Government

A Cambodian plan to attract 5 million tourists to the country in 2015 is hanging in the balance despite a rise in the first half of this year. Cambodia set 5 million tourists as the target this year, an increase from 4.5 million last year. ...

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong today told Willian E. Todd, outgoing US Ambassador to Cambodia that, France agreed to lend Cambodia’s original maps that Cambodia requested to French government recently.​ ...

The backlash began Wednesday against a new Education Ministry directive that bans political activities and unauthorized associations at academic institutions, with the country’s largest teachers’ union and various youth groups accusing the government of hypocrisy. ...

A sub-decree regulating the internal functioning of the new National Election Committee was signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday, paving the way for the election body to select new administrative officials and begin organizing itself for elections scheduled for 2017 and 2018. ...

The National Museum in Phnom Penh has launched a new exhibition called “Photovoice of Cambodian Women in the Past, at Present, and in the Future.” ...

As about 100 fishermen in Koh Kong province on Wednesday resumed their monthslong campaign against a company they accuse of illegal sand dredging, an environmental NGO claimed the firm was now hiring locals as security guards in an attempt to divide the community. ...

The recently formed Grassroots Democracy Party (GDP) has taken another step in joining the political mainstream, announcing the appointment of a spokesman yesterday. ...

A delegation of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong led by its president Richard R. Vuylsteke has been on a visit to Cambodia to study the investment environment in the country, according to state news agency- AKP.​​ ...

The National Election Committee (NEC)’s spokesperson Hang Putea said Cambodia will start computerized-voter registration in March next year, but needs 2,400 computers. ...

The Ministry of Education has issued a directive banning political activism or association at academic institutions, saying it will fine or shut down universities, post-secondary schools and student organizations that have engaged in or promoted political activity. ...

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on Tuesday informed Indian Ambassador Dinesh Patnaik that Cambodia wants plans to build an Angkor Wat replica in that country scrapped entirely, ministry spokesman Chum Sunry told reporters after a meeting between the two officials to mark Mr. Patnaik’s last day ...

The Royal Academy of Cambodia border research team said yesterday the maps showing the country’s borders being used by the government and the opposition were identical. ...

Defense Minister Tea Banh met Malaysia’s army chief, Raja Mohamed Affandi bin Raja Mohamed Noor, yesterday to discuss ways to improve military ties between the two countries. ...

Rights group Licadho has welcomed an announcement from the Interior Ministry that conditions at prisons, social rehabilitation centers and drug rehabs will be improved to ensure that the rights of inmates, patients and others housed or confined at the centers will be respected. ...

A spokesman for the Justice Ministry said Tuesday that the government was considering a request made by the new Thai ambassador to repatriate seven of the country’s nationals serving prison sentences in Cambodia. ...

The country’s anti-corruption czar on Tuesday said the former director of the National Malaria Center must pay back the $351,000 in bribes he took in exchange for mosquito net contracts—effectively admitting the ex-director’s guilt—but that he would not be prosecuted. ...

Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen plans to meet with Australian prime minister for additional talk on the implementation of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) relating to the resettlement of refugees from Nauru to Cambodia. ...

Civil groups have urged Cambodian authorities to provide places for students to stay during the upcoming national high school graduate exam and prevent hotels and guesthouses from increasing room rates in all cities and provinces. ...

Cambodia attracted about 2.3 million foreign visitors in the first six months of 2015, an increase of 5.6 percent compared with the same period last year, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said Tuesday. ...

The Anti-corruption Unit (ACU) sent a letter to a lawmaker from the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), Real Khemrin, over the accusation that he embezzled from a recent trip to visit Cambodia-Vietnam border.​ ...

Cambodia’s National Election Committee (NEC) will make the disabled a top priority in political participation and include related policy in the country’s new election law to ensure them equality in the next nationwide elections, an agency official said. ...

The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party yesterday handed over digital copies of a Cambodia-Vietnam border map bought in France to the Royal Academy.The academy’s border committee now has maps from the UN, US and France, and says it will begin studying them in a bid ...

With the Grade 12 national high school exam about two weeks away, a group of five NGOs sent a letter to the Ministry of Education on Monday asking the government to prevent guesthouses from hiking their prices for students who have to stay overnight in ...

Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol on Monday asked the World Bank and the European Union to review a trio of new trade agreements with Cambodia’s neighbors to determine what impact the deals would have on the country’s exports. ...