Economy and commerce
Trade
Sihanoukville port revenues up 22% on economic growth
Revenues earned by the Sihanouk Autonomous Port for the first quarter of this year jumped 22 per cent year-on-year to US$8.3 million, according to figures released yesterday by SAP. Exports of the Kingdom’s rice, garments and timber, coupled with imports of textiles, electronics and construction materials, ...
Tourism wins in China trade deal
Unless Cambodian exporters find new routes to China, a proposed doubling of bilateral trade to US$5 billion by 2017 would mean little more than increased Chinese goods and investment flooding into the Kingdom. Chinese investments and imports dominated bilateral trade with Cambodia, which was worth about ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012040655456/Business/tourism-wins-in-china-trade-deal.html
Gov’t Launches Body in Effort to Up Rice Exports
The Ministry of Commerce is setting up a National Confederation for Rice Exporters to achieve Prime Minister Hun Sen’s target of exporting 1 million tons of milled rice by 2015. ...
1,600 Tons of Cassava Stuck at Thai Border
More than 1,600 tons of cassava have been stuck at the Thai-Cambodian border in Banteay Meanchey for several days because Thai officials have banned imports of the crop in an effort to support domestic prices at home, officials and exporters said yesterday. The cassava, 800 tons ...
Fire in Kandal Warehouse Destroys 200 Tons of Rice
Two hundred tons of unmilled rice slated for export to Vietnam was destroyed in a warehouse fire in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district early yesterday morning ...
SEA firms to ship $2b of rubber to China
Cambodia’s Prominence Investment Enterprise and Thailand’s Panpee Group have signed an agreement to supply China’s Yunnan Rubber Co Ltd with 500,000 tonnes, or US$2 billion worth, of rubber per year, Sam Kay, general manager of the local partner, said yesterday. ...
ASEAN hits troubled waters
Prime Minister Hun Sen pushed regional unity at the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Summit yesterday, but criticism directed at Cambodia over the South China Sea ensured the dispute remained front and centre. As heavily armed guards lined the streets outside the Peace Palace in Phnom ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012040455423/National-news/asean-hits-troubled-waters.html
Asean Leaders Say Sanctions on Burma Should Be Lifted—Now
Asean leaders urged the lifting of economic sanctions against Burma, while the Burmese president made his first public statement on the nation’s recent by-elections, calling them “very successful” at the Asean Summit in Phnom Penh yesterday. “Asean has consistently spoken of lifting sanctions, but now, more ...
China stalls Cambodia’s first rice exports at border
Cambodia had made its first direct shipment of rice to China, an official revealed yesterday, but the test run, which was hoped to open the vast Chinese rice market to local exporters, was largely unsuccessful. Golden Rice Co Ltd shipped 48 tonnes of milled rice to ...
Hun Sen says ASEAN instrument for workers a priority for 2012
Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday that establishing a regional instrument to protect migrant workers in Southeast Asia should be a priority for ASEAN this year. “The free flow of skilled workers is a key condition for the ASEAN Economic Community,” he said in an opening ...
Civil Society Group Issues List of Grievances to Asean Leaders
Representing more than 1,200 delegates from the 10 Asean countries, the Asean Peoples’ Forum issued a highly critical statement yesterday to visiting Asean leaders concerning issues such as land evictions, effects of large-scale hydropower projects and the opaque nature of drafting the Asean Human Rights ...
Cambodia gives region ‘export’ advice
Cambodia’s garment sector yesterday looked more like a teacher to regional economies such as Myanmar than a student of China and other export juggernauts. With more than 500 garment and shoe factories – adding a new one every 10 days, according to the Garment Manufacturers Association ...
Cambodia to aid ASEAN’s small states
Cambodia’s Minister of Economy and Finance Cham Prasidh yesterday said the Kingdom would push forward with efforts to eliminate development gaps among ASEAN member states during its chairmanship this year. ...
Cambodian CEO to chair ASEAN business awards
Sorn Sokna, chief executive of Sonatra Securities in Phnom Penh, has been made chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council’s ASEAN Business Awards. ...
Close ASEAN cooperation urged to promote growth
Cambodia, the current ASEAN chair, has called for stronger financial cooperation among its member countries to promote economic growth. The main agenda is to ensure that Southeast Asia is on track to meet an ambitious goal of transforming in three years into a European Union-like ...
EU Eyes Asean as Solution for Troubles at Home
As Europe continues to navigate its way through a two-year debt crisis, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht yesterday sought to put Europe at the center of Southeast Asia’s future at the EU-Asean Business Summit in Phnom Penh, and urged EU investors to take advantage ...
Cambodia-Vietnam JV targets rice exports
CAVFOOD, a joint venture between Cambodian and Vietnamese companies, launched the first phase of its US$8 million rice mill in Phnom Penh on Friday. The venture is an investment by Cambodian state-owned rice exporter Green Trade and Vietnam’s VNA Food 2 and Bank for Investment and ...
Exports to EU show promise
Cambodia’s exports to the European Union increased by 40 per cent to a total value of US$1.3 billion in 2011, according to European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, who is in Phnom Penh for the ASEAN-EU Business Summit. “I think it is fair to say ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012040255365/Business/exports-to-eu-show-promise.html
Asean NGO Coalition Claims Members’ Rights Violated
Members of the Asean People’s Forum, a coalition of NGOs that convened in Phnom Penh last week, declared yesterday that their rights had been violated after four workshops on sensitive issues were canceled by the venue where they met. In a statement representing more than 1,200 ...
ASEAN infrastructure fund on track for May
The region’s finance ministers on Friday set a May launch date for the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund (AIF), a financing project expected to lend as much as US$4 billion to member countries through 2020. Speaking at the opening the ministers’ meeting, Prime Minister Hun Sen called ...
Hun Sen Urges Action to Double Region's Bailout Fund
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday urged the economic leaders of the Asean bloc to go through with a plan to double a bailout pool, funded largely by China, Japan and South Korea, to prevent future financial crises in the region. Opening the Asean Finance ...
Hotel Shuts Down Asean NGO Panels
Four workshops at the Asean Peoples’ Forum concerning pressing issues such as land rights and events in Burma were blocked by the owner of the venue where the forum was being held on Friday, as they were considered too politically sensitive, the organizer said. Out of ...
Hu, Cambodian PM agree to advance ties
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen agreed here Saturday to advance the comprehensive relations of strategic cooperation and partnership between their two countries. In a meeting, the two leaders pledged to expand mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields and to double the ...
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012HuAsiaTour/2012-03/31/content_14962294.htm
Hu wants Cambodia help on China Sea dispute, pledges aid
Chinese President Hu Jintao asked close economically Cambodia on Saturday not to push talks on the vexed issue of the South China Sea “too fast” as he pledged to double bilateral trade to $5 billion and announced fresh aid to the impoverished country. Cambodia holds the ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/31/us-cambodia-china-idUSBRE82U04Y20120331