Economy and commerce

Cambodia’s ASEAN economic minister said the official launch of the negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will lead to potentially forming the biggest single market in the region and is much bigger than the traditional markets of the US and the EU. An economist ...

A plan to create a free trade area covering roughly half the world’s population by 2015 was initiated yesterday by regional and world leaders meeting in Phnom Penh. During the Asean and related meetings at his office, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced that the group of ...

Further comprehensive economic co-operation and expansion among ASEAN’s member states, East Asia and its development partners was imperative for managing risks and impacts from the fragile global economy, Prime Minister and ASEAN chairman Hun Sen said during the ASEAN Global Dialogue yesterday. The dialogue brought together ...

The president of the Philippines, a major Asean claimant to portions of the South China Sea, says the country wants the right to solve its problems on the world stage. But Asean leaders on Tuesday sought to downplay his remarks and said they did not ...

A group of roughly 100 anti-eviction protestors were blocked by riot police yesterday from marching to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Peace Palace to appeal to U.S. President Barack Obama for help in reforming Cambodia’s land rights policy. The protest, which took place at the Boeng Kak ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is marking 20 years of operations in Cambodia with the release of a book today celebrating its achievements in the Kingdom. The 67-member ADB says that over 20 years it has given Cambodia $1.8 billion in loans, grants and technical assistance. ...

Japanese Investment in Cambodia is steadily increasing as a result of sharply rising wages in China and other Southeast Asian nations. But experts warned this week that for sustained investment growth and to avoid driving Japanese companies to other attractive investment destinations such as Burma ...

Transparency International Cambodia is set to step up its presence in the Kingdom with the launch of a $2.5 million three-year program to monitor and record corruption. On a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean), Cambodia ranks 2.1, according to the organisation, ...

Asean leaders Tuesday discussed the importance of expanding economic opportunity for the region, vowing to increase efforts for better trade and investment amid members states and with the US. Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of Asean, said “more and more” was expected of Asean today. “So it is ...

Prime Minister John Key has joined a launch of Asian free trade talks – but made it clear he favours a US-backed deal. The East Asian Summit wrapped up in Phnom Penh yesterday with Asian leaders formally announcing a start to negotiations towards a Regional Comprehensive ...

Cambodian officials have refused to establish a specialised bank for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) despite experts saying the sector needs aid in order to compete efficiently with ASEAN economic integration in 2015. Hang Chounnaron, secretary of the Ministry of Economy and Finance said Cambodia would ...

At the U.S.-Asean meeting at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh yesterday, the U.S. and the 10 Asean member nations agreed to further their cooperation in all areas, including security to ensure peace in the region. ...

The secretary-general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) called on Asean member states to work collectively towards achieving the Asean Economic Community by 2015. Sok Chenda Sophea, who chaired the 2nd Asean Investment Forum (AIF) held in Phnom Penh, said Asean members must ...

Acleda Bank announced on Sunday that it will expand its banking services into Burma by opening a microfinance institute there in January. ...

Criticism continued yesterday of the Asean Human Rights Declaration, which was signed in Phnom Penh on Saturday after regional leaders decided to make last-minute revisions that were widely deemed as inadequate. U.N. experts ans civil society groups criticized the lack of consultation in drawing up the ...

Asean leaders yesterday failed again to form a common front towards geo-political disputes with China over the South China Sea as the Philippines vowed to continue shouting while Cambodia tried to contain discussions to the two immediate sides. The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations hoped ...

Economic ministers from Asean’s 10 member states signed an agreement yesterday to loosen restrictions around the movement of skilled labor in the region, part of preparation for the integration of the Asean Economic Community in 2015. The Asean Movement of Natural Persons Agreement is supposed to ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and visiting U.S. President Barack Obama met here on Monday to discuss a number of issues including old debt, human rights, democracy and forced evictions in Cambodia, a senior Cambodian official said. Hun Sen also raised the issue of old ...

With political and cultural ties between India and Southeast Asia already strong, economic issues were the focus of the 10th Asean-India Summit at the Peace Palace yesterday in Phnom Penh, the India ambassador to Cambodia said. ...

Premier Wen Jiabao said on Monday China supports pushing forward an Asian free-trade area, which will cover 28 percent of world’s total export volume. Previous reports said China is expected to make announcements on Tuesday in Phnom Penh that it will join the talks for the ...

Coca-cola and Smart Mobile have teamed up in a joint promotion to give away $1 million worth of prizes, including top-up minutes and 25 Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphones using numbers printed under bottle caps of Coca-Cola, Fanta and Sprite. The promotion started on November 1 ...

In the not-so-distant past, visitors to Koh Dach, an island in the Mekong River about 15 kilometers outside of Phnom Penh, were often struck by the sound as well as the sights that met them there. Among the many crafts on display by local artisans, ...

The bilateral C volume between Cambodia and the United States reached 2.2 billion U.S. dollars in the first nine months of this year, a 2 percent rise compared with 2.15 billion U.S. dollars at the same period last year, according to the statistics of the ...

The price of the exchange’s sole listed company, PPWSA, remained very stable from Nov. 8-15 at KHR 6,200 (US$1.55), the price it arrived at on Oct. 30. Trading volumes over the period fluctuated between 4,501 and 38,951 shares. ...