU preferences, a bicycle is considered a Cambodian product when at least 30 per cent ...

Seven Chinese nationals were prevented from entering the Areng Valley in Koh Kong province yesterday as locals continued their standoff with the operator of the Stung Cheay Areng dam concession, villagers at the scene said. Ven Vorn, a community leader among those blocking a road used ...

Dozens of ethnic minority Kreung villagers protested outside the Ratanakkiri Provincial Court on Monday, demanding the release of a fellow Kreung man presently in pretrial detention for setting fire to a pile of wood on land the community sold in 2007 but claims it was ...

The newly appointed local distributor of German carmaker Porsche broke ground yesterday on a $2 million dealership that is set to open within eight months across from the Phnom Penh International Airport on Russian Boulevard. Equipped with four service bays, the planned Porsche Centre Phnom Penh ...

About 7,000 workers protested in front of the Wing Star Shoes Co. Ltd. factory in Kompong Speu province on Monday, demanding that the company raise their bonuses by $5 and properly enforce a number of labor laws, a union official said. The strike comes ten months ...

European Union Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht will visit Cambodia this week, the European Commission announced, with rights groups hoping that land grabbing related to sugar plantations will be high on the agenda. Following bilateral meetings in Brussels last week between Cambodia and the EU during ...

Food vendors at Phnom Penh’s O’Russey Market have fought and won a battle against eviction. On Friday, about 80 vendors, including some who have sold food at the market since 1997, were told to clear out of what has become a heavily congested parking lot outside ...

Two union organizers have filed a complaint with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court claiming that the senior leaders of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU) have embezzled money that was meant to be paid to workers in compensation following a dispute with ...

The European Union has called on Cambodia to release 21 jailed activists and protesters and told the government during high level talks held here this week that a failure to reform the judiciary and electoral process could have severe consequences for the ruling party by ...

Local entrepreneur Ki Chong Tran believes he has the solution to many of Cambodia’s problems. On March 1, Tran submitted what he described as a “long-held weight off his chest” – a six-page proposal to the New York-based Bitcoin Foundation outlining all the ways the ...

The World Bank on Thursday asked Phnom Penh municipal officials to do more to help the thousands of families the city evicted from the Boeng Kak neighborhood to make way for a CPP senator’s private real estate project, and is now waiting for a reply, ...

Construction of the new Siem Reap International Airport (SRIA) passenger terminal has been delayed a third time due to a hold-up of design and layout approval, officials say. ...

Cambodian garment manufacturers and the association that governs them are failing to meet the standards set by the U.N.’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as evidenced by lethal violence against workers during garment strikes in January, when five people were shot dead and ...

The 8th EU-Cambodia Joint Committee was held in Brussels on Thursday, preceded by the subgroups on development cooperation, on trade and on institution building, administrative reform, legal and judicial reform, governance and human rights, the European bloc said in a press release. The two sides ...

Two unions that called for a stay-at-home strike by garment factory employees Wednesday had little success in mobilizing workers after six other unions, under pressure from the government and factory owners, pulled out of the planned industrial action on Tuesday. Union leaders who pushed ahead with ...

Corruption is weighing on businesses, and the avenues to address it are limited, according to Cambodia’s leading employer association. At a joint conference with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Cambodian Federation of Employers (CAMFEBA) in Phnom Penh yesterday, the employer representative called on the ...

Two of the country’s most powerful and politically connected business owners are on the board of governors of the company thought to have brokered a controversial deal between the world’s largest hydropower developer and the Cambodian government, documents obtained by the Post show. Cambodian People’s Party ...

Work on a triple-skyscraper complex near Olympic Stadium announced in February is due to get under way in June this year and be completed in 2017, according to the project supervisor. With its slogan “The heart of Phnom Penh”, Times Centre is slated to feature three ...

Taiwanese garment manufacturer Grand Twins International says it will officially list and start trading on the Cambodia Stock Exchange (CSX) on May 8 after spending several weeks whipping up interest from local investors, whose appetite remains on the low side so far. Stanley Shen, a spokesman ...

A draft trade union law that the government has pledged to introduce by the end of the year includes provisions that will allow for unions to be suspended if their activities are deemed illegal, the head of Cambodia’s largest employers association said Wednesday. Van Sou Ieng, ...

Labor unions and associations have suspended their strike plan scheduled for March 12 following the request by garment workers, according to a union leader. The suspension came after the meeting between the union leaders from a coalition of 18 labor unions and associations today. The unionists ...

Corruption remains the most significant challenge facing Cambodia’s economy, according to a survey of more than 300 employers conducted last year by the International Labor Organization (ILO), the results of which were released Tuesday. Despite legislation meant to stamp out graft, corruption continues to be perceived ...