National government

Kampong Speu palm sugar is expected to receive its geographical indication (GI) status certification from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development by the end of this year, according to an official from the Kampong Speu Palm Sugar Promotion Association (KSPSPA). Mr. Sok Sarang, ...

Ten migrant workers, including four women, were repatriated to Cambodia this week after being arrested and imprisoned in Malaysia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. They join six others who were also repatriated from a Malaysian prison earlier this month. The ministry issued a statement ...

Cambodian athletes are being screened for Zika after returning from the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and health officials will monitor their health for two weeks in order to minimise any possible transmission, an official with the Ministry of Health said yesterday. ...

A domestic violence law long criticized by human rights and gender advocacy NGOs for inadequately protecting abuse victims is being reviewed by the government in a renewed effort to reduce violence against women. ...

Since the start of the year, department authorities at the Ministry of Interior have arrested more than 10,000 illegal workers, with the bulk of them being construction workers. However, industry experts and investors are split on the opinions that the arrest will impinge on the ...

Tourism Ministry officials held a meeting yesterday to discuss a project to develop a tourist port in Kampot province and a planned drainage system for Kep’s Crab Market – two tourism infrastructure projects backed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). ...

The government will meet this month to begin addressing concerns that the lack of regulation for the surrogacy trade could lead to a proliferation of brokers working in Cambodia and foreign couples traveling to the country to take advantage of their services. The Ministry of ...

Zaman school officials and parents yesterday urged the Cambodian government not to shutter the schools as the Turkish Ambassador to Cambodia Ilhan Tug has requested, saying students will ultimately suffer. The Turkish Embassy has repeatedly called for the schools’ closure in recent weeks, citing their links ...

Almost 80 people representing 305 families involved in land disputes in Phnom Penh and Takeo provinces yesterday gathered at the Ministry of Land Management to ask the ministry to expedite the resolution of their disputes and provide them with legal land titles. A group of 50 ...

The number of Cambodian women now thought to be caught in Saudi Arabia’s sex industry after being trafficked in the past year has risen to more than 20, officials said on Wednesday. However, the government remained tight-lipped about its efforts to rescue the women, while two ...

An NGO operating in the Pursat section of the protected Cardamom Mountains uncovered 50 cubic metres of luxury timber yesterday. Chea Hean, director of the Natural Resource and Wildlife Preservation Organisation, said he and four colleagues uncovered the illicit stash as part of an ongoing investigation, ...

Following an unusually high number of drownings in coastal areas in the past month, the Ministry of Tourism has instructed the tourism departments in coastal provinces to continue to collaborate with relevant authorities to ensure safety, public order and cleanliness. A statement released by Minister of ...

The 42nd Asean Council on Petroleum members’ meeting will be held in Siem Reap next month, a senior government official told Khmer Times. The meeting, which will include representatives from the national petroleum companies of the nine other Asean members, plus Cambodia’s Ministry of Mines and ...

The government said this week it wanted to increase by at least 30 percent the number of forest rangers working next year in Cambodia’s wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and other protected areas to guard against encroaching logging, poaching and farming. ...

Current assets in Cambodia’s banking and financial institutions had risen to 25.6 billion U.S. dollars by June 2016, an increase of 21.3 percent in the last 12 months, according to the biannual report of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), or the central bank, on ...

As the third year of strictly regulated national high school exams drew to a close on Tuesday, the Ministry of Education brushed off evidence of widespread attempts at cheating and declared the event a success. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has decided to cut land from an economic land concession (ELC) and a rubber plantation to grant land titles to more than 1,000 villagers in Tbong Khmum province’s Memot district, according to the Land Management Ministry. ...

Representatives of Cambodia’s rice sector and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) met yesterday with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to discuss the implementation of a five-year program to promote the Kingdom’s agricultural products. ...

With the deadline for a second review by a global task force of the government’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing fast approaching, the Kingdom’s central bank yesterday conducted a workshop with banks, financial institutions and state agencies to flesh out a strategy ...

Land Management Minister Chea Sophara met with US Ambassador William Heidt on Monday evening to discuss the progress of recently established land dispute working groups and to request funding for an initiative to incentivise the resolution of such disputes. A ministry press release said Sophara ...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Monday that it was reviewing a diplomatic request from Turkey to close Zaman-operated schools in Phnom Penh because of their alleged ties to an organization being blamed for last month’s failed coup in the country. ...

Billed as a Cambodian first, the invitation of 500 civil society and community representatives to a forum on environmental issues with Prime Minister Hun Sen proved largely a platform for the premier to hold forth on policy and politics, with many observers bemoaning the sidelining ...

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron applauded the vast majority of Grade-12 students for obeying the strict no-cheating rules he introduced three years ago as nationwide testing kicked off yesterday with relatively few hiccups. ...

Announcing that more than 160,000 immigrants are living in Cambodia without proper documentation, the Interior Ministry on Friday said it would give the majority of the group an opportunity to stay in the country, while the opposition pushed for a blanket deportation. ...