Aid and development

The World Bank looks forward to working with Cambodia to support the country’s efforts in reducing poverty and improving economic and social conditions for its people, especially in agriculture, health, education and transportation, said Axel van Trotsenburg, World Bank Regional Vice President for East Asia ...

Work began yesterday on Cambodia’s first national environmental plan in more than a decade. Once completed, the National Environmental Strategy and Action Plan (NESAP) will form the backbone of Cambodia’s environmental policy until 2023. The far-reaching plan – which is expected to be put into ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is supporting the government of Cambodia to develop a National Environmental Strategy and Action Plan (NESAP) to help the country achieve its sustainable development goals. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday called for more investment from France, telling business leaders in Paris that they could access the entire region when the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) kicks off at the end of the year. ...

About $115 million worth of concessional loans to Cambodia and a mutual extradition treaty were approved during a meeting between Prime Minister Hun Sen and French President Francois Hollande in Paris on Monday, according to Mr. Hun Sen’s Facebook page. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday to receive a grant worth more than $150 million, the majority of which will go toward the construction of a massive sports and entertainment complex in Phnom Penh, a sen­ior official ...

In an effort to address speech and communication disorders, which affect about one in 25 people countrywide, Unicef Cam­bo­dia awarded the organization OIC: The Cambodia Project a $42,000 grant on Wednesday to provide informal speech therapy training to Cambodians. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday called for more collaboration and integration of financial markets at the regional level, especially with China – the world’s second-largest economy – to offset the effects of a slowing global economy. ...

The World Bank on Monday stuck to its prediction made in April that the country’s economy would continue to cool off slowly over the next few years and said China’s own slowdown would send only modest ripples through Cambodia.     ...

Rhona Smith, the U.N.’s new special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, on Tuesday addressed the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva for the first time, telling the body that she planned to focus on marginalized people in the country. ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $60 million loan to modernize and rehabilitate irrigation systems in Kompong Thom and Battambang provinces. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen used a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday to call on developed nations to fulfill their pledges to commit at least 0.7 percent of their annual income to foreign aid.Speaking at a summit on the U.N.’s development goals, Mr. ...

As the United Nations meets this week to draw up a new set of sustainable development benchmarks, the era of the body’s landmark Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is coming to a close, with some wondering – in spite of gains – what efficacy such targets ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen flew to New York yesterday for talks where he will raise the scourge of landmines which still affect Cambodia. ...

Nine forest communities across Cambodia on Friday expressed concern about illegal land encroachment and logging operations as a European Union-funded sustainable forest management project which helped communities in wooded areas thrive comes to an end. ...

As Rhona Smith, the U.N.’s new special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, began her first official visit to the country Wednesday, leading human rights activists were at odds over how much her position could influence the situation on the ground. ...

Families who have been displaced by railway projects funded by the Asian Development Bank have filed a new complaint to an ADB review panel.Twenty-two people this week requested a new investigation by the ADB’s Compliance Review Panel. ...

A Cambodian soldier serving as a U.N. peacekeeper in the West African nation of Mali died on Monday after contracting malaria, an official said Tuesday. ...

The new Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for the United Nations in Cambodia, Rhona Smith, will touch down in Cambodia for the first time today and will stay until the 24th. Ms. Smith will examine the human rights situation in here and report her findings ...

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has asked UNICEF for more help for the poor and street children, on top of the $10 million it already gives for education and health. ...

Nget Khun, a 76-year-old known to some in Cambodia’s capital as “Grandma Mommy,” hasn’t had a quiet retirement. A World Bank spokesperson said the bank is in discussions with the government about “how to support the country’s development in a way that benefits all Cambodians.” ...

The Cambodia minister and other senior officials from the other countries Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) will gather this week for the 20th GMS Ministerial Conference to explore ways to boost infrastructure investment and development, said the press release of the ASIAN Development Bank. ...

Beijing is spreading its influence by stumping up the cash to build desperately needed infrastructure throughout Asia, but with little consideration for communities or the level of corruption. “Without infrastructure, you can’t revive,” said Cambodia’s Commerce Minister, Sun Chanthol. “We have been blamed for always ...

More than five months after being appointed as the U.N.’s new special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, Rhona Smith will make her first official visit to the country later this month, according to the government’s Human Rights Committee. ...