Economy and commerce

A new, government-owned life insurance company aims to provide a safety net for Cambodian families, according to In Meatra, director-general of the Cambodia Life Insurance Company Plc. Located on the 21st floor of Canadia Tower, Cambodia Life opened on May 21 and has 23 employees.  “Cambodia ...

Cambodia could attract an increasing number of Malaysian investors interested in food production and global export if moves to create a halal food recognition body were implemented, Malaysian ambassador Mond Tahir Nasruddin said yesterday. Officials were working together to establish the halal food product recognition ...

An abundance of illegal crocodile smugglers operating without a license and exporting animals to Vietnam has led to the price of crocodiles dropping by more than half compared to the same period last year, breeders said yesterday. Loun Nam, president of the Crocodile Feeder Association, ...

After reforms instituted in 2011, the price of international phone calls dropped subsequently. In 2011, the price cost fell from 2.76 cent in 1997 to 0.25 cent per minute for mobile phone and desk phone cost about 2.56 cent in 1997 to 0.25 cent in 2010, and 2011 respectively, the report from the ...

Over 70 judges and justice ministry officials from throughout ASEAN gathered at a U.S.-supported ASEAN legal and judicial cooperation workshop in Cambodia this week for an unprecedented exchange of ideas on the rule of law in the ASEAN region. Representatives from the ASEAN Senior Law Officials Meeting (ASLOM), ASEAN Member State judicial bodies, and the ASEAN ...

International market- research company TNS has announced the opening of the company’s first office in Cambodia, and has joined forces with MSD, a Cambodian market and social research firm that is a “long-standing partner”, an official company statement said. Ralf Matthaes has been appointed regional managing ...

The privatization of state-owned land continued last month with several large government- owned plots in Phnom Penh transferred to state-private property, according to a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen. According to the document signed May 24, the state-owned properties, measuring 40,998 square meters in ...

Cambodia’s garment exports exceeded US$1 billion during the first quarter of 2012, yet many factories are failing to pay workers proper maternity leave benefits or address issues of fainting, a labour report says. The International Labour Or­ganization-Better Factories Cam­bodia’s Twenty Eighth Syn­­­thesis Report on Working Conditions ...

Despite authorities turning a blind eye to their villages for more than 15 years, about 2,000 families living near Preah Sihanouk province’s Kbal Chhay waterfall face imminent eviction to make way for a clean-water processing plant, officials said yesterday. Prime Minister Hun Sen’s recent bold move ...

Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen on June 14 ordered line ministries to distribute land to landless and real poor people to contribute to strengthening social equity system in the kingdom. “Landless and real poor people will get a plot of land with land titles according to the obvious situation,” Premier said in the launching ceremony ...

Cheju Halla, a Korean university, plans to build a university of tourism and hospitality in Siem Reap next year, Tourism Minister Thong Khon told reporters yesterday at a meeting with Han Soo Kim, the new South Korean ambassador to Cambodia. The Ministry of Tourism has requested ...

Patrick Devillers, the French national and associate of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai, seemed to be putting down roots in Cambodia. The architect – whose shadowy presence has been on the fringes of one of modern China’s largest political scandals – owned land and a restaurant ...

The filling of Boeng Kak lake and the eviction of thousands of residents was necessary to root out the “prostitutes and terrorists” that were drawn to the area’s once-popular tourist zone, the Phnom Penh Municipality said in a statement yesterday. In a statement posted to its ...

The real growth rate of the industry sector has been revised downwardly by half a percentage point against the previous estimate to 8.8 percent year-on-year in 2012. A scaling down of the growth estimate of the textile and garment sub sector, as a result of persistently weaker demand in the European and US ...

Less than a week after Prime Minister Hun Sen called for land to be returned to villagers embroiled in land disputes, a Pursat province villager has been summonsed by the court in a scenario many see as all too common in these disputes. Kuch Veng, a ...

The Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC) is planning to develop a 400-unit apartment complex on the former site of the Ratanakkiri provincial airport, an official with knowledge of the project said yesterday. Ly Teang, Banlung City branch manager for Canadia Bank, whore investors are the ...

  Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told the Group of 20 summit in Mexico that international financial architecture could not be sustained without reforms, sources said. Speaking in his capacity as Asean chairman, Hun Sen said the association supported any measures to reinforce financial stability ...

Cambodia and Thailand are poised for a boost in trade and tourism following a new agreement taking effect today that simplifies procedures at a key border crossing between the two nations. “The ability to move people, goods, and vehicles across borders efficiently and responsibly is at the heart of regional economic integration,” said Craig Steffensen, ...

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong met with Senator Jim Webb, of Virginia, this week, to discuss how Cambodia might be forgiven war-era debt to the US or find a better way to pay it off. Cambodia owes nearly $450 million on pre-Khmer Rouge borrowing. ...

About 4,000 workers at the M&V Textile factory in Kompong Chhnang province, which supplies well-known brands such as H&M and Gap, went on strike yesterday morning to demand a pay raise, a union representative said. Meas Sokhen, a representative of the Free Trade Union, said ...

The owner of a site in Phnom Penh where a 19th century French colonial building was demolished last week said yesterday she does not have enough money to follow through on plans to build a replica in its place. Kang Gheck Nai said it had always ...

“Vespa was in Cambodia before the war [and] Piaggio wanted to come back to the market in Cambodia, because the market is growing,” explained Frederic Bachelet, head of business development at Narita Vespa Co. Ltd. The company plans to break ground next week on ...

A technology called “Super Wi-Fi” that uses the frequency spectrum between television channels called “white spaces” could be a game-changing force in how people connect to the internet, especially in places like Cambodia. The technology, which requires specialised equipment costing about US$2,000 for a base station ...

Women’s economic roles in Cambodia have made slower progress than in many other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, World Bank economists said yesterday. The region as a whole has seen tremendous gains in the way of gender equality during the past 20 years, but increasing wages ...