Economy and commerce

The inquiry that targeted Hun To, dubbed Operation Illipango, investigated the shipment of heroin into Australia from Cambodia in loads of timber. Hun To, a nephew of Prime Minister Hun Sen, is a powerful and feared figure in Cambodia. He was once considered a close business ...

The contractor in charge of rebuilding Cambodia’s national railway has been cutting corners on the health and safety of its workers, according to a report published yesterday by the Asian Development Bank. TSO-AS & Nawarath, a French-Thai joint venture, was reportedly found to have grossly violated ...

Cambodia, in its role as Asean chair, has decided that the thorny issue of the South China Sea will not be on the agenda at next month’s Asean Summit in Phnom Penh, CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap announced yesterday. “Cambodia is a neutral country, and based on ...

The morning before the verdict was handed down at the Appeals Court on March 12, the mood among those working on the defence team for Heng Chheang and his wife Tep Kolap was almost optimistic. They, along with relatives of the couple and academics from Phnom ...

Though less well-known than Kampot pepper, the price of Kompong Cham province pepper has increased by 44 percent from last year and is developing a following in Thailand, farmers and vendors said. With a total of 906 hectares of land dedicated to cultivating pepper in Kompong ...

Cambodian women have the most to lose from the planned 2015 ASEAN integration, a coalition of more than 100 Cambodian women said yesterday at the Cambodian Women Forum. Because Cambodian women are so poorly educated, when the job market opens up, competition from other countries like ...

Asean member countries were called on yesterday to work toward a “100 percent smoke-free” region, and Cambodia’s most famous smoker, Prime Minister Hun Sen, is behind the initiative, a government spokesman said. ...

A Ford assembly plant in Preah Sihanouk province will supply Cambodia’s limited but growing car market, the American carmaker’s local representative RMA Cambodia announced yesterday. The US$3 million investment, wholly owned by RMA, has a capacity of up to 6,000 vehicles per year, and is expected ...

The Credit Bureau of Cambodia officially commenced operations at its Phnom Penh headquarters on Monday, according to CBC spokesman Steve Vaile ...

Chinese President Hu Jintao will pay an official state visit to Cambodia between March 30 and April 2, a trip that will coincide with the Asean-European Union Business Summit and will finish just one day before the annual Asean summit commences in Phnom Penh, an ...

The government last month granted four companies a total 23,000 hectares of land concessions for agro-industry projects and a special economic zone (SEZ), according to human rights groups, which said it obtained the information from government documents. An additional 500 hectares inside a wildlife sanctuary were ...

The long-awaited Cambodian Credit Bureau (CBC) launched yesterday, a move that is expected to increase the amount of information banks retain on the history of borrowers in the banking system. Despite loan disbursals in the banking sector growing by 25 percent last year, banks have so ...

A senior government official has said construction on the US$1 billion airport project in Siem Reap was still on track despite the recent arrest of a key person in charge of the project. Plans and designs for the New Siem Reap International Airport had been submitted ...

Two weeks before the opening of the 20th Asean Summit in Phnom Penh, preparations are under way to increase security and clean up Cambodia’s capital ahead of the arrival of hordes of foreign dignitaries on April 3. According to Phnom Penh deputy military police chief Pong ...

PHNOM PENH: The 8th Cambodia-Asia Economic Forum kicked off here on Saturday, focusing on reviewing the ASEAN achievements in the past 45 years and looking at opportunities and challenges toward the realisation of an ASEAN community by 2015. The two-day forum has been attending by some ...

Cambodia’s first association for expanding business opportunities and financing for women was launched on Saturday. The Cambodia Women Entrepreneurs Association would seek to enhance the competitiveness of businesswomen in the growing ASEAN market, which was set to integrate by 2015, Seng Takakneary, president of the new ...

Svay Rieng Provincial Prosecutor Hing Bunchea said yesterday that he had summoned two of the three women shot at a Bavet City special economic zone (SEZ) for questioning next week, and denied accusations that investigators were dragging their feet on the case. Rights groups continued to ...

The government has chosen representatives of two obscure NGOs to send to an annual meeting between civil society groups and regional leaders during next month’s Asean summit in Phnom Penh, sparking an outcry among other non-governmental groups that say this will prevent critics from being ...

The value of medicine and medical equipment imports increased about five per cent year-on-year in 2011, according to the Ministry of Commerce. ...

Cambodian NGOs were drawing battle lines and choosing sides in the run-up to the ASEAN summit, activists said yesterday. Two separate “ASEAN People’s Forums” are being organised by local NGOs. The first, from March 28 to 30, is expected to draw more than 2,000 groups.   ...

Enthusiasm about the start of trading at the exchange, which opened last July without a single listed company, extends beyond the borders of the Southeast Asian country. Investors including Templeton Emerging Markets Group Chairman Mark Mobius said they plan to participate in Cambodia’s stock market ...

Cambodia’s first initial public offering is fast approaching, and demand is expected to be robust. Bookbuilding, the process during which bids are taken and a price set for shares, ended last Wednesday for Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA). The final offering price will be announced ...

CSX chief executive Hong Sok Hour explains how the exchange will function on its first day of trading and into the future. The way to begin trading on the CSX is to open an account with any one of a dozen securities firms which are licensed ...

Local stock-exchange staff will be trained by foreign experts Overseas experts will play an important role in the start-up of the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX), says Larry Ng of Cana Securities. “Foreign investors will lead the CSX and securities market at the beginning because they have the ...