International relations

Some of the hundreds of families losing land and community forest to Vietnamese-owned rubber plantations in Cambodia’s northeast will this week file a complaint with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) over the investment it has made in the plantations’ parent company. Eang Vuthy, executive director of ...

Newly approved plans by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to fix mistakes it made on a $143 million railway project appear to water down recommendations proposed by the Bank’s own review panel, and could impose the costs of the plan on the very families who ...

The Cambodian and Lao governments pushed for the conclusion of demarcation between the two countries as soon as possible, according to a senior Cambodian government official. The decision was made during a visit of Prime Minister Hun Sen earlier this week, said KOA Kimhourn, Minister attached ...

The Lower Russei Chrum River hydroelectric dam, which is the Cambodia’s largest hydropower plant, has begun testing operation after it has been constructed for three and a half years, a company’s official said on Saturday. The 338-megawatt hydropower dam, situated in the jungle in Mondol Sima ...

Police arrested 11 Cambodian people while they were trying to illegally cross the border to work in Thailand. Thousands of Cambodian people reportedly crossed the border illegally to find jobs and cut down trees in Thailand every year, prompting the Thai soldiers to open fire ...

China on Friday delivered 26 military trucks and 30,000 sets of military uniforms to Cambodia in order to help relieve the difficulties of the Cambodian army. At a handover ceremony held at the Trucking Battalion No. 99 on the outskirts of the capital Phnom Penh, Chinese ...

The Ministry of Defence will dispatch more than 300 members of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) to Mali as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission, a senior government official said yesterday. ...

Richard Rogers, the lawyer retained by the opposition CNRP to potentially submit a case against Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government with the International Criminal Court at The Hague, said Thursday that letters were hand-delivered to two military police chiefs requesting information about the fatal shooting ...

On the second day of Phnom Penh’s monthlong public bus experiment, there was a visible uptick in passengers Thursday traveling the single route along Monivong Boulevard. About a dozen passengers interviewed, who included civil servants, NGO staff and a large number of uniformed students, were ...

Maina Kiai, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on the freedom of assembly and association, met with a Foreign Affairs Ministry official Thursday and raised concerns about the government’s blanket ban on gatherings in Phnom Penh. His visit wraps up today, and a thematic report he will issue ...

Scot Marciel, visiting Principal Deputy Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs met with Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cambodia yesterday with an aim to further strengthen relations between the two countries, Koy Kuong, ...

Trade between Cambodia and neighboring Thailand reached 4.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2013, up 12 percent from 4 billion U.S. dollars a year earlier, Cambodian Minister of Commerce Sun Chanthol said Thursday. Of the amount, Cambodia’s export to Thailand was equivalent to 351 million U.S. dollars, ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen left on Thursday for two-day visit to Laos. The delegation accompanying Hun Sen included Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Cabinet Minister Sok An and other members of the Royal Government. A number of agreements will be signed during his visit. The Ministry of Foreign ...

Representatives of nine unions met together have made seven resolutions to seek better conditions and wages for workers in Cambodia’s factories. The unions are calling for the release of those workers, the restart of wage negotiations and the “unmasking” of police personnel who did the ...

The director of a CPP senator’s sugar plantation accused of stealing land from hundreds of families said Wednesday that most locals were happy with the new jobs the plantation has generated, a week after a visiting European Union parliamentarian renewed calls for an investigation of ...

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said Wednesday that a senior U.S. diplomat had congratulated the government for its patience in dealing with recent protests, which were brought to a bloody end early last month when military police opened fire, killing five and wounding more ...

The U.N. special rapporteur on the freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Maina Kiai, began a three-day unofficial visit to Cambodia on Wednesday, just one month after military police shot dead five protesters in Phnom Penh and the government imposed a ban on public gatherings. Mr. ...

A U.N. rights envoy suggested Thursday that Cambodia lift a ban on public gatherings in the capital imposed amid a violent crackdown on demonstrators a month ago. Maina Kiai, the U.N.’s global Special Rapporteur for freedom of peaceful assembly and association, made the suggestion to Foreign ...

Khmer Krom people fleeing persecution in Vietnam and denied refuge in Thailand are being sent to Cambodia, where the government does not ensure that their rights are protected, the Minority Rights Organization (MIRO) has said in a new report. The report—“Abandoned People Khmer Krom Seeking Refuge ...

Cambodia’s strong economic growth and foreign investment are subject to “considerable” downside risks, the International Monetary Fund has warned. A staff report released in Washington late Tuesday said “economic activity remains strong driven by robust exports, with garment exports helped by preferential access to European Union.” At ...

The Cambodian government recently awarded the operator of its three international airports more than $100 million for upgrades in an effort to accommodate strong passenger growth driven by the country’s nascent tourism industry. Cambodia Airports—the subsidiary of Italian firm Vinci, which serves as the concession ...

Compared to the bustling tourist center of Siem Reap, Phnom Penh has long stood in second place as an investment destination for international hotel operations. But as infrastructure slowly improves and the number of visitors to the capital continues to grow, international hotel chains are taking ...

U.S. Ambassador William Todd on Tuesday used his weekly newspaper column to urge Cambodia’s government to immediately conduct reforms that would even the country’s economic playing field, curb corruption, restore democratic freedoms and generally address the concerns of citizens who want change. “Corruption and nepotism contribute ...

Hundreds of Cambodian-Americans rallied at UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday, demanding the release of 23 labor activists still being held following deadly protest crackdowns last month. Protesters also called for a recall election, following July’s polls that opposition leaders say were marred by fraud. ...