Bilateral development assistance
Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members
Families Left Worse off After Railway Project
Phnom Penh families being pushed to the city’s outskirts to make way for a $142.6 million railway renovation project funded by Australia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are falling into debt and finding it harder to earn money and access healthcare according to a ...
Cambodian PM inaugurates 90 mln USD water treatment plant in capital
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday inaugurated a new water treatment plant in eastern part of capital Phnom Penh, saying that the plant would meet the rising demand of clean water in the city. The 90 million U.S. dollar plant was invested by the listed ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-06/04/c_132430033.htm
As Foreign Aid Increases, Questions About Conditions
Cambodia has seen huge growth of foreign aid and loans over the past two decades, but experts are beginning to question its worth—and what conditions might be attached. Total aid from 1993 to 2012 amounts to around $10 billion, with the percentage of aid coming as ...
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/as-foreign-aid-increases-questions-about-conditions/1664821.html
Trade Deal Threat Still On Table
The European union’s executive arm has responded to its parliamentarians’ concerns over rights abuses stemming from Cambodia’s economic land concessions, maintaining that, should the need arise, it “will be ready” to withdraw from its preferential trade agreements with the Kingdom. In a joint letter to concerned ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052065716/National/trade-deal-threat-still-on-table.html
EU Won’t Investigate Land Concessions—for Now
The trade commissioner and foreign affairs representative of the European Union (E.U.) have turned down a request from 13 members of the European Parliament that they immediately investigate Cambodia’s much criticized economic land concessions, but said they were monitoring the issue closely. In a March letter ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eu-wont-investigate-land-concessions-for-now-25194/
Australia Ups Aid Funding
Australia announced yesterday that it will increase the amount of aid it provides Cambodia by about US$13 million (A$13.2 million) in the coming year, putting the country’s official development assistance at $96.1 million. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051765681/National/australia-ups-aid-funding.html
Engineers Hold Labor Day Protest Against Paying Income Tax
More than 50 engineers employed by Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co. Ltd. to work on a new Neak Loueng Bridge in Kandal province protested on Wednesday over paying income tax of 10 percent and are threatening to go on strike again if their employer dose ...
Japan lends Cambodia 90 mln USD for road improvement project
Japan agreed Tuesday to provide a loan package of 90 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia for the improvement of a stretch of the national road No. 5 and two bypasses in northwestern provinces, according to a statement from Japanese Embassy to Cambodia. The statement said ...
http://search.news.cn/language/search.jspa?id=en&t=1&t1=0&ss=&ct=&n1=cambodia&x=-495&y=-54
New Kampot Salt Farm Has Big Ambitions
TOEK CHHOU DISTRICT, Kampot province – A donor-backed project launched here on Saturday aims to produce Cambodia’s first export-quality sea salt and invigorate the struggling local salt industry. In a ceremony among Kampot’s vast fields of coastal saltpans and low levees, company representatives from Asia Salt ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/new-kampot-salt-farm-has-big-ambitions-20505/
China pledges $548 million in aid to ally Cambodia
China has pledged another $548 million in aid to Cambodia for infrastructure and irrigation systems, extending assistance that some critics say has bought it Cambodia’s diplomatic support. Agreements covering $500 million in soft loans and $48 million in grants were signed when Prime Minister Hun ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/10/us-cambodia-china-idUSBRE93909D20130410
Duty-Free Sugar Exports to EU Hit $13 Million
The European Union (E.U.) last year continued to import millions of dollars worth of duty-free sugar from Cambodian plantations that have forced hundreds of families off their land despite calls from European lawmakers for the trade benefits to end, according to the latest E.U. data. Thailand’s ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/duty-free-sugar-exports-to-eu-hit-13-million-18114/
FAO Raises Paddy Production Outlook
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has raised its forecast of global paddy production in 2012 by about 1.5 million tonnes to 730 million tonnes (487 million tonnes, milled). The scaling up of production mainly concerned Asian countries, in particular Cambodia, ...
Japanese grants set to aid local farmers
The Japanese government has provided $118,996 for constructing a cassava propagation and distribution centre in Battambang province. The fund comes in response to the recent challenges facing farmers in the province who are facing a shortage of cassava trees to plant. Kumamaru Yuji, Japanese ambassador to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032864733/Business/japanese-grants-set-to-aid-local-farmers.html
Rice trade zone to be set up in East
The Department of Foreign Trade plans to set up a “rice trade zone” project in the East to process Cambodian rice for export to other countries. Tikhumporn Natvaratat, deputy director-general of the department, said his organisation plans to implement the project in Chanthaburi, Trat, Sa Kaeo ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/342199/rice-trade-zone-to-be-set-up-in-east
Kingdom, Japan to ink $33.9m grant today
Cambodia will sign a $33.9 million grant aid today from the Japanese government to support various small hydropower dam projects, improve a hospital and update resources of a university, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032164548/Business/kingdom-japan-to-ink-33-9m-grant-today.html
ADB Smothers Report On Families Hit by Rail Project
The Asian Development Bank has refused to release a critical study on the impacts its $141.6 million railway project is having on thousands of Cambodian families because disclosure of the report could hurt its relationship with the government, an ADB spokeswoman said. Raising concerns about the ...
Japan to provide Cambodia with nearly 34 mln USD grant aid
Cambodia will sign to receive 33.9 million U.S. dollars in grant aid from Japan for three projects in small hydropower dams, healthcare and education, according to a news release from Cambodia’s foreign ministry on Monday. ...
EU fund of over $4.5 mln in Cambodia
The European Union in efforts to reduce the poverty rate and secure a free society has awarded $4.5 mln to four projects. These projects will work to improve justice, natural resources, land rights, and build the capabilities of local authorities. Four projects were selected among ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=ODhhZmVjNmU1OTd
Japan to strengthen local SME’s capacities
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) announced yesterday that it will provide technical support for Cambodian small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), strengthening their capacities through the establishment of a national policy, officials said. Meng Saktheara, director-general of the General Department of Industry at the Ministry of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030561745/Business/japan-to-strengthen-local-sme-s-capacities.html
Hun Sen and EU Ambassador Talk Elections, Land Reform
The European Union’s ambassador to Cambodia raised issues of judicial reform, land reform and the upcoming national elections in a meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday morning. The European Commission’s directorate-general for trade is currently reviewing a report by the U.N.’s human rights envoy ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-and-eu-ambassador-talk-elections-land-reform-11009/
S. Korea’s financial body inks deal to assist Cambodia in banking supervision
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the provision of technical support for Cambodia’s banking and financial supervision, according to a press release after the signing ceremony. “The MoU will ...
Cambodia peddling bikes in EU
Import duties and limits, as well as rising wages in neighbouring countries, made Cambodia the second largest exporter of bicycles to the European Union after Taiwan, an industry newsletter reports. According to Bike-EU.com, which quoted data from Eurostat, Cambodia exported 519,389 units to EU countries between ...
http://www.phpnompenhpost.com/2013020661203/Business/cambodia-peddling-bikes-in-eu.html
Australia Courted for Further Railway Funding
The government has asked Australia to provide more funding to help complete the rehabilitation of the dilapidated railway line between Phnom Penh and the Thai border, a spokesman said yesterday. Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong met with Lieutenant General John Sanderson, former chief of the Australian ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/australia-courted-for-further-railway-funding-9422/
Rail Operator Still Awaiting Approval for Cargo
Despite the inaugural train traveling between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville by a new rail link a month ago, no goods have yet been transported between the capital and the country’s largest port. Toll Royal Railways, a joint venture between Australia’s Toll Group and local conglomerate Royal ...