Economy and commerce

FRANCE 24 has concluded a new distribution agreement in Cambodia and launched on ONE TV’s Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) offer. FRANCE 24, French version, is now available 24/7 on channel 19 of the ONE TV basic offer, for 3 dollars per month (2,29 Euros). FRANCE 24 is ...

A new marketing strategy has reached Phnom Penh’s streets, enabling companies to introduce their products on a moving TV screen. New Color Communications, a company started by Kim Seong Bomb, instals TV screens on the back of tuk-tuks that show a series of one-minute advertisement clips. ...

A local journalist and a forestry officer who were arrested by military police forces in Kratie province last week for beating a man and firing a gun into the air were released on Monday as part of a compromise between the victim and his attackers. Srey ...

An ongoing project to build hotels, luxury villas and a casino on Kampot province’s Bokor Mountain is a threat to the area’s unique animal and plant species, according to two new studies. Local conglomerate Sokimex Group has been granted property development rights on the entire mountain, ...

Investment in the Cambodian construction sector reached US$1.38 billion in the first seven months of 2012, an 85-percent rise over the same period last year, according to figures from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. During the January to July period this year, the ministry ...

The Ratanakkiri Provincial Court will soon summon a number of people for questioning in its investigation into the brutal murder of journalist Hang Serei Odom earlier this month, a court official said yesterday. Former military police Captain An Bunheng and his wife, Sim Vy, were ...

Government data show that significant amounts of tobacco are being smuggled out of the country each year, health and economics experts said yesterday. A national tobacco survey from 2011, the exact numbers of which remain confidential, shows that more tobacco is produced in Cambodia than is ...

Cambodian officials have begun to raise awareness on the forthcoming government issued standards for Cambodian milled brown rice, in an effort to guage reactions ahead of the official approval by the National Standards Board, according to officials. The official approval, aimed at promoting brown rice in ...

Despite the recent spate of high-profile arrests and deportations, analysts, attorneys and civil society groups are divided on whether the Kingdom is finally beginning to live down its reputation as a haven for the fugitives and criminals who have long been drawn to the country ...

The commerce minister yesterday urged European businesspeople in Phnom Penh to invest more in Cambodia and not to envy the Chinese firms now dominating the foreign investment scene. Speaking at the gathering of the European Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, Minister of Trade and Commerce Cham ...

Cambodia’s consumer price index rose by 1.3 percent in July compared to a year earlier on the back of higher food and fuel prices, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics. The increase was also due to non-alcohol beverages, clothing and footwear, housing, water, ...

Cambodia and Thailand yesterday reiterated their commitment to restart negotiations over an expansive and resource-rich section of the Gulf of Thailand known as the Overlapping Claims Area – but the two countries have yet to set a date for the talks. In 2001, officials from ...

The next two stocks to be listed on the Cambodia Securities Exchange will probably be Taiwan-owned garment factories, according to market insiders. The news comes as the lone listed stock on the Cambodia Securities Exchange declined slightly in value during the past month, dropping from an ...

Cambodia’s construction sector has attracted the investment of 1.53 billion U.S. dollars in the first eight months of 2012, a 74 percent rise compared with 881 million U.S. dollars at the same period last year, a report from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning ...

Thailand’s border trade with neighbouring countries is targeted to double to Bt2 trillion by 2015, thanks to the seamless market brought by the Asean Economic Community. “Cross-border trade continues to play a more important role for Thailand with closer economic cooperation ahead of the AEC,” Olarn ...

A journalist murdered in Ratanakkiri last week took a call from his accused killer on the night of his disappearance, his family has claimed in a complaint to the rights group Adhoc. Ken Sovann, 63, the mother of slain journalist Hang Serei Oudom, whose body was found in his car in O’Chum district ...

The Phnom Penh Court of Appeal yesterday postponed the final hearing of disgraced anti-drug czar Moek Dara, Chea Leng and Morn Doeun until next month, citing a need for more time in light of last-minute investigations by the Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court, a court official ...

Villagers have found more than 100 cubic metres of timber and three chainsaws in Prey Lang forest during a six-day patrol for illegal logging, community officials said yesterday. Scouring the forest on motorcycles and on foot, more than 300 villagers from four provinces found 100 cubic ...

The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday urged Cambodia to increase taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products-currently the lowest in the world-in order to raise revenue and deter smokers. Ayda Yurekli, coordinator of the WHO’s tobacco control economics unit, said during a workshop in Phnom Penh ...

The Taiwanese bank Cathay United, a subsidiary of Cathay Financial Holding and a listed company on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, has purchased a 70 per cent stake in the Cambodia-based Singapore Banking Corporation Ltd (SBC), a central bank official said yesterday. The National Bank of Cambodia ...

Community groups have aborted their coordinated patrol of Prey Long forest in search of illegal logging because of heavy rain, a community member said yesterday. The Prey Long People’s Network had planned to continue its patrol-which began Friday and had already found at least 65 cubic ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen received a visiting delegation of Japanese investors on Friday, according to the national news agency Agence Kampuchea Presse. Led by Fujino Takashi from the Keidanren Japan Business Federation and a member of the Board of Directors at Asahi Glass, the delegation’s visit ...

In his talk at the ASEAN energy ministers meeting held in Phnom Penh last week, Prime Minister Hun Sen emphasized the need for the ten-member bloc to work together to bolster its regional energy connectivity to meet a rapidly growing demand for energy. He also ...

Increasing the tobacco retail tax — one of the world’s lowest at 10 per cent of unit price for domestically produced cigarettes — would deter smokers and increase government revenue while having minimal effect on tobacco producers, Ayda Yurekli, co-ordinator for the World Health Organization’s ...