Aid and development

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday applauded the recent creation of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), saying it could ease Cambodia’s dependence on institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). BRICS member nations Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa announced ...

The Business Secretary, Vince Cable, must force British clothing companies to investigate whether garments sourced from Cambodia are made at factories with fair labour practices, the unions have warned. Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the Trade Union Congress, has written to Mr Cable warning that ...

The 87th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was celebrated on Friday with the participation of about 300 Chinese and military officers as well as foreign military attaches. The event, hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia, was presided over by ...

Discussion about hydroelectric power plants in Cambodia tends to focus on two aspects, both negative. One is an overdependence on Chinese investment, and the other is a relatively disproportionate focus on the environmental impacts of hydroelectric power. Chinese Influence Most hydroelectric power plants in Cambodia are associated ...

The Ministry of Agriculture on Tuesday released a draft policy to strengthen the agriculture sector by educating farmers on how to gain greater access to markets and increase their productivity by using sustainable farming methods. The Agriculture Extension Policy, drafted in cooperation with USAID, aims to ...

Villagers from Koh Kong province delivered petitions in Phnom Penh on Friday seeking international intervention in their land dispute with powerful businessman and CPP senator Ly Yong Phat, alleging that his Koh Kong Special Economic Zone (SEZ) was encroaching on their farmland. Five representatives of the ...

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 ...

The German ambassador, Joachim Baron von Marschall, signed an agreement with the permanent Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon yesterday for €47 million ($64 million) in aid. The grant will be used for developing projects within the ministries of health, rural development and women’s affairs. ...

United Nations human rights expert for Cambodia Surya Subedi has welcomed the political breakthrough reached between the two main political parties in Cambodia. “I welcome the agreement reached between both parties that finally breaks the deadlock that has gripped the country for almost a year,” said ...

A Chinese company is preparing a memorandum of understanding with Ministry of Commerce (MOC) pledging to buy 100,000 tons of rice from Cambodia, according to Sun Chanthol, Minister of Commerce. The intention was made clear during a meeting between the Minister of Commerce and Song Xiaoguo, ...

The Japanese government welcomed the political deal reached between ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party on July 22, according to a statement issued late Tuesday by Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.   ...

Cambodian people consider Vietnam a big friend that supported and provided valuable assistance for Cambodia during the course of history, the King said while receiving outgoing Vietnamese ambassador Ngo Anh Dung in capital Phnom Penh on July 18. He appreciated Dung’s contributions to cementing bilateral relations ...

Cambodia’s efforts to tackle HIV/AIDS over the past 15 years have won it praise, and put it well ahead of many other low-income countries.  But some of those most involved in the fight against AIDS are worried that an array of challenges could see some of ...

Phnom Penh’s first solar-powered building looks for all the world like a cube of colored Lego blocks dropped in a factory lot on the city’s industrial outskirts. Covered in some 1,350 solar panels — including large panes of multi-colored solar glass — the three-story building ...

Italy has demanded that the European Union restrict Cambodia’s duty-free import status, as concerns over the survival of that country’s rice sector appear to be reaching a fever pitch. According to rice industry website Oryza, the Italian government has officially submitted a request to the EU ...

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 ...

Cambodia on Friday afternoon issued a statement to reject a news report that the country had given approval to China’s Taiwan to open a trade center in its territory. According to the statement posted on its website, the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation ...

Nearly a month after Cambodia’s second universal periodic review (UPR) of its human rights situation at the U.N. in Geneva, rights groups met in Phnom Penh on Thursday to discuss how they can work with the government to ensure that the 163 recommendations it accepted ...

The Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MPWT) and the Phnom Penh municipality are preparing a ban on heavy trucks crossing the Cambodian-Japanese Friendship Bridge after cracks were discovered in a pillar on the bridge’s eastern end, a City Hall official confirmed yesterday. At a meeting ...

A joint committee of Cambodian and Chinese technical analysts will begin reviewing black box data today retrieved from the Chinese-built Z-9 helicopter that crashed early this week, killing four military personnel, officials said on Thursday. The Z-9 helicopter, which the government purchased from China last year ...

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on Wednesday praised China for its rapid development in all fields, particularly in the economic front. “China’s fast development, especially in the economic sector, is due to the right and wise leadership of the current Chinese government,” ...

International legal experts are expressing deep concern over proposed changes to Cambodia’s legal system that critics say hand over too much power to the executive.  At a meeting in Phnom Penh Tuesday, a group recommended the three judicial reform laws should be returned to parliament ...

United Nations rights envoy for Cambodia Surya Subedi on Wednesday urged all sides to immediately exercise utmost calm and restraint in the wake of alarming reports of violence following opposition protests in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. “Democracy depends on respect, not violence,” he said in a ...

Australians are among donors to a school charity in Cambodia where the director has been charged with arranging for foreign volunteers to sexually abuse teenage students. The scandal has focused new attention on the management of Cambodia’s orphanages and children’s charities and the deception used by ...