Government

After claiming for weeks that a controversial party slogan was not actually official, the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party decided to remove the phrase from its official party platform yesterday in an attempt at “reconciliation”. ...

The government should increase the annual budget of communes by $100,000 to increase the quality of life for ordinary Cambodians, an analyst has told VOA Khmer. ...

Opposition lawmakers yesterday left a meeting at the Interior Ministry exasperated, as officials from the latter continued to deem the presidency of their leader, Kem Sokha, and the vice presidency of three senior lawmakers, illegitimate, but offered no clear path to a resolution. ...

About 30 cart pullers at the Poipet International Border Checkpoint staged an hour-long protest yesterday demanding that Thai customs officials remove transit fees that have been in effect for about one month.   ...

The portfolio of Deputy Prime Minister Bin Chhin has grown again after he was handed a handful of new jobs on Tuesday, including advising the prime minister on anti-corruption efforts and overseeing the Council of Jurists and “one-window” service for foreign investors. ...

Passengers using the Phnom Penh city bus service will now have a choice of buying electronic tickets through Wing (Cambodia) Limited Specialized Bank – the kingdom’s leading mobile banking services provider. ...

The trade volume between Cambodia and the United States in 2016 reached about $3 billion, while nearly 240,000 American tourists visited the kingdom. Foreign Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry told reporters yesterday after a meeting between Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn and Mom Rady, a Democratic member ...

About $170,000 remains to be found for a coalition of watchdogs and civil society observers known as the “situation room” to successfully monitor all of Cambodia’s 2017 commune elections for irregularities. ...

Chinese and ASEAN representatives are meeting in Siem Reap to begin hammering out a code of conduct for the highly contested South China Sea. ...

In its first two months of regular operation Cambodia’s first civil aviation training centre has provided certificates to dozens of aviation officials and airport staff, helping to raise the skill level of personnel in the Kingdom’s fast-expanding aviation sector. ...

Chroy Changvar peninsula land disputants yesterday delivered a petition to the Ministry of Land Management rejecting City Hall’s proposal to take away 90 percent of their land for the development of a satellite city. ...

A coalition of watchdogs and other civil society groups yesterday announced their intention to form a “situation room” for the 2017 commune elections in order to monitor the voting process for irregularities. ...

The growing number of foreign visitors arriving by sea represents a promising source of tourism revenue for Cambodia, though limited port and tourism infrastructure has hampered its realisation, tourism stakeholders said yesterday. ...

Phnom Penh and Beijing are in talks to become “sister cities”, chief of the Chinese Embassy’s political section Wang De Xin confirmed yesterday. ...

Cambodia will host the 20th Asean-China meeting aimed at boosting further discussions on the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) which could lead to finalizing the framework of the Code of Conduct (COC).   ...

The Cambodian government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with officials from China’s Shaanxi province aimed at bolstering trade and tourism, according to a release yesterday by the Ministry of Commerce. ...

The government yesterday announced a total ban on the collection and export of human breast milk, after it emerged poor women had been earning cash through the trade. ...

Thirty-eight civil society groups have formed a situation room to monitor the upcoming commune elections in a bid to ensure a free and fair electoral process. During a press conference in Phnom Penh yesterday, members of the situation room explained that despite having insufficient observers ...

The Ministry of Agriculture is working to develop a procedural framework for the trade and use of biological control agents (BCAs) in agriculture in an effort to improve crop yields, protect consumer health and ensure continued access to key export markets. Regulation could also create ...

Preah Sihanouk province welcomed nearly 2.4 million tourists in 2016, generating $96 million in revenue, following a significant rise in domestic and international tourist arrivals, a tourism official said yesterday. . ...

Cambodia will unveil another commercial center in China in May, to boost trade between the two countries and inform Chinese business people and tourists about opportunities in Cambodia.   ...

The National Election Committee (NEC) won’t stop CNRP candidates from running in June’s commune elections, even if the Interior Ministry invalidates the party’s recent change in leadership, a spokesman said on Monday amid speculation from analysts that the government was seeking to bar the opposition ...

The Labor Ministry is encouraging employers, with the support of unions, to implement article 116 of the Labor Law, which requires owners of enterprises and factories to pay their workers twice a month. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on political parties to avoid insulting and degrading one another as campaigning intensifies ahead of commune elections in June. ...