Ministries and other national bodies

Officials have started to assess properties in Oddar Meanchey that will be flooded by an under construction dam, though the affected villagers remain in the dark about possible compensation. ...

Ten former Borei Keila residents who were relocated to a site in Kandal province’s Ponhea Leu district known as Phnom Bat filed a petition with the Ministry of Land Management yesterday requesting they either be given $5,000 and moved back to Phnom Penh or be ...

While skyscrapers are ceaselessly filling up Phnom Penh’s skyline, many construction and property experts, as well as ordinary citizens, are questioning whether the government’s measures to ensure safety in high buildings within the capital go far enough.   ...

Seven years after Cambodia put a stop to its own international adoption programs, the Catalan regional government in Spain signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Social Affairs on Tuesday that will allow its residents to adopt Cambodian children.   ...

The fifth annual CAMFOOD and CAMHOTEL expo is scheduled for October 22 and will mostly feature foreign companies, giving local companies the opportunity to learn from foreign business practices as well as showcase their own products, industry leaders announced yesterday.   ...

One in every four children in Cambodia under the age of 5 has not had their birth registered, but a new program aims to tackle the problem at the commune level using mobile phone technology, according to UNICEF. ...

Yong Sheng Global Trading, a subsidiary within the Royal Group conglomerate, signed an exclusive partnership agreement with Posco SS-Vina, a Vietnamese-based steel company, for exclusive distribution rights of construction materials on Tuesday. ...

An unlicensed medic was arrested in Tbong Khmum province on Monday after administering three injections to a patient who then died en route to a nearby clinic, a police official said on Tuesday. ...

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) received a grant totaling $8 million from the South Korean government, through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to modernize its national retail payment system as the Kingdom gets ready to trade in the Asean Economic Community. ...

The Ministry of Labor has instructed employers and unions in the country’s crucial garment sector to begin preparations for the next round of minimum wage negotiations. ...

Trying to stay in sync with Cambodia’s rapid information and communication technology (ICT) growth, the Kingdom’s ICT Federation has been overhauled and is now fully chaired by industry insiders. ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance has announced the date of the auction for timber confiscated from logging companies by the National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) earlier this year, inadvertently releasing the official names of seven previously unknown companies caught housing illegally logged wood. ...

Cambodia’s minister of social affairs on Sunday departed for a visit to Spain, which will be followed by a trip to Malta, to discuss and sign adoption agreements with both countries, according to a statement released Sunday. ...

The Cambodian Federation of Employers and Business Associations (CAMFEBA) yesterday launched an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) guidebook aimed at providing employers with practical recommendations to help businesses better understand the dynamic regional changes of integration. ...

More than 400 people in Prey Veng’s Peamro district came down with cold and flu-like symptoms on Saturday, prompting the Ministry of Health to launch an investigation into the cause of the sickness. ...

An environmental group has been accused of complicity in the decline of the critically endangered Siamese crocodile in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley, mainly due to traps that are believed to have killed the last breeding-age female in the area. ...

Nearly four months after the Ministry of Commerce implemented a fuel-pricing mechanism that lowered prices at the pump to reflect the fall in the global commodity last March, petrol prices have inched back up to pre-intervention levels. ...

All of the Kingdom’s longstanding land disputes will be resolved with the help of 27 newly-created teams, Minister of Land Management Chea Sophara said last week. ...

Environment Minister Say Samal claims Cambodia has put an end to illegal logging and timber exports to Vietnam, despite reports of continued, and even rising, levels of forest clearing and timber being transported to the Kingdom’s neighbor. ...

Just ten years ago, Cambodians relied on dingy, storefront Internet businesses if they wanted to get online. Computers were old, power cuts were frequent, and overhead fans creaked along in a failing attempt to keep customers cool as they paid per minute to “surf” the ...

Grow Asia, which formally launched a partnership with Cambodia late last year, will reconvene on June 13 in Phnom Penh to kick-off working groups between the public and private sector, including NGOs, after targeting six crops for market potential. ...

A series of talks will be held next month to discuss the future of minimum wages in the footwear and garment industries, with their findings to be announced and enforced early next year, according to Ministry of Labor officials. ...

Banks and financial institutions are urged to provide more support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially those owned by women, as access to capital remains a major obstacle for their growth. ...

The Ministry of Education has proposed the creation of three new departments, including one for special education, a move applauded by NGOs yesterday, though some questioned whether enough funding would be available.   ...