National government

With momentum gathering behind a movement to renovate rather than raze Phnom Penh’s famous White Building, City Hall on Thursday backtracked on its assertion earlier this week that the building was destined for demolition. On Tuesday, Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong said the iconic apartment block ...

A draft law regulating the purchase and consumption of alcohol in Cambodia will, if passed, set the country’s legal drinking age at 21 years old, according to officials involved with the legislation, which many see as a tool to fight excessive youth drinking and drunken ...

A human rights group on Thursday urged authorities in Cambodia to end the prosecution of six trade unionists accused of stoking violent clashes between protesting workers and security forces, calling the case against them “politically motivated.” New York-based Human Rights Watch said prominent activists Pav Sina, ...

A day after the first results of the countrywide census of foreigners were revealed, Interior Minister Sar Kheng yesterday called on politicians to reserve judgement. ...

The government has finished calculating the additional compensation it will pay out to some of the families forced to move for a $143 million railway rehabilitation project being funded mostly by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), according to a new report. The report, released this week ...

One of six union leaders charged and summonsed for questioning over a strike that ended in government forces shooting dead at least five people in January has sent a message to authorities to hurry up and get his hearing over with. ...

The Ministry of Information is planning to begin regulating the Internet in the country to prevent offensive content from being posted online, ostensibly to prevent defamation and provocations to violence, according to a ministry official. ...

The Chinese government has provided forestry equipment in equivalent to 4.1 million yuan (667, 200 U.S. dollars) to Cambodia for protecting and developing forest sector, officials said. ...

The Energy Ministry will hold discussions with Cambodia about cooperation in electricity and the overlapping petroleum-claims area in the Gulf of Thailand during the current official visit to Phnom Penh by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn. ...

Cambodia needs to develop a trade logistics plan to align the Kingdom with the regional production network and increase its competitiveness as an investment destination, a senior World Bank economist said yesterday. ...

Cambodia has granted operating licenses to 2,424 new companies in the first seven months of 2014, up 44 percent compared with 1,688 firms over the same period last year, according to the latest report of the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday said the pass rate of 25 percent in last month’s grade 12 national exam served as a warning that students could no longer pay their way through school and urged students who failed the exam to embrace their second ...

Two more Cambodian women who were trafficked to China as brides are being assisted by officials at the Kingdom’s embassy in Beijing and will soon be repatriated, the government said yesterday. ...

Last month, Prime Minister Hun Sen was mocked for claiming in a speech on August 18 that he was unaware of a land dispute in Kratie province’s Snuol district over which villagers had repeatedly petitioned his cabinet. But Mr. Hun Sen’s admission that he was unaware ...

The Ministry of Interior has asked the government to grant what would have been the new location of the Ministry of Environment in Meanchey district’s Niroth commune to the newly created General Departments of Identification and Immigration instead, according to an official spokesman. ...

More than 5,000 workers from a footwear factory in Kompong Cham province went on strike Monday, calling on factory management to increase their benefits. The lively crowd rallied outside the Taiwanese-owned Juhui Footwear factory in Choeung Prey district, dancing to music pumped out of loudspeakers as ...

In 2012 and 2013, more than 80 percent of the Grade 12 high school students taking the national exam passed it. In 2014, 70 percent failed. The difference? This year cheating was not tolerated. ...

Developing Cambodia as a diverse travel destination and establishing direct flights will help attract more travelers from China, the country’s second largest source market. Cambodian Ministry of Tourism director of marketing and promotion, Visothy So, emphasized that Cambodia needs to brand itself as a destination with ...

Around 300 workers from a Taiwanese-owned Xin Fang (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing Co., Ltd marched Monday to Ministry of Labor to seek intervention in their working conditions. ...

Defense Minister Tea Banh on Saturday said he would add some 700 additional soldiers to the ranks of the military’s Phnom Penh-based Brigade 70 next year so the unit can better help local military police quell protests. ...

Land Management Minister Im Chhun Lim intervened in a high-profile land dispute between villagers from Kratie province’s Snuol district and a South Korean agribusiness firm over the weekend, announcing Saturday that the contested 1,562-hectare tract would be taken back from the company and awarded to ...

Russia is set to approve duty- and quota-free imports for up to 3,000 Cambodian agricultural products, according to local government officials. A statement issued by Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce on Friday states that Russia’s Minister for Economic Development, Alexey Ulyukaev, agreed in principal to increase the ...

Koh Kong Governor Bun Leart has promised villagers evicted from their land by Chinese-owned Union Development Group that he will give their petition to Minister of Environment Say Sam Al today. ...

Economic ministers from the 16 participating countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) have reiterated their commitment to conclude negotiations by the end of 2015. The ministers reaffirmed they are committed to ending the RCEP negotiations in line with the vision endorsed by their state ...