Economy and commerce

During a four-hour pop concert in Phnom Penh to mark International Anti-Corruption Day on Monday, the Coca-Cola Company and the government’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) signed an agreement that commits the international soft drinks company to avoid committing bribery in Cambodia. “Corruption is the barrier to development ...

Cambodia’s inflation rate increased by 4.2 percent in the 12-month period to October, with food prices accounting for more than half of the rate, according to data released Monday by the National Institute of Statistics. The monthly inflation rate grew from 3.4 percent in August to ...

The minister of posts and telecommunications on Monday insisted an edict ordering the country’s seven mobile phone operators to abide by a law that sets minimum prices for calls is only temporary. Prak Sokhon, the newly-appointed posts and telecommunications minister, said the order was necessary because ...

Cambodia’s telecommunications ministry yesterday defended intervening in the market by fixing minimum prices for mobile phone calls, rationalising the base charges as necessary to stem the loss of tax revenue and avert a monopolised industry. The floor price was introduced in 2009 to prevent the demise ...

Droves of seafood sellers descended on the normally sleepy Kep province this past weekend, attempting to capitalise on a tourism festival set up to drive dollars to Cambodia’s coastal areas. But overcrowding and blocked roads pushed prices down and kept customers away, according to vendors. The ...

The offices of Herbalife, a so-called multilevel marketing company that has moved into the protein powder market in Cambodia, stand like a beacon of promise in Phnom Penh’s Prampi Makara district: Six stories of glass and white paneling, crisp lime-green signage and a four-story-high banner ...

International car rental operator Avis is bringing its brand to Cambodia and Laos, according to a statement released last week from local licensee RMA Group. If the deal is seen through, Avis would be the first global car rental company to compete in the Kingdom. The company ...

Trade between Cambodia and the United States was valued at 2.55 billion U.S. dollars in the first ten months of 2013, up 2 percent from 2.49 billion U.S. dollars over the same period last year, the figures of the U.S. Department of Commerce showed Friday. Cambodia’s ...

The largest fish harvest of the year is approaching, and Phnom Penh’s fish markets are about to get busy. In short, it’s December and so prahok season is upon us. A traditional Cambodian fish paste, prahok is made from fermented Siamese mud carp called trey riel in ...

Thirty-four delegates from the Rice Merchants’ Association of Hong Kong made their first visit to Cambodia on Wednesday to explore more opportunities in the local milled rice sector. David Van, deputy secretary general of the Alliance of Rice Producers and Exporters of Cambodia, said the point ...

An official at the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) said Wednesday that the body plans to review and possibly lower the current minimum price per call after it recently ordered the country’s seven mobile phone operators to abide by a law that sets minimum call ...

Japan-based UD Trucks Corporation is planning on selling its new heavy duty transport vehicle, the 2013 UD Quester, in Cambodia. Volvo Group-owned UD Trucks also launched the latest versions of the UD Quon, UD Fuel Demonstrator, UD Quester and Volvo FH at the Tokyo Motor Show ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen and the visiting president of the China-Cambodia Friendship Association (CCFA) each planted a tree inside the Peace Palace compound in Phnom Penh on Wednesday to celebrate the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Gu Xiulian, president of the CCFA, ...

Cambodia’s General Department of Taxation had collected 800 million U.S. dollars of taxes in the first 11 months of the year, a 17 percent rise compared with the same period last year, a press release said Wednesday. The revenues came from tax on profit, withholding tax, ...

Cambodia could soon get its first Chinese-run digital television station, the latest local project hailing from a country that represents one of the Kingdom’s largest foreign investors. Yu Hua, deputy director of Yunnan Mobile Digital TV Corporation, based in China’s Yunnan province, met with Cambodia’s Minister ...

In an epic, six-hour address in September, Prime Minister Hun Sen apologized for the government’s many “problems” and promised a more reformist government over the next five years of his rule. Targeting corruption, deforestation and the lack of transparency across government sectors, the prime minister made ...

Cambodia is now ranked as being perceived by investors as Southeast Asia’s most corrupt country, surpassing Laos and Burma on Transparency International’s annual corruption index. Cambodia ranked 160 of 175 countries in the report, with its index score a mere 20 out of 100. That’s two ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that the country’s development in all fields could not be detached from China’s aid and vowed to further deepen ties between the two countries. According to the figures recorded by the Cambodian Finance Ministry, to date, China has ...

Mobile phone call promotions undercutting the government’s minimum pricing regulations are to be outlawed – again. Minimum charges will be applied to mobile phone calls from on Thursday with the return of the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia’s (TRC) rules on call tariffs, the regulator confirmed yesterday. On ...

US and Cambodian governments have presented a united front calling for the country’s agriculture industry to diversify, modernise and commercialise. US ambassador William E Todd and the Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Council for Agricultural and Rural Development Yim Chhay Ly led an ...

The launch of a new airline promising regular flights between Phnom Penh and China has been stalled, awaiting government approval. Apsara International Air – co-owned by Chinese and Cambodian investors – now plans to begin operations sometime in 2014 as talks between the airline and the ...

Well-known timber magnate Try Pheap is preparing to expand cross-country with a scheme that already gives him exclusive rights to buy all the wood felled on economic land concessions (ELCs) in Ratanakkiri province, a spokesman for the businessman said. The Agriculture Ministry’s Forestry Administration in February ...

ASX-listed junior Brighton Mining Group on Wednesday announced that it would buy two unlisted companies to gain control of high-grade manganese project in Indonesia, and gold projects in Cambodia. Brighton Mining holds a 70% shareholding in Summer Gold Investments, which holds two mineral concession areas ...

The privately-operated International Ship Registry of Cambodia (ISROC), a South Korea-based company that owns the rights to register foreign vessels under the Cambodian flag, told ship owners last year that it was not monitoring their observance of international maritime laws, and that it was their ...