Economy and commerce

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 ...

Cambodians were among anti-Xayaburi dam protesters who demonstrated outside Thai Parliament in Bangkok yesterday, urging Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to halt construction and tear up an agreement to buy the proposed dam’s power. A group of Cambodians travelled to Bangkok especially to raise their concerns about ...

Cambodia had spent 1 billion U. S. dollars to buy petroleum from foreign suppliers in the first seven months of this year, up 22 percent from 817 million U.S. dollars at the same period a year ago, a report of the Commerce Ministry showed Saturday. The ...

The story of Cambodia’s microfinance sector has been one of successful evolution, evidenced by the growing number of lenders and their continual development. Many microfinance institutions (MFIs) started as NGO-like entities, but the industry has come a long way. Today, there are 32 MFIs licensed ...

Community patrols of Prey Long forest by local villagers over the last few days have uncovered at least 65 cubic meters of illicitly cut timber and three chainsaws believed to belong to the illegal loggers. Soem Sean, a member of the Prey Long People’s Network, dedicated ...

UK-based BIW automotive company on Friday signed a US$2 billion join venture investment with ACICA Automotive (Cambodia) to build a factory in Preah Sihanouk province for a Cambodian-made vehicle within the next three years. The agreement was made between BIW’s director Robin Bowyer and ACICA’s Group ...

A forestry officer and a reporter from a little-known newspaper were arrested Friday on allegations of attempted extortion and assaulting a man they caught illegally transporting luxury timber, but were released on Saturday, military police officials said yesterday. Seng Chandaron, the chief of Sandan commune Forestry ...

With the aim of attracting 25 million international visitors from 2013 to 2015 to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CVLM) the respective ministers of tourism pushed for greater cooperation in developing the region’s tourism sector on Friday,  according to the Vietnamese Communist Party official news ...

A local journalist and a forestry official were arrested by military police in Kratie province’s Sambo district on Friday night for allegedly discharging a weapon into the air and beating a man with a boat oar in an extortion bid gone awry. According to district military ...

Leaders from Vietnam’s southern province of Tay Ninh and Cambodia’s Kampong Chhnang province signed a cooperative agreement in Tay Ninh on September 17. The agreement falls within the framework of the minutes of the 7th Cooperation and Development Conference for Vietnamese and Cambodian border provinces that ...

Southeast Asia is a growth market for the mobile industry, with Indonesia and the Philippines being key markets for growth, particularly in smartphones, reports GfK Asia. The Southeast Asian mobile phone market is on the rise, having grown by 24% in volume in the past 12 ...

The price of Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority stock over the Sept. 6-12 period fluctuated between KHR 6,350 (US$1.57) and KHR 6,300 (US$1.55). The price on Sept. 6, KHR 6,350, fell to KHR 6,300 (US$1.58) on Sept. 7 and remained there until climbing to KHR 6,350 ...

China is encouraged by growing cooperation with Asean countries and hopes to see even more development in China-Asean trade to generate benefits for both sides. Under the China-Asean Free Trade Agreement (Cafta) that went into effect on Jan 1, 2010, more than 7,000 products are now ...

The PTT Public Company Limited is looking to invest 800 million baht in energy business expansion in Cambodia and Laos in the next five years. The PTT planned to open 4-5 more gas stations in Laos and Cambodia each. The Thai energy giant already has 14 ...

The price of the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority stock over the Aug. 30-Sept. 5 period fluctuated from KHR 6,350 (US$1.57) to KHR 6,450 (US$1.59), but trading volumes went down to zero again on Aug. 31, the second time in the bourse’s short history. With ...