Ministries and other national bodies

The Commerce Ministry has created a special taskforce to study challenges threatening the sustainability of the nation’s rice industry and will report its findings within two weeks, a ministry official said yesterday. ...

The Immigration Department warned Interior Ministry officials on Wednesday not to issue Cambodian citizenship documents, such as birth certificates and ID cards, to foreigners living in the Kingdom. ...

When Chheung Rattana was married a few years ago, the only thing she and her new husband inherited from their families was a small plot of land to grow rice on. It was a tough start for the newlyweds, who decided that the only way ...

The Ministry of Public Works and Transport will allow motorists holding what were formerly permanent driver’s licences to extend them for 10 more years. ...

The Japanese Friendship Bridge in Phnom Penh is set to receive a $29.4 million renovation courtesy of the Japanese government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday. ...

Though the Kingdom’s total number of reported crimes was down in 2015, instances of robbery and armed robbery in some provinces noticeably increased, according to an annual National Police report. ...

The Cambodian embassy in Thailand has come to the aid of its citizens after authorities caught two Thai fishing boats over the past month carrying 15 Cambodian laborers that they believed to be trafficking victims, according to a Foreign Affairs Ministry statement yesterday. ...

The drop in the price of gasoline and diesel, following new pricing regulations introduced last week, has been especially cheered by people whose incomes are low. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a directive on Monday instructing officials returning from work overseas to hold on to their mission passports, directly contravening two recent Foreign Ministry announcements calling on officials to hand the passports over upon return in a bid to prevent their ...

The Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology issued a statement yesterday encouraging the Kingdom’s citizens to be cautious around lightning storms, which occur frequently between March and July. ...

Cambodia’s Immigration Police raided a Phnom Penh construction site yesterday, detaining 65 out of 109 Vietnamese laborers who were found to be working illegally in Niroth commune, Chbar Ampov district. ...

Tractor sales continued to grow last year, driven by a shortage of labour in the agricultural sector and farmer cooperatives increasingly pooling their resources to buy farm equipment to serve their members. ...

At least 700 applicants have signed up to join the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), with the successful recruits to be trained to operate new Chinese-built artillery, a senior military source said yesterday.   ...

The Kingdom exported 9,379.29 tons of sesame last year, according to a report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, with Vietnam buying the lion’s share. ...

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have been expanding their financial services to include the use of mobile phones, a move aimed at boosting services for people in rural areas who find it difficult or expensive to travel to offices in towns or villages. ...

The government announced a set of price caps on retail petroleum products yesterday based on the application of its new fuel-pricing mechanism. Sor Chandara ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen told a summit on micro-finance development yesterday that stricter rules needed to be applied to organizations and institutions lending money as many people were being cheated, embezzled and losing their collateral to unscrupulous lenders. ...

The Ministry of Interior on Friday threatened legal action against lawbreaking auto shops that work without a licence or illegally assemble vehicles from scrap parts. ...

A campaign will be launched country-wide to educate the public about how to properly use financial services, a forum on microfinance in Phnom Penh was told yesterday. ...

Cambodia’s health regulation system is in need of deep reform, not just minor adjustments, as it is failing to meet its national needs and ASEAN obligations, according to a new report. ...

Cambodian and Australian officials on Sunday denied claims made by a Rohingya refugee from Burma over the weekend that he was being poorly treated in Phnom Penh, with the Interior Ministry’s refugee director calling the man “a liar.” ...

Local rights groups have raised major concerns about Cambodia’s sweeping new Telecommunications Law, which gives the government virtually unchecked spying powers and criminalizes any electronic communication deemed to cause “national insecurity.” ...

More than 250 Preah Vihear families who have been living under the threat of eviction since 2010 are to be allowed to keep their homes, according to a letter from the Interior Ministry obtained yesterday. ...

Cambodia’s embassy in Thailand has denied allegations that officials from the embassy were extorting Cambodian employers and migrant workers in Thailand by demanding bribes for fake passports and pushing along applications to legalize a person’s working status. ...