Office of the Council of Ministers

Cambodia’s Cabinet has not held its constitutionally mandated weekly meeting since June 16, fueling speculation about Prime Minister Hun Sen’s health and confusion over why officials have forgone the meetings. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday announced that the government has plans to have a functioning social security system operational in the country by 2025, including universal health care, unemployment insurance and old-aged pensions. ...

Fifteen people from Siem Reap yesterday delivered a petition to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet claiming they were left out of a recent land-titling drive in their village, though local authorities said the group had only settled in the area once the titling began. ...

Khoung Sreng was sworn in as the new governor of Phnom Penh yesterday, wasting little time before sending a warning that he will act against “ill-intentioned” people in the city, with Interior Minister Sar Kheng pledging at the event that recent commune election successes of ...

Several subordinates of a senior minister within the office of the prime minister registered and rubber-stamped a gargantuan $23.2 billion investment project chaired by the minister’s wife, while officials in the know say the project stands little chance of getting off the ground. ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance finished month-long consultations with key ministries on Thursday in preparation for the drafting of Cambodia’s budget for 2017. ...

Illegal strikes, the minimum wage and high electricity costs were the subjects discussed during the 13th annual meeting between Cambodia and Japan last week, according to the Council for Development of Cambodia (CDC). ...

The Cambodian government on Friday approved a new regulation that will impose fines for public smoking. ...

A 10th century stone carving of the Hindu deity Rama, the last remaining statue from the Koh Ker temple complex that had been on public display outside Cambodia, was returned to Phnom Penh last week, officials confirmed on Sunday.   ...

Government spending on social welfare and economic development could both see double-digit growth next year, according to a document summarizing expenditures in next year’s budget that will be discussed at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Hun Sen today. ...

The Russian Federation is seeking more cooperation with Cambodia in the fields of investment, information exchange, and heritage preservation. ...

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan expressed support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Cambodia yesterday, responding to Nepal’s new constitution – which has been described as the first in Asia to enshrine protection for the rights of LGBT people. ...

The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a plan to increase the amount of borrowing from foreign countries by as much as 33 percent over the next three years, in a bid to counter a decrease in grants and concessional loans. ...

Officials from the Council of Ministers and the Justice Ministry will meet today to discuss the arrest of former opposition Senator Hong Sok Hour. ...

A delegation of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong led by its president Richard R. Vuylsteke has been on a visit to Cambodia to study the investment environment in the country, according to state news agency- AKP.​​ ...

Authorities in Svay Rieng province have slammed the minister in charge of negotiating border issues with Vietnam, saying he has not kept the military and governor’s office in the loop regarding the ongoing dispute with Cambodia’s neighbour. ...

Cambodia National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy told representatives of NGOs today that lawmakers from his party will vote against the controversial draft law on associations and NGOs if it is not amended. ...

Ten jailed members of the Khmer National Liberation Front (KNLF), an advocacy group that vocally opposes the ruling CPP, were questioned at the Court of Appeal in Phnom Penh on Tuesday over their bid to secure bail. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday personally backed the review of government contracts with private waste removal companies, two weeks after the Council of Ministers signed an order indicating they will review the capital’s contract with garbage collector Cintri. ...

Despite outcry from medical students, the government is refusing to reduce the latest in a string of proposed fee hikes, this one nearly doubling the charge for the University of Health Science’s exit exam. In a letter sent to the university’s rector on Friday, the ...

Cambodia’s local authorities will receive a pay bump of up to 60 per cent starting this month, the government revealed yesterday. A commune chief will now get 400,000 riel (about $100) per month, up from 300,000 riel ($75); first and second deputy commune chiefs will get ...

The Council of Ministers’ Press and Quick Reaction Unit has created a “Cyber War Team” to monitor and collect information from Facebook and other websites in order to “protect the government’s stance and prestige,” according to a proclamation published in the Royal Gazette. The document, signed ...

A parliamentary commission leader wants Cambodia’s tourism ministry to manage revenue generated by the country’s iconic Angkor Wat temple complex, amid concerns that the government is losing money by retaining a private company to oversee ticket sales. A quasi-government group, Apsara Authority, which is responsible ...

With the release of the government’s 2015 draft national budget Thursday, the opposition CNRP, whose 55 lawmakers joined the National Assembly in August, called Cambodia’s budget-drafting process “disgusting and unbelievable” on Friday. The draft 2015 budget calls for $400 million—or about 10.6 percent—more than 2014. ...