Development policy and administration

Experts fear Cambodia’s well-earned reputation as a leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS could be undermined by government policy targeting the country’s high-risk groups. Over the past 15 years, government action and large amounts of money from donors have seen the infection rate drop from 2 ...

At nearly half of the Kingdom’s primary schools, students have to make a daily choice between drinking contaminated water or going thirsty, a dilemma the government hopes to soon banish with new minimum sanitation and safe water standards. The guidelines, which have yet to be finalised ...

More than 100,000 hectares of forest have been replanted across the country since 2008, according to a government report – but about 90 per cent of that amount can be chalked up to private plantations. Produced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the report, ...

For Cambodians with disabilities, the launch of two major initiatives in the past two days designed to improve their lives has brought some optimism about the future—tempered by a note of caution. At Koh Pich island on Thursday, in front of a crowd of more than ...

Looking out from his house, held up by three-meter stilts on a peninsula that juts into Boeng Tompun lake, Chan Sokhom can see the sand inching closer to him every day. Within a few years, the sand will likely reach his doorstep. By then, Mr. Sokhom ...

The single-party National Assembly on Thursday approved the 2014 to 2018 National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP), which will cost an estimated $26.58 billion to implement. An extradition agreement between Cambodia and Vietnam was also passed. Approved earlier this month by the Council of Ministers, it is ...

Cambodian Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol concluded a trade mission in the United States this week, emphasizing his government’s willingness to make “deep” reforms to improve its investment climate. Cambodia meanwhile needs more foreign investment to create jobs for the 300,000 young Cambodians who enter the ...

Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training ordered all recruitment agencies to charge only US$49 for each worker who wants to work legally in Thailand. The fee of US$49 included US$10 for worker card, US$4 for passport, US$15 for transportation, and food, and US$20 for labor ...

Cambodian women continue to be poorly represented in government following commune elections in May, the Committee to Promote Women in Politics said yesterday. This reality, the committee said, is endangering the Kingdom’s chances of meeting its UN Millennium Development Goals. ...

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced Thursday its Integrated Nutrition, Hygiene, and Sanitation Program that will improve the lives of mothers and young children by teaching better nutrition and hygiene practices and increasing the use of latrines.The five-year, $16 million project will benefit ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Government on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Inter Far East Engineering Public Company Limited of Thailand to study the feasibility of turning the city’s waste into energy, according to a notice posted on the municipality’s website. ...

Cambodia on Friday reported 71 landmine casualties in the first four months of 2014, an increase of 61 percent from 44 casualties for the same period last year. The report by the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority showed that during the January-April period, 10 ...

A draft law on e-commerce that would regulate electronic trade in Cambodia will arrive at the Council of Ministers in August, following revision by two other state institutions, officials at the Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday. Orm Dararith, director of the Ministry of Commerce’s legal department, ...

The NGO Results International has been studying nutrition in Cambodia, and found that despite Cambodia’s good economic growth, 40 per cent of children under five there, have stunted growth. Cambodia may produce plenty of food, but its people are not eating a balanced diet. ...

With authorities in Kratie province beginning to hand out plots of land on a social concession to 301 families involved in a high-profile dispute resolved last week, villagers at the center of the dispute said Tuesday that opportunists are joining the queue. Since Sunday, authorities have ...

The Ministry of Education is drafting two sub-decrees on private educational institutions aimed at improving regulation of the nation’s vast body of private schools. The sub-decree on Organization and Management of Private Schools and sub-decree on Categorization of Private Schools have been sent to a range ...

South Korea on Monday signed up to provide a grant aid of 21 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia to support four projects for rural development, waterway improvement, health and the stock market. Speaking after the signing ceremony, Hor Namhong said 8 million U.S. dollars of ...

The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a new five-year National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) – the guiding policy document used by the government – requiring an estimated $26.58 billion in spending and investment, or more than $5.3 billion a year, until 2018. The plan ...

The Cambodian Council of Ministers on Friday approved a five-year development strategic plan (2014-2018), which needs financial resources of 26.5 billion U.S. dollars to achieve the target, according to a news statement released after a weekly cabinet meeting. The plan is designed to develop infrastructure, ...

Cambodia is considering to develop two expressways in order to serve the growing extents of economy and trade, Tram Iv Tek, Minister of Public Works and Transport, said Tuesday. The first line will be from capital Phnom Penh to coastal Preah Sihanouk province in length of ...

Prime Minster Hun Sen ar­riv­ed back in Phnom Penh on Sunday after a weeklong visit to Chi­na for an international summit during which Chinese Premier Xi Jinping pledged $145 million in aid and soft loans to Cambodia. On Monday, AKP reported that China promised to ...

ambodian leaders are facing a very uncertain Asean in recent weeks, with anti-Chinese protests in Vietnam pitting two of the country’s standards allies against each other and a Thai coup sealing the western borders and leaving a neighbor in the hands of military control. Both issues ...

Cambodia’s economic productivity is in trouble, struggling with an inability to turn a youthful population into a skilled workforce and stunted by an over-reliance on agriculture, according to a new World Bank report. In Cambodia and Vietnam, diversification of labour from the farming sector contributed to ...

A soaring population and increased migration to urban areas will create demand for more than a million new homes by 2030, according to a draft national housing policy. Approved by the Council of Ministers on Friday after a series of revisions, the draft highlights the increasing ...