Economy and commerce

Production from freshwater capture fisheries and aquaculture in the Lower Mekong Basin is estimated to be worth up to $7 billion a year, the Mekong River Commission says. The newsletter said total first-sale value was estimated at $3.9 to $7.0 billion per year. “Over the ...

Families still waiting for promised land titles in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood said Sunday that the municipal government is offering to give them their long-awaited tenure rights only if they agree to give up part of their land. About 100 Boeng Kak families were left ...

Cambodia officially announced the creation of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) to improve competitiveness, promote trade, and increase investment in the rice sector, according to comments from the Prime Minister. Board elections are expected to take place Mrch 24 and the chairman is limited to ...

In the latest bid to protect Mondulkiri’s ravaged forests, World Wildlife Fund is rolling out a new project designed to give locals financial incentives to help preserve Mondulkiri Protected Forest and Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary. Cultivating small-scale, community-run businesses such as resin tree tapping and beekeeping ...

Cambodia Ambassador Tuot Panha said the viability of Clark International Airport will make it one of the progressive international gateways in the Philippines. The ambassador said she would like to see flights between Clark and Phnom Penh or Clark and Siem Reap, now one of the ...

Royal Group executives, owners of Cambodia’s leading mobile phone operator Cellcard, vigorously denied the veracity of a London-based media report on Friday that claimed the phone company is looking for investors and wants to sell off its telecommunications towers because it is unable to raise ...

Ouch Borith, Secretary of State of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia, and Ugo Astuto, director of South and Southeast Asia of the European Union, will co-chair the 8th meeting of Cambodia-EU Joint Committee to strengthen relations and cooperation between Cambodia and ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday provided an indication of the role that will be played by the new Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts, which was created late last year, announcing it will hold the sole responsibility for registering small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The government ...

RMA Cambodia confirmed yesterday it had taken over from rival firm Envotech as the Kingdom’s only authorised dealer of Land Rover and Jaguar vehicles. Envotech will have held the authorised dealer rights for two years when it closes its Phnom Penh dealership on March 26. RMA, whic ...

Thmey Thmey online news and Women’s Radio FM 102 on Thursday announced a partnership that will see journalists from both outlets join forces to create evening news bulletins to be broadcast daily starting Saturday. “Our concept is independent Cambodian news, by Cambodians, for Cambodians, and 102 ...

The government now requires union leaders to prove that they have no criminal record before registering new branches of their organization, according to a statement from the Ministry of Labor, a decision that comes less than a week before planned nationwide strikes in the garment ...

Promising to dramatically open up the region’s airways, the planned Asean Single Aviation Market (ASAM) will bring with it fierce competition and price wars, experts said yesterday during a seminar on the subject at the Phnom Penh Hotel. The seminar brought representatives from the majority of ...

British Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy David Puttnam said Thursday that the country looked to boost bilateral trade volume with Cambodia to $5 billion by 2020. “The bilateral trade between the UK and Cambodia reached $1 billion last year and we expect the trade volume will hit ...

Cambodia could lose its competitive advantage in bicycle manufacturing and assembly, an industry source says. In a report from the Taipei Cycle Show late Wednesday, the US-based Bicycle Retailer and Industry News said Cambodia had used low wages and zero tariffs in the European Union to ...

Cambodia’s trade volume with Asean member states reached US$4.16 billion last year, up 12 percent from US$3.71 billion in 2012, Xinhua news agency reported. In the Commerce Ministry’s report released Wednesday, Cambodia exported products equivalent to US$482 million to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) ...

The Chinese-owned company that began operating Phnom Penh’s new public bus service Wednesday secured its five-year deal on the basis of a verbal agreement and has not yet signed a formal contract with City Hall, the company’s CEO said. Lim Andre, the CEO of Global (Cambodia) ...

Say Sam Al, Minister of Environment, on Thursday called for construction of plastic recycle plants in Bavet and Sihanoukville. Speaking at the meeting, the minister said that in the last 20 years Ministry of Environment as well as Cambodian government didn’t allow trash recycle in ...

Cambodia’s insurance business is continuing to make strides, with the total value of engineering insurance reaching approximately $4 million in 2013, a significant increase compared to 2012. According to data recently released by the Insurance Association of Cambodia, the value of engineering insurance purchased in 2013 ...

Following an order from Prime Minister Hun Sen last month to crack down on intimidation and harassment by tax collectors in local markets, City Hall pledged to take legal action yesterday. Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong told municipal and provincial governors that fines for rogue collectors ...

Professor Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel laureate who is considered the founding father of microfinance, urged an assembled crowd at the Royal University of Phnom Penh yesterday to start thinking about creating so-called social businesses. “Charity money goes, and does wonderful work, but it doesn’t come back,” ...

An existing moratorium on economic land concessions should be no impediment to pouring more cash into the Kingdom’s booming, and highly criticised, rubber trade, industry executives in the capital heard yesterday, as many current ELCs can simply be recycled to a new crop of investors. Ly ...

Nevada-based Verde Resources Inc says it has signed memoranda of understanding with Cambodia’s Black Stallion Mining Group Ltd and Vietnam’s Phu Duc Mineral Joint Stock Company to prospect for and develop rare earth resources. In a statement released in Malaysia late Tuesday, Verde Resources said the ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has told local business leaders that increased wages should be linked to improvements in the productivity of workers. Speaking at the 17th Government-Private Sector Forum on Tuesday, he said higher wages “must be attached to the production capacity of each worker and ...

Moody’s Investors Service affirmed Wednesday Cambodia’s government issuer rating at B2 with a stable outlook, stating that recent labour unrest could result in only slightly slower economic growth this year. “Cambodia’s underlying credit strengths are expected to withstand the impact of recent political tensions and labor ...