Aid and development

After initially dragging its feet, the Japanese government has agreed to take part in a massive industrial development project in Myanmar. The decision was clearly influenced by China’s active involvement in infrastructure development in the Mekong region, which also includes Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. ...

High electricity prices, low wages, limited irrigation and modest rice and crop prices were among the top concerns raised by government officials at a workshop in Phnom Penh on Monday to help the World Bank decide how to spend its money on the country over ...

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet the leaders of five South-east Asian countries in Tokyo on Saturday to adopt a new three-year development strategy for the Mekong region — a move that will rival China’s rising economic clout in Asia. The plan is likely to ...

The World Bank on Monday began two weeks of meetings to help it decide whether to start funding new projects in Cambodia after a four-year freeze. ...

Roads built with low-interest policy loans from South Korea have opened to traffic in Cambodia, the finance ministry said Monday. The roads near the Vietnamese border in the Southern part of Cambodia, are part of a broader infrastructure project undertaken by Phnom Penh to meet ...

AEON Mall, a subsidiary of Japan’s largest retailer AEON Group, recently launched its first shopping mall in Indonesia. The Japanese government has also decided to provide Overseas Development Assistance to the country. It includes renovation of aging signal equipments for the Myanmar railways. ...

Hang Sal has 2 hectares of fertile land he cannot farm. ...

Human Rights Watch says the World Bank is not doing enough to help people in Cambodia and elsewhere who are facing government harassment for speaking out against Bank-funded projects gone bad. ...

Military police in Ratanakkiri province working with the NGO Wildlife Alliance confiscated 40 kg of bushmeat from two vendors at a Banlung City market Thursday morning but let the women go with a warning. ...

Months away from the end of a 15-year plan to improve education in the country, officials announced Wednesday that Cambodia still needs to make strides to meet adult literacy benchmarks and set new priorities focusing on the country’s youngest students. ...

Cambodia’s central bank is seeking to promote the use of the riel and wean the Kingdom’s economy off its dependence on the US dollar, a senior banking official said on Tuesday. Speaking at a luncheon organized by the British Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia (BritCham), Chea ...

The governments of Sweden and Switzerland have pledged more than $15 million to the strengthening of sub-national governance in Cambodia from 2015 to 2017. ...

The Cambodian government is trying to weather criticism over the lack of transparency concerning the proposed draft law on NGOs that is now in the hands of the National Assembly. But another important draft law regulating trade unions is being heavily criticized for violating international ...

The portion of the Cambodian population that is undernourished has been reduced by half since 1990, meeting a U.N. Millennium Development Goal ahead of the deadline at the end of the year, according to a report released Thursday. ...

China’s growing influence in Laos, marked by expanded investment and trade, has led some international agencies to warn Laos about an unhealthy financial dependence on China.  Analysts say Laos is looking to balance China’s influence by drawing support from longstanding backer Vietnam as well as ...

Some 100,000 prospective patients could lose opportunity for eye care due to Australia scaling back its foreign aid budget. But as Fred Hollows and other Australian NGOs brace themselves for the cuts, the Australian government is forging ahead with a $40 million scheme to relocate ...

A court prosecutor and a squadron of police will today descend on a hectare of land in Phnom Penh in order to properly divide it among 163 families who claim that one woman monopolized the plot after they won it in a land dispute, an ...

In its first annual review of efforts by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to make amends for the thousands of Cambodian families hurt by a railway project the lender is funding, the bank’s Compliance Review Panel said it was making progress on five of six ...

Korea will use its first Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the preservation and restoration of foreign cultural properties to restore ancient Cambodian temples. According to the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Korea will invest $4 million in ODA to Preah ...

With 35 nations signing on as founding members, Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has a reported US$50 billion foundation from which it plans to spur infrastructure growth in developing Asian countries with projects that include hydroelectric facilities.​ ...

Cambodia on Monday inaugurated the Japan-funded Tsubasa Bridge across the Mekong River. The suspension bridge, built at a cost of ¥119.4 million, allows National Route 1 to cross the Mekong River. At 2,215 meters, it is the longest bridge in Cambodia. ...

Before the sun casts its light on the Neak Loeung ferry port every morning, commuters begin arriving in buses and cars, on motorbikes and horse-carts. At the crest of the riverbank, chains slung between concrete pillars bring them to a halt. And there, even before their ...

The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank, and the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) announced Thursday that they will provide Acleda Bank with a $110 million loan to finance rural and micro-businesses, especially agricultural enterprises. ...

The World Bank’s private sector arm may be doing more harm than good when it invests in private equity firms, banks and other financial intermediaries, global development group Oxfam said in a report on Wednesday. In one project indirectly sponsored by the bank’s International Finance Corporation ...