International relations

A US-based group of lawyers has launched an online campaign to raise funding to support a lawsuit against a UK company that bought sugar from a Cambodian plantations linked to human rights abuses. The campaign is being undertaken by the International Senior Lawyers Project, which is ...

Cambodia has no control over Cambodian-flagged ships complicit in illegal activities on the high seas as the government sold the authority to register ocean-going vessels, under Cambodia’s national flag, to a company in South Korea for $6 million, a Council of Ministers official claimed Thursday. On ...

Standard & Poor’s affirmed Thursday its ‘B’ long and short-term sovereign credit ratings for Cambodia, adding that the outlook for the long-term rating remained stable. At the same time, the US rating agency affirmed its ‘axBB-‘ long-term and ‘axB’ short-term ASEAN regional-scale ratings on the country. ...

The Royal Cambodian government is continuing talks with US major Chevron regarding the delayed Block A offshore project that would be the Asean member nation’s first indigenous hydrocarbon development. In August 2010, eight years after being awarded the block, Chevron issued a declaration of commerciality and ...

Trade between Cambodia and China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has seen a 19- percent growth in the first nine months of the year thanks to robust bilateral trade ties, Benjamin Chau, deputy executive director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, said here Wednesday. ...

The European Commission’s proposed ban on fish imports from Cambodia would cause no harm to the country’s fish exports since it has never sold fish to European countries, a Cambodian fisheries chief said Wednesday. “The sanctions, announced by the European Commission on Tuesday, do not affect ...

Technology giant Microsoft is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Education as well as the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts to help build a free online Khmer-language database for users to translate documents between Khmer and other languages, a ...

nternational Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde will visit Cambodia next week as part of an Asia tour that will also include stops in South Korea and Burma, according to an IMF spokesman. Ms. Lagarde will meet with Cambodian government officials, university students, investors and ...

The minimum wage for garment factory workers can only be raised if international clothing brands sourcing from Cambodia pay more for their products, a Ministry of Labor official said Tuesday. Khieu Savuth, chief of the Ministry of Labor’s labor conflict commission, laid down the challenge a ...

Against the backdrop of high electricity costs and energy imports, Cambodian businesses could save millions of dollars annually by implementing energy-efficient business practices, insiders said yesterday. “It is clear that energy efficiency has multiple benefits, not only to the tourism sector but also other economic sectors ...

As political deadlock continues, Minister of Defence Tea Banh yesterday used the unveiling of 12 Chinese-made military helicopters to announce that the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces stand “ready to protect” the government and constitution, following what he called “free and fair” elections in July. Speaking in ...

Japan’s prime minister failed to address major issues, by leaving aside Cambodia’s political deadlock and its poor human rights record on a visit last week, rights activists say. “It was a missed opportunity for the government of Japan, which has a great deal of leverage with ...

Twelve Chinese-made helicopters that Cambodia purchased from China were delivered Monday to the Cambodian Defence Ministry. At the handover ceremony, Cambodian Defence Minister Gen Tea Banh said the Zhi-9 utility helicopters will be used for military training purposes and for cracking down on crimes in various ...

H&M has pledged to pay a living wage to 850,000 textile workers after expressing frustration over a lack of action by governments to address working conditions in Asian factories in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster. The world’s second-biggest clothing retailer said it would support ...

A recent claim by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) that a public health officer accused of demanding bribes to manipulate lucrative contracts did nothing wrong contradicts admissions of illegal activity by both the government and the officer himself, according to interviews and email messages reproduced in ...

The government’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) said Friday that it has investigated the public procurements of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STD Control (NCHADS) and found they were carried out correctly, despite an exhaustive investigation by the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and ...

Two ambitious trade negotiations are moving forward in the Asia Pacific, but Cambodia should first pursue a regional partnership before joining in with all of the Asia Pacific, trade experts say. Cambodia should build momentum on the existing Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, an Asean-driven agreement, before ...

When one of Australia’s top intelligence agencies in 2009 presented staff with a slideshow detailing their attempts to intercept mobile telephone calls by Indonesia’s president, first lady and top officials, it also revealed other possible spying targets—including one of Cambodia’s largest mobile operators, MobiTel, according ...

The Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization (GAVI) Board meeting was held here on Thursday to decide which new vaccines will be added to the organization’s portfolio. The two-day meeting brought together 160 people who are representatives of donors and developing countries, civil society organizations, vaccine ...

Thai forestry officials killed three Cambodians who were illegally logging on Tuesday, in what they said was a shootout in Thailand’s Sisaket province, a border official said Wednesday. The latest deaths bring the number of Cambodians who have been shot while logging across the border this ...

Hor Nambora, the son of Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, will step down as Cambodia’s ambassador to Britain, according to an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Cheung Buntheng, undersecretary of state at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, said Tuesday that Meas Kimheng, an adviser to Mr. ...

Vietnam has joined Cambodia in questioning the sustainability of the planned Don Sahong dam project on the Mekong River in southern Laos, saying more environmental impact studies are needed before the scheme moves forward. Le Duc Trung, director general of the Vietnam National Mekong Committee under ...

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced Thursday it had suspended contracts with two international suppliers of mosquito nets after uncovering serious financial wrongdoing in Cambodia. The move followed a probe by Global Fund inspectors into claims of corruption at the suppliers, ...

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who makes a visit to Phnom Penh this weekend, should leverage his country’s aid to pressure the Cambodian government to launch an independent probe into fraud and other irregularities in disputed elections, a rights group said Thursday. As head of the ...