International relations

Cambodia’s long-awaited resumption of international adoptions will soon take another tenuous step forward with a US State Department program that will see local adoption officials flown to the United States for training. The initiative, pegged an “informational visitor’s program”, follows on the heels of a January ...

Last year, the United Nations called for culture to be given top priority in the post-2015 global development agenda, citing its importance to economic growth, social inclusion, equality, and sustainable development. It is difficult to quantify the impact culture has on a nation, particularly for a developing ...

Cambodia’s Defence Minister Tea Banh insists neither Cambodian armed men nor soldiers had entered Thailand to carry out violence in Thailand during the political crisis. Defence Ministry spokesman Phapathip Sawangsaeng yesterday said Gen Tea Banh made his remark during a meeting with caretaker Defence Minister Yuthasak ...

The Government of Cambodia is making efforts at minimum wage reform, and it has set up a committee to study the minimum wage at garment manufacturing units as a way of continually working to increase it, Labour Minister Ith Sam Heng while unveiling the Ministry’s ...

The Festivals of India including a photo show and dance performances will be held in Cambodia’s Phnom Penh and Siem Reap cities from Feb. 13 to Feb. 19, according to a media statement from the Indian Embassy in Cambodia on Wednesday. Speaking at a press ...

Anguished cries from supporters and family members echoed outside the Appeals Court in Phnom Penh yesterday as they received the news bail had been denied. They had been hoping for the release of 21 people detained since a brutal government crackdown in early January. On ...

The government on Monday agreed to a comprehensive solution for rural families who have lost their land to well-connected agricultural plantations exporting sugar to the European Union (E.U.) duty free and will meet again early next month to discuss details. The decision was made at a ...

Technical groups of Cambodia and Vietnam vowed to conclude the border demarcation between the two neighboring countries as soon as possible.   Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said that Cambodia and Vietnam have already plant the border posts along ...

Cambodia and Vietnam vowed on Tuesday to further strengthen and expand friendship and cooperation for the benefits of the two countries and peoples. Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the two ministers agreed to increase cooperation in economics, trade, investment, ...

Prak Sovannary tries to put on a brave face. She has just heard that two of 23 men arrested during a violent crackdown on garment worker protests in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last month have unexpectedly been released on bail.Her husband, Vorn Pao, a prominent activist and union leader, is not ...

Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh has categorically denied a report that Cambodian troops have been sent into Thailand to stir trouble in areas where the People’s Democratic Reform Committee is staging anti-government protests. Defence spokesman Col Paphathip Sawangsaeng said Gen Tea Banh made the denial to ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday was optimistic about the country’s steadily growing trade with Vietnam and foresaw that the bilateral trade volume would definitely reach $5 billion by 2015. The two-way trade volume was valued at $3.5 billion last year, up 25 percent year-on-year. Speaking ...

Ministry of Commerce appealed to the Cambodian traders to join the upcoming Macau International Exhibition to promote their products and find business partners. The appeal was made following the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), which announced that it would hold 2014 Macau International Environmental ...

US President Barack Obama’s Southeast Asia-only trip in 2012 marked a high point in the US prioritization of the region. But there has been a drop in the presence of high-level US diplomats since then, and in his recent State of the Union speech, Obama ...

UN Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai has asked the government of Cambodia to lift a ban on public gathering that has been in force for a month. A statement also said Kiai met and raised the issue of the blanket protest ban with Secretary of State for ...

More than a dozen ethnic minority communities from Cambodia’s northeast filed a complaint with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Monday, accusing it of breaking its own safeguard policies by investing in rubber plantations they say are stealing their land and illegally logging their forests. The ...

Sixteen unions threatened Monday to organize a nationwide strike if the 21 activists and protesters jailed following garment industry protests on January 2 and 3 are not released on bail Tuesday. The unions also called for charges against the 21 prisoners, 16 of whom began a ...

A Victorian MP born in Cambodia says Australia should put pressure on the country of his birth over a crackdown on protesting garment workers which left five people dead. Hong Lim, the Member for Clayton, says he was in Cambodia earlier this month, when five protesting ...

Dozens of protesters called Monday for the release of Cambodian activists arrested during a bloody crackdown last month, as a prison official said several of the detainees were on hunger strike. The brief rally was held outside the Ministry of Justice and the Appeals Court to ...

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday accused certain groups of trying to hold the nation “hostage,” saying his government was functioning normally despite opposition calls for him to resign and hold fresh elections following disputed polls. His administration has also drawn criticism over its heavy ...

The British Embassy in Phnom Penh on Monday sponsored a training course on company and insolvency law for 150 commercial judge trainees with the aim of supporting legal and judicial reform in Cambodia. The workshop is intended to train Cambodian commercial judge trainees on English ...

The progress in the project to build the Belarus tractor assembly plant in Cambodia was discussed in a meeting between Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Igor Petrishenko and Ambassador of the Kingdom of Cambodia to Russia Thay Vanna, BelTA learnt from the press service of the ...

The Japanese and U.S. governments are set to launch a joint project to help empower women in developing countries in Asia, including Cambodia and Myanmar, as well as Africa, officials of both governments said Saturday. The two governments came up with the project as both Prime ...

The U.N.’s special rapporteur on freedom of assembly and association, Maina Kiai, on Friday wrapped up a three-day unofficial visit to Cambodia by paying a visit to the Boeng Kak community, the site of the country’s longest-running land dispute. Inside the home of high-profile Boeng ...