Government

The Council of Ministers on Monday convened a press conference to defend a directive circulated this month telling government officials to seek clearance from their superiors before providing information to lawmakers investigating corruption claims. ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng, who was on Saturday named one of two vice presidents of the CPP, will serve as acting president of the ruling party and acting premier when Prime Minister Hun Sen is absent from the country, CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said Monday. ...

The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party is reacting with a shrug to the move by former supporter Mom Sonando to start his own political party. ...

Police in Sihanoukville on Monday arrested Russian national Roman Dragomir, 39, for his alleged involvement in a violent brawl between two groups of foreigners at the Queenco Hotel & Casino in February, an official said. ...

In anticipation of increasingly adverse export conditions, entrepreneurs from six northeastern provinces of Thailand are trying to strengthen ties with their counterparts here. ...

Today marks the 48th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Cambodia and Vietnam. Both countries were victims of great power politics during the Cold War. Their bilateral relations were undermined by different political rivals and nationalist groups. ...

Council of Ministers Secretary of State Tek Reth Samrach yesterday rebuked opposition lawmakers Ho Vann and Son Chhay over their criticism of a government directive forbidding ministry employees from dealing directly with lawmakers on corruption issues, calling both misinformed and accusing Chhay of “incitement and ...

The European Union has committed to provide more than $11 million to the National Election Committee over the next three years to assist with voter registration before the 2017 commune elections and 2018 national election, election committee spokesman Hang Puthea said Monday. ...

Bilateral trade between China and Cambodia will be worth more than $5 billion by 2017, up from $3.75 billion last year, according to estimates made public by the Ministry of Commerce on Monday. ...

The ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) has categorically rejected rumors that Prime Minister Hun Sen would step down after he was elected as the CPP’s president on Saturday. ...

The National Election Committee (NEC) of Cambodia’s senior officials held talk here this afternoon with two major donors. In early 2016, NEC will begin preparing the new voters’ list for the fourth-mandate commune/Sangkat council election in 2017 and the parliamentary election in 2018. ...

Almost 25 years after the CPP was established, the ruling party on Saturday changed its leadership group for the first time, electing Prime Minister Hun Sen as its president and Interior Minister Sar Kheng and Senate President Say Chhum as vice presidents. ...

The Council of Ministers’ secretary of state Tek Reth Samrach clarified a recent directive, which ordered all government officials in all ministries and institutions to get formal approval from the respective minister before meeting with or providing clarifications to parliamentary commissions or groups. ...

CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) countries reaffirmed their commitment Monday to further strengthening economic cooperation sectorwise and cooperation for peace, stability and prosperity in Southeast Asia. ...

Opposition lawmaker Um Sam An on Saturday led about 200 nationalist activists to inspect a non-demarcated strip of land along Kandal province’s disputed border with Vietnam where the Vietnamese government is constructing a military outpost. ...

Cambodia National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy told representatives of NGOs today that lawmakers from his party will vote against the controversial draft law on associations and NGOs if it is not amended. ...

Some 200 members of a CPP-aligned youth group knelt down at a riverside shrine in Phnom Penh on Sunday and swore an oath of loyalty to the ruling party, the Cambodian Red Cross and Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

Police in Phnom Penh made the country’s largest ever methamphetamine seizure late last week after arresting three members of a trafficking ring who were found with nearly 55 kg of drugs worth about $3 million, most of which was destined for Taiwan, an official said ...

President of Cambodian Union of Youth Federations Hun Many will lead a 100-member youth delegation to visit China from June 21 to 25 to deepen youth-to-youth relations between the two countries. . ...

Eyeing closer regional economic integration that would contribute to strengthening India’s ties with Southeast Asia as part of its Act East Policy, seventh edition of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) Summit will be held in Nay Pyi Taw (Myanmarese capital) on June 22-23.  ...

Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to jointly set up a team to survey the watershed at the Chong An Ma pass in Ubon Ratchathani province so a clear boundary can be drawn. The decision was made on Saturday ...

The ruling CPP will convene an extraordinary meeting of its central committee on Saturday—the day after the cremation of its longtime president Chea Sim—to elect the new party leadership. ...

Chea Sim was released into the afterlife Friday in a half-day Buddhist ceremony climaxing with a single firework shot into his coffin to ignite the intricate stupa built in Phnom Penh’s Wat Botum park to honor the longtime CPP president. ...

A Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldier was arrested by Thai authorities Wednesday on suspicion of a hit-and-run that killed a man across the border and was being detained Friday at a courthouse in Thailand’s Chonburi province, officials said. ...