National government

Despite opposition party hopes to the contrary, the Ministry of Justice yesterday rejected the idea that it could intervene in the court system to release Meach Sovannara, a Cambodia National Rescue Party official jailed last week. According to ministry spokesman Kem Santepheap, a letter from CNRP ...

Officials at the World Bank, which in 2011 froze new loans to Cambodia amid a furore surrounding the Boeung Kak lake evictions, have approved preliminary proposals to issue funding for a project that could see families forcibly removed in Kampong Thom province. Under the World Bank’s ...

Japanese government granted US$ 2.1 million in grand aid on Monday for road improvement project in Cambodia. The grand aid agreement was signed by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Japanese Ambassador to Cambodia, Yuji Kumamaru, for the implementation of the project ...

King Norodom Sihamoni officially appointed new members to the judicial body that oversees the Kingdom’s judges and prosecutors last week, following the passing of a controversial law earlier this year outlining its organisation and functioning. According to a Royal Decree that was signed Thursday by the ...

After meeting with members, several labour union leaders yesterday said that they will not hold protests against the government-set garment industry minimum wage for 2015. Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng last week approved $128 as 2015’s minimum monthly wage in Cambodia’s garment sector. The increase, ...

Four Ministers have been summoned to answer orally to members of the National Assembly’s third and seventh commissions this month over their position fulfillment. ...

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Kheng received a letter from Sam Rainsy who called for the release of Meach Sovannara, head of CNRP’s information and media department, and will send the letter to the Ministry of Justice, a senior official said Friday. ...

Cambodia and southwestern China’s Chongqing city on Friday jointly organized a conference on trade and investment, aiming at further enhancing bilateral ties and cooperation, officials said. The half-day event was attended by some 20 Chinese company representatives from Chongqing city and around 80 Cambodian commerce officials ...

Figures from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction show that more than $2 billion worth of Cambodian construction projects have been given the green light so far this year. ...

The newly established National Commercial Arbitration Center (NCAC) may have been set up to al­low businesses to settle disputes outside the court system, but it still needs support from judges and court officials to do its work effectively, its president said on Friday. Speaking at ...

When Hay Bunny left her home in Prey Veng province some five years ago to find a job in Phnom Penh, she was not expecting to wind up living in a small tin shack hemmed in by dozens of nearly identical dwellings on a single ...

Cambodia and Malaysia expect to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) by the end of the year that would reopen the pipeline of local maids being sent to work there, officials said on the sidelines of a final round of discussions yesterday between the countries. ...

Germany’s ambassador to Cambodia, Joachim Baron von Marschall, yesterday cautioned against too much optimism in the land sector in the face of ongoing disputes and forced evictions. The ambassador made the comments at a workshop on sustainable land policy in the capital, where speakers from ...

Cambodia on Wednesday increased the monthly minimum wage for garment workers by 28% to $128, falling short of union workers’ demands and creating the potential for further strikes in the country. Ath Thun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union, said the ...

Cambodia on Wednesday decided to increase the monthly minimum wage in the garment sector to 123 U.S. dollars, up 23 percent from the current 100 U.S. dollars, Labor Minister Ith Samheng said. ...

Cambodia on Wednesday raised the controversial monthly minimum wage for garment workers by 28 percent, a decision likely to infuriate unions seeking a higher increase and revive calls for strike action. Sixteen members of the Labour Ministry’s Labour Advisory Committee voted for the government-proposed minimum ...

Independent labour unions will take part in the Ministry of Labour’s Labour Advisory Committee (LAC) meeting today, possibly making their decision on next year’s minimum wage in Cambodia’s garment sector. NIFTUC and the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) considered boycotting the LAC ...

Cambodia’s international donors met Tuesday to decide whether they will comply with the government’s recent move to increase the per diem that civil servants receive for attending work-related, out-of-office events. In July, Prime Minister Hun Sen signed off on a sub-decree raising the Daily Subsistence Allowance ...

The National Assembly’s banking and finance commission met Monday to discuss the proposed $3.8-billion budget for 2015, with lawmakers from both parliamentary parties agreeing that more specific details are needed before they can evaluate the plan, according to the commission’s deputy chairman, Son Chhay. Mr. Chhay, ...

Opposition CNRP lawmaker Pol Ham on Monday said he will visit the site of a proposed hydropower dam in Koh Kong province on Monday with colleagues from his parliamentary commission before they quiz government officials about the controversial project later this month. If built, the 108-megawatt ...

Cambodia is quickly becoming a hub for Japanese exports, according to the latest figures from the Japan External Trade Agency, JETRO. The state-run agency’s latest trade figures show Cambodia exported more than $584 million worth of locally made products to Japan over the first nine months ...

The proposed 2015 education budget is inching upwards from last year’s funding, however it still falls short of internationally recommended minimums. Education is slated to take up a $396 million chunk of the $3.75 billion draft budget, which has yet to be approved by the National ...

The National Assembly’s mixed-party commission on finance will meet Monday to begin discussing the 2015 draft budget, its deputy chairman said Sunday. CNRP chief whip Son Chhay said the CPP-chaired committee would meet this morning to discuss the $3.8 billion budget and plan a meeting with ...

The Ministry of Information yesterday announced a three-year public consultation period on a new access to information draft law that has been in the works since 2007. But freedom of information advocates greeted the news with scepticism, citing a lack of representation from civil society on ...