Trade policy and regulation

The 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM) kicked off in Phnom Penh on Monday, focusing on politics, security, food and energy security, economics and culture in order to further advance the bloc’s cooperation toward a community by 2015. Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen said thatafter 45 years, ...

There was a sense of déjà vu at the Peace Palace yesterday as a week of largely closed-door ASEAN meetings kicked off in earnest with the same contentious issue that so dominated April’s ASEAN Summit: a code of conduct for the South China Sea. With China ...

The Foreign Affairs Ministry yesterday said Asean would not postpone its plans to approve a controversial human rights declaration for the region by November, and would publicize only “key provisions” of the draft beforehand. Disappointed by the lack of openness and concerned that the declaration will ...

Authorities in Daun Penh district rounded up more than 80 homeless people, drug users and prostitutes ahead of this week’s high-level meetings for Asean and regional delegates in Phnom Penh, a district official said yesterday. District governor Sok Sambath said that the 82 people rounded up ...

Despite renewed criticism from civil society and a call for its drafting to be postponed, finalisation of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) was well under way, officials said yesterday at the beginning of a week of ASEAN meetings. Speaking to reporters after a meeting between ...

The United States has expressed its commitment to the success of next week’s 19th ASEAN Regional Forum, which will be held in Phnom Penh, while British Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne said on the same day that the United Kingdom plans to strengthen its relationship ...

A dispute over territory in the South China Sea is once again set to hang over talks when China and the U.S. join in on a week of high-level Asean meetings that start in Phnom Penh on Friday. So far, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has ...

Cambodia’s tourism minister Thong Khon said this week that ASEAN is protected to gain around 107 million international tourists in 2015 as the bloc will create the community that year. Speaking at closing ceremony of the 10th Tour Guide Training and the Opening of 11th Tour Guide Training for Phnom Penh city at ...

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 ...

U.S. Ambassador to Asean David Carden met with judges and Justice Ministry representatives from all 10 Asean countries in Phnom Penh yesterday to discuss the importance of fighting against corruption and upholding the rule of law for foreign investors. “Cambodia will prosper if outside investment comes ...

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that she will take part in next month’s meeting of Southeast Asian nations and regional powers in Cambodia.

Clinton met in Washington with Cambodia’s foreign minister, Hor Namhong, as the developing nation prepares to host this year’s ...

More than 70 judges and judicial officials from ASEAN member states attended a US-supported ASEAN workshop in Phnom Penh yesterday to discuss legal and judicial cooperation, the protection of investors and the state of the rule of law in the region.   ...

Police in Phnom Penh yesterday afternoon began rounding up homeless people as part of the city’s preparations for next month’s Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting, officials said. “We collect them because we don’t want them to affect foreign tourists as we prepare for the arrival of the ...

The Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (CGIF), an agency set up by Asean+3 and the Asian Development Bank to help develop local-currency bond and cross-border bond markets in the region, has started to operate, says chief executive Kiyoshi Nishimura. He said the CGIF will fill in ...

The new function building at Diamond Island known as Koh Pich City Hall will host the ASEAN Foreign Minister’s dinner on July 12. Completed in March and opened last month, construction of the lavishly furnished venue was timed to coincide with Cambodia’s chairmanship of ASEAN this ...

The planned theme of yesterday’s ASEAN defence ministers roundtable was military cooperation between countries, particularly in times of natural disaster, but it was a theme invariably pushed to the background by other regional developments. Among them was what appeared to be a cooling-off period in the ...

As the region’s top brass gathered in Phnom Penh for the Sixth Asean Defense Ministers Meeting, it was Beijing that once again stole the show with Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie signing off on nearly $19 million in military aid to Cambodia. In the country on ...

Cambodia’s rice exports in 2012 may fall significantly compared to last year, due to high fuel prices, soaring logistics costs and high prices. According to local sources, Cambodian rice shipments to Europe this month are at a $200 markup per container over those from Thailand and ...

Transparency and consultation with civil society will give the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration the status and respect it needs to make a difference in the region, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Friday. The AHRD will be presented to foreign ministers in ...

Cambodia needs to improve the skills of its workforce if it is to compete and benefit from Asean’s plan for greater integration and the free flow of skilled labor within the region by 2015, Minister of Labor Vong Sauth said on Friday at the Asean ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday repeated a call for Asean countries to put a stop to the exploitation of migrant workers and urged the acceleration of efforts to provide protection for such workers. At the Asean Summit last month, Mr. Hun Sen said that protecting the ...

The ASEAN Infrastructure Fund, the largest pooling of financial resources among Southeast Asia’s 10-member bloc, held its first board meeting in Manila last week, but the extent to which Cambodia will borrow from the non-concessional fund has yet to be determined, experts said. ASEAN countries and ...

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, ...

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 ...