Government

Cambodia is seeking to register more than a dozen crocodile farms under an international treaty that protects the critically endangered Siamese crocodile, paving the way for the legal export of crocodile skins to lucrative overseas markets, according to state officials. ...

The Foreign Affairs Ministry says the Malaysian government has taken notice of Thailand’s recent crackdown on illegal foreign workers and begun one of its own, wrangling 79 illegal Cambodian migrant workers in two weeks. ...

Demolition crews are set to begin tearing down the Phnom Penh landmark known as the White Building today, after the Ministry of Land Management announced on Saturday that all families residing in the dilapidated structure had left the premises.​ ...

Police in Phnom Penh will next month start issuing fines of up to $25 for violations of parking regulations by using handheld devices that scan license plates and recognize the registered identity and address of a vehicle’s owner, an official said yesterday. ...

The Thai government on Wednesday publicly announced that nationals of five countries, including Cambodia, can visit Thailand for up to 90 days without a visa to seek medical treatment, an official at the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh said yesterday. ...

The National Election Committee plans to hold a two-day meeting in Preah Sihanouk province to review the June 4 commune elections, with members of the election monitoring coalition the “Situation Room” saying yesterday they plan to table recommendations to improve certain electoral procedures. ...

The government collected $915 million in tax revenue during the first six months of the year, according to figures released yesterday by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. ...

The Interior Ministry’s Central Security Department yesterday announced two hotlines for the public to report possible kidnappings after a spike in Facebook comments about parents losing their children. According to a statement issued yesterday, the purpose of the hotlines is to assist authorities with locating ...

The Finance Ministry is planning to raise the national education budget to more than $700 million next year in a bid to improve standards in schools. ...

Hundreds of corn farmers blocked a main road in Battambang province on Thursday, hoping the barricade would persuade Prime Minister Hun Sen to put pressure on traders to raise the dwindling crop prices that are hurting their livelihoods. ...

Cambodia and Myanmar have agreed to further enhance trade between the two countries by encouraging investment from small and medium enterprises and exchanging agricultural products, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. ...

The French government has thrown its backing behind Cambodia’s recent commune elections, saying the polls went smoothly and were free and fair. ...

Phnom Penh municipal officials and Chinese Embassy representatives yesterday commemorated the handover of 98 Chinese buses and two cranes to the city yesterday at a ceremony on Koh Pich. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has authorized a six-month extension of the government’s anti-drug campaign, an anti-drug authority official said on Thursday. ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has demanded that all new commune chiefs and councillors elected at the June 4 local elections submit asset declarations to the unit and reminded those who were re-elected to update their declarations. ...

The Financial Management Information System (FMIS), a reform initiative designed to improve the governance and transparency of national budget management, will be applied to 10 government ministries later this year after a successful implementation of the scheme at the National Treasury Department, officials said yesterday. ...

The National Committee for Counter Trafficking’s (NCCT) six-month report, released on Monday, identified two cases of child labour in brick-making factories in Siem Reap, though officials and a rights group monitor said the use of such labour had decreased in the province. ...

An international alliance of NGOs has started a campaign to urge two prominent U.K. clothing retailers and a Canadian brand to compensate 208 factory workers who lost their jobs when the Chung Fai Knitwear factory abruptly closed a year ago. ...

While highly contentious new rules were being passed in the National Assembly on Monday banning the CNRP from collaborating with its former leader Sam Rainsy, photographs were posted to Facebook of senior opposition lawmakers dining at a riverside hotel in Kampot province. ...

Against a backdrop of government criticism of local election watchdogs, Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong has been elected vice president of the standing committee of the election monitor ICAPP, which has frequently been criticised for indiscriminately offering its stamp of approval to otherwise controversial elections. ...

The Ministry of Environment has announced its support for a new 10-megawatt solar power development project in the coastal province of Kep to be spearheaded by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), a South Korea-based organisation set up by the UN in 2012 to chart ...

As tourists’ itineraries veer toward nature resorts and jungle trekking, companies and conservationists are considering how they can define, develop and expand ecotourism and coastal tourism in Cambodia. ...

On a narrow side street on the outskirts of Phnom Penh on Tuesday, cars and tuk-tuks crept slowly along as hordes of pedestrians and motorbikes blocked their paths. Food carts and steady streams of customers lined the road. ...

The Ministry of Mines and Energy has permanently banned sand exports from Koh Kong province – eight months after it imposed a temporary ban following controversy over large discrepancies found in sand export figures to Singapore. ...