Industries
Tourism
Cambodia Bets Casinos Can Boost Tourism
Cambodian developers are betting that casinos can make the tiny Southeast Asian country a bigger draw for high-spending tourists. The nation of 15 million people has more than 25 casinos, but most are small affairs in rough-and-tumble border towns that cater to hard-core Thai, Chinese and ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304750404577317094266574870.html
President Hu concludes three-nation Asia trip
Chinese President Hu Jintao left Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, for home Monday, after a state visit to the southeast Asian nation. During the visit, Hu met Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, Senate President Chea Sim, National Assembly President Heng Samrin and Prime Minister Hun Sen. Hu and ...
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-04/02/content_14971234.htm
Chinese Embassy Petitioners Sent Packing
Just hours before Chinese President Hu Jintao landed in Phnom Penh on Friday, a group of dismayed Koh Kong province villagers whose land is under threat from a sprawling Chinese tourism project were escorted onto a bus and sent back home before they were able ...
Hu, Cambodian PM agree to advance ties
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen agreed here Saturday to advance the comprehensive relations of strategic cooperation and partnership between their two countries. In a meeting, the two leaders pledged to expand mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields and to double the ...
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012HuAsiaTour/2012-03/31/content_14962294.htm
Villagers in Land Dispute Ask Hu Jintao’s Help
In an effort to stop their homes from being swallowed up by a Chinese mega-tourism project, Koh Kong villagers said they will submit a petition to the Chinese Embassy today, calling for intervention from visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao. Villager representative Tith Ten, 54, from Kiri ...
Lost Opportunities as Cambodian Labor Goes Abroad: Advocate
Even with an improved domestic job market, many Cambodian workers are seeking jobs overseas, despite the risks. This is mainly due to the government’s failure to get the word out, Moeun Tola, a labor advocate at the Community Legal Education Center, told “Hello VOA” Thursday. “We see ...
Environment Minister Denies Hardship at Tourism Project
The Minister of Environment has countered a rights worker’s claim that villagers relocated to make way for a Chinese-backed mega-tourism project in Koh Kong province lack proper access to medical care. About 1,100 families have been forcibly evicted from their coastal villages in Botum Sakor National ...
Cambodia’s tourism growth to reach 20%
Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism is projecting sizeable growth for the industry this year, according to Director General Tith Chantha. ...
Cambodia to fill gap in aviation training
An aviation training centre was being planned that would allow the Kingdom to meet the demands of its surging tourism market, a State Secretariat of Civil Aviation official said yesterday. About 1.5 million visitors arrived in Cambodia by air in 2011, a 16 per cent jump ...
23,000 Hectares of Land Concessions Approved
The government last month granted four companies a total 23,000 hectares of land concessions for agro-industry projects and a special economic zone (SEZ), according to human rights groups, which said it obtained the information from government documents. An additional 500 hectares inside a wildlife sanctuary were ...
Alleged hotel ‘ransacking’ probed
Four former workers at the Angkor Villa Hotel and Resort appeared in the Appeal Court yesterday for questioning in relation to allegations that they ransacked the hotel during a strike last year. Korng Kimlean, union president of the Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers’ Federation and the ...
Macau-Backed Casino Firm to Expand Operations in Cambodia
A Macau-backed firm plans to grow its involvement in Cambodia’s casino sector as it targets the local gambling market with gaming machines and two new casinos, the company said in a financial statement filed in the US. Entertainment Gaming Asia Inc, which currently provides gaming machines ...
Koh Kong intervention sought
The provincial office of rights group Licadho has called on Koh Kong provincial politicians to help more than 1,000 families being forcibly evicted to make way for a sprawling gambling resort and other development, representative said yesterday. More than 130 families, from three villages in Kiri ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030954950/National-news/koh-kong-intervention-sought.html
Kampot dredging escalates
Dredging in Kampot has escalated in the face of community concerns, with more boats now mining sand right in front of the provincial capital and dumping vast amounts of it directly outside the provincial land management authority. The Post counted a total of 17 boats ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030554851/National-news/kampot-dredging-only-grows.html
River Dolphin Conservation Gets Go-Ahead
A government committee yesterday approved a draft sub-decree aimed at protecting the endangered Mekong River dolphin and will send it to the Council of Ministers within a few weeks. Among the provisions contained in the sub-decree is the creation of a 180-km-long conservation area stretching ...
A refuge for river dolphins
The government yesterday moved to protect endangered Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong River, announcing plans for a 180-kilometre-long conservation area that would stretch from the Lao border through Stung Treng province to Kratie town. Touch Seang Tana, chairman of the Commission for Conservation and Development of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030154794/National-news/a-refuge-for-river-dolphins.html
Villagers take case to capital
Representatives from five communes in Koh Kong province engaged in a long-running land dispute with a private Chinese firm urged the government to issue them proper land titles during a press conference in the capital yesterday. Representative Chhai Beng Hout asked the government to instruct the ...
Villagers ask for Government’s Help in Koh Kong Land Dispute
Koh Kong villagers facing the loss of their land to a Chinese mega-tourism project held a news conference in Phnom Penh yesterday to appeal to the government for the right to remain on their property. Kith Ten, 54, from Kiri Sakor district’s Prek Khsach commune, ...
IMF says Cambodian economy to grow 6.5 per cent, but warns of risks
Cambodia’s economy is expected to grow 6.5 per cent in 2012, up from 5.75 per cent last year, the International Monetary Fund said in its annual review, adding that government policies to boost the investment climate were paying off. However, in its assessment, which was released ...
Villagers in capital to protest development
Representatives from five communes in Koh Kong province are scheduled to hold a press conference in the capital today, appealing for government intervention in a land dispute with a Chinese development company that has spanned nearly four years. Lov Hov, a representative from Thmar Sar commune, ...
Clean cities promoted through competition
The government wants to beautify Cambodian cities and has launched a competition to encourage the country’s urban centres to clean up their act. Speaking in front of a crowd of roughly 700 at the Peace Palace yesterday, Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said that the “Clean ...
Cambodian Per Capita GDP To Touch $1,000
Echoing remarks made by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen earlier last week, economic experts agreed that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita would reach US$ 1,000 ( Bt30,377) this year, up from the estimated $900 at the end of 2011. Managing director of Acleda ...
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Cambodian-per-capita-GDP-to-touch-$1000-30176744.html
Cambodia, China willing to further enhance cooperation in all fields: officials
Cambodia and China are willing to further promote bilateral cooperation in all fields in the framework of ASEAN-China relations, officials said Monday. The commitment was made during the official visit of Ma Mingqiang, secretary general of ASEAN-China Center, to Cambodia. In a meeting with Cambodia’s Minister ...
New travel association launches in Kingdom
The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) launched its Cambodian chapter on Friday in the hope of further promoting the country’s second-largest sector by revenues. The sparsity of air routes to Cambodia was one of the main obstacles to the Kingdom’s tourism growth, PATA Cambodia chapter president ...