National government

Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism says the country’s tourism sector is growing at an unsustainable rate that will cause a massive shortfall in skilled tourism-related labour. The ministry’s statistics department director, Kong Sopheareak, told local media that as tourist arrivals increase substantially every year, the challenge is ...

A group of 20 ethnic minority Chong villagers in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley blocked the road Friday to prevent a group of Chinese engineers from reaching the site of a controversial proposed dam. A number of Chong villagers have been intermittently camping near the road ...

A grenade was thrown into the home of Kompong Thom Provincial Court deputy prosecutor Say Nora on Saturday night but the official escaped injury as he was not at home when the device exploded, police said. Provincial police chief Phan Sopheng said the attack was an ...

Three constitutionally mandated judicial laws would adversely affect the independence of the courts if they are passed in their current draft state, legal experts warned on Friday. Draft versions of the Law on the Organization and Functioning of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy, the Law ...

Inspired by Australian mining regulations, the Cambodian government is considering a raft of changes to the mineral resources mining law, including a rethink of the sector’s comparatively high tax rate. Citing discussions held with Western Australia state mining industry representatives last week, Meng Saktheara, secretary of ...

After a three-year moratorium on sending maids overseas—sparked by a spate of serious abuses by recruiters and employers—momentum is building to once again send hundreds of thousands of Cambodian women to work overseas as domestic servants. Since Prime Minister Hun Sen shut down the industry in ...

The head of a construction company working to upgrade Phnom Penh’s dusty, potholed Veng Sreng Street said Thursday that the project would take twice as long to complete as expected. In November, Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong announced that a 6.5 km strip of the road—which ...

Six months after the government announced that bank accounts for all civil servants would put an end to late salaries and rampant graft, secondary school teachers in Prey Veng say they are owed long overdue payments. In addition to their regular salary, which they already received, ...

A decision to extend the validity of Cambodian passports from three to 10 years should encourage more Cambodians to travel, claims the Ministry of Interior. The ministry’s General Directorate of Identification head, General Mao Chandara, was quoted by local media as saying, the department would begin ...

The Cambodian government said Thursday it will not allow Vietnamese living in the country to protest Chinese incursions in the South China Sea. Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said Cambodia does not allow any foreigners to protest other nationalities. The spokesman made the statement ...

Almost 850 demonstrations or strikes have occurred nationwide since the year began – a seemingly anarchic average of more than six a day, the General Commissariat of National Police announced this week, blaming politicians, NGOs and trade unions for helping to incite demonstrators and “complicating ...

A special committee set up in March to settle a long-running land dispute between 52 families in Kompong Chhnang province and the wife of Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem has finished its work, leaving 17 families without a deal. Deputy provincial governor Dork Sothea, who ...

The Interior Ministry is seeking 478 students to work in prisons and offices across the country, according to an announcement posted online Monday. The ministry’s message, posted to the website of the National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development, calls for 80 candidates to work as prison ...

A technical error caused 57 teachers in Oddar Meanchey province to be shortchanged when collecting overtime salaries, said an education official who promised the problem will be rectified by the end of May. A teachers’ union on Monday asked the Ministry of Education to address some ...

A mining delegation from Cambodia has left for a fact-finding tour of Australia in a bid to glean knowledge from one of the world’s largest minerals exploration countries. The trip is being coordinated by the International Mining for Development Centre of the Western Australia state government. The ...

Driven by a slowly recovering American economy, Cambodian exports to the US increased 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the same period last year, according to the latest US government data. Cambodian exports from January to March totalled $771 million, up ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen will lead Cambodian delegation to attend the 4th Summit of Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CIAC) in China next week, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The delegation companying Hun Sen will ...

Vietnamese Defense Minister Phung Quang Thanh says Vietnam is willing to co-operate with Cambodia in terrorism prevention through exchanges and joint drills, Nhan Dan reported Wednesday. The official organ of the Communist Party of Vietnam said the offer was made at a reception in Hanoi Tuesday ...

Approximately 50,000 people are facing high risks of HIV/AIDS infections in Cambodia, a health official said Wednesday. Dr. Mean Chhi Vun, director of Cambodia’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STDs, said the high-risk groups of HIV/ AIDS infections are among female entertainment workers, drug users, ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance on Monday announced the release of standardised bidding forms for public contracts, a measure it said would increase transparency and accountability, though the opposition and Transparency International Cambodia offered more cautious assessments yesterday. According to a state media announcement, the ...

A teachers’ union has accused education officials in Oddar Meanchey province’s Anlong Veng district of stealing 21 million riel, or about $5,200, that had been slated as overtime payments for primary school teachers. In a letter sent to the Education Ministry on Monday, the Cambodia Independent ...

Dengue fever deaths and infections have fallen dramatically during the first two-and-a-half months of this year compared to the same period in 2013, according to the government’s latest figures. Nhan Chantha, head of the Health Ministry’s national dengue control program, said his staff recorded one death ...

Minister of Defence Tea Banh yesterday denied allegations that Cambodia supported Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Local media reported yesterday that during a meeting with the defence minister on Monday, Russian Ambassador Dmitry Tsvetkov thanked the Kingdom for supporting Moscow in the recent secession crisis in Ukraine ...

Cambodia is nearing a deal that would open a pipeline of workers to Saudi Arabia, a country where Southeast Asian migrants have in the past been abused and even executed for crimes that include “sorcery”. Following a meeting in Hanoi last week with Saudi Ambassador Salah ...