Economy and commerce

The Greater Mekong Sub-region development scheme, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, is moving forward with a new generation of investment aimed at strengthening connectivity, competitiveness and community over the next decade. The GMS will play a strategic role in connecting Southeast Asia with South ...

Cambodia expects the arrival of the ASEAN Community in 2015 to present challenges as well as opportunities for its people. Economic advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sok Siphanna believes that the ASEAN integrity will create more opportunity for Cambodia. “Cheap labor in ...

Cambodian Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy on Thursday hailed Chinese companies for hugely investing in the country’s energy sector, which is a key element to support the sustainable social and economic development. Suy Sem’s appreciation was made during a bilateral meeting with Wu Yin, ...

About 500 garment workers gathered in front of their factory in Kompong Speu province yesterday to protest that the factory had not paid their full salary for August, a worker representative said yesterday. The protest started on Tuesday at Sien-Atree Co. Ltd. in Samraong Tong district ...

Total investment in new construction projects reached $1.53 billion through the first  eight months of the year, a 73.96 percent improvement compared to the same period last year, according to data released yesterday by the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. Though the number of permits ...

The plan to create an economic union in the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will likely see a delay of a year, Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said at the meeting of the bloc’s energy ministers in Phnom Penh. During the meeting, Mr. Surin said ...

Vietnam Airlines outlined expansion at the 4-Code presentation seminar, Wednesday, just prior to the opening of 8th International Travel Expo 2012 in Ho Chi Minh City. The national airline reiterated its commitment at the trade fair to build Vietnam as a major gateway to the other ...

Container traffic through Phnom Penh Autonomous Port increased by 7.5 percent in the first eight months of this year versus the same period last year, hitting the port’s record on Tuesday. During the January-August period this year, the port had received 57,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units, or TEUs, ...

Metro Machinery, the biggest dealer of heavy construction equipment in Thailand, is looking over the borders to Laos and Cambodia, which are exploiting their abundant natural resources and racing to develop infrastructure. The company will on October 9 ink two deals worth Bt1.5 billion each – ...

Speculators have been selling rice to Thailand via Cambodia for over a month despite domestic prices rising VND1,000/kg. At the meeting of Vietnam Food Association (VFA) on September 7 in HCM City, Director of An Giang Export Company Nguyen Van Tien said the amount of rice ...

In parts of rural Cambodia, farmers’ primary source of income comes from harvesting rice — once a year. This is a poor outcome compared to other ASEAN countries which harvest twice or thrice a year. To help increase farmers’ income, Victor Combal-Weiss and Guillaume Virag founded ...

In an effort to stimulate US$5 billion in trade between Cambodia and Vietnam by 2015, the Vietnamese Trade Fair will be held at the Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Centre from September 21 to 25. Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen and Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan ...

Myanmar Airways has temporarily suspended direct flights from Rangoon to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh due to low passenger numbers, an official at the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) said yesterday. “We don’t know how long they will suspend operations, but when they get ...

The president of the Free Trade Union yesterday sent a letter to the Ministry of Labour’s inspection department to monitor working conditions at M&V factories in Kampong Chhnang province, alleging excessive overtime is causing workers to faint. “They have to work both in day and night ...

There has been an ioncrease in fishing activity in the dolphin conservation zones along the Mekong River in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces, putting pressure on the critically endangered Mekong dolphin population, the chairman of the Commission for Mekong River Dolphin Conservation and Eco-tourism Development said yesterday. Touch ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen opened the 30th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting yesterday in Phnom Penh, where ASEAN officials will focus on ASEAN green energy and develop a plan for ASEAN’s power grid, officials said. Victor Jona, deputy director general of energy of the General Department ...

Revenues generated in the advertising sector through the first seven months of the year reached $68.7 million, an increase of 6.84 percent compared to the same period last year, according to data released yesterday by Indochina Research. Although the industry has continued to grow in terms ...

Eating rat is a common phenomenon over the border in Vietnam, but increasing numbers of Cambodians in nearby villages are adopting rodent cuisine with relish. As many as three tonnes of rats are caught every day in Cambodia and exported to Vietnam to feed a ...

Human rights monitoring groups and Cambodian activists are calling for an international boycott of Tate & Lyle and Domino Sugar, who do business with sugar suppliers accused of participating in government-sanctioned land grabs and illegal evictions throughout rural Cambodia. According to the Cambodian League for the ...

A preference for NGO and government jobs among young Cambodians was contributing to a critical labor shortage in the industrial manufacturing sector, a Labor Ministry official said yesterday. Speaking to 3,000 prospective university students on Phnom Penh’s Diamond Island, Labor Ministry Secretary of State Pich Sophoan ...

The price of imported raw silk decreased to US$44 per kilogram even as raw silk production fell off, according to industry insiders. Imported raw silk dropped 12 per cent to $44 per kilogram compared to $50 per kilogram last May. Cambodia Craft Federation CEO Soeng Kemyun, said ...

After experiencing decades of floods, Cambodia’s microfinance institutions say they no longer have problems disbursing loans during the rainy season, according to the head of Cambodia’s Microfinance Association (CMA). A survey issued early this year by a coterie of international aid organisations, including Oxfam, Care, PACT ...

Cambodia’s total trade volume grew 15.41 percent to reach$7.46 billion in the first seven months compared to the same period last year, according to data released yesterday by the Ministry of Commerce. Revenues earned through exports reached $2.9 billion, an increase of 11.82 percent compared to ...

Global food prices remained high in August according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food price index, maintaining the high level achieved last month as corn prices jumped in the US and rice prices increased in Cambodia. With 213 points in August the food ...