Aid and development

More than 150 residents evicted from Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district to make way for a railway rehabilitation project filed a complaint yesterday with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) office in Phnom Penh, one of two principal financiers for the project, saying their relocation site ...

Families forced to move by the rehabilitation of the Phnom Penh stretch of the national railway petitioned the Asian Development Bank yesterday for help with their livelihoods. About 50 people gathered outside the ADB’s office to submit a petition representing more than 160 families relocated to ...

A weekend meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Hun Sen concluded with millions in loans and aid agreed to and a clear message: neither nation is in a rush to deal with the prickly South China Sea dispute. At the Saturday one on ...

Cambodia’s exports to the European Union increased by 40 per cent to a total value of US$1.3 billion in 2011, according to European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, who is in Phnom Penh for the ASEAN-EU Business Summit. “I think it is fair to say ...

About half of the land concessions granted since 1994 are in the hands of Chinese companies, according to data released yesterday by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. Ouch Leng, CCHR land reform project coordinator, said that from 1994 to 2012, the Cambodian government granted 4,615,745 ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday urged the economic leaders of the Asean bloc to go through with a plan to double a bailout pool, funded largely by China, Japan and South Korea, to prevent future financial crises in the region. Opening the Asean Finance ...

Chinese President Hu Jintao asked close economically Cambodia on Saturday not to push talks on the vexed issue of the South China Sea “too fast” as he pledged to double bilateral trade to $5 billion and announced fresh aid to the impoverished country. Cambodia holds the ...

President Hu Jintao today becomes the first Chinese head of state to visit Cambodia in 12 years, in a trip days before Southeast Asian leaders gather for talks that may touch on territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Hu’s visit, which lasts until April 2, ...

A shortage of workers, particularly those with skills, is the biggest threat to economic growth in Cambodia today, Sok Chenda, secretary general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), said yesterday. Speaking at the Greater Mekong Subregion Investment Policy Forum organized by the Organization ...

The European Union has launched a $4.5 million program aimed at increasing food security among indigenous minorities in Ratanakkiri province, including those whose land has been affected by the growing number of economic land concessions in the area. Speaking on the sidelines of the launch in ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), one of the two major financiers of the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s railways, yesterday rejected criticism that they were providing insufficient resettlement packages to residents displaced by the project. On Friday, the ADB released a cost study that showed that the compensation ...

China’s presence in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh is obvious. The city skyline is dotted by Chinese-funded projects. But the full extent of Beijing’s influence here will be tested when President Hu Jintao visits this week ahead of a regional summit. The timing of Hu’s visit ...

Chinese Ambassador Pan Guangxue yesterday said that China opposes the contentious issue of the South China Sea being discussed by countries that are not directly involved in the regional maritime dispute. Speaking at a news conference at the Chinese Embassy to discuss Chinese President Hu Jintao’s ...

Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong said yesterday that the contentious issue of the South China Sea should not become an international issue, but must be solved among the region’s neighbors. Speaking to reporters at the Foreign Affairs Ministry alongside visiting Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr, ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s nephew Hun To has emphatically denied all allegations published by Australian newspaper The Age about his involvement in a heroin-trafficking and money-laundering syndicate targeting Australia. Hun To, whose wife and children reside in Melbourne, Australia, told the Post yesterday that he plans ...

The European Union had provided more than US$265,000 to a land reform project that aimed to shift political will and opinion towards land and human rights in Cambodia, development partners said yesterday. The Cambodian Centre for Human Rights will spearhead the Cambodian Land Law Reform Project, ...

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told his Australian counterpart Bob Carr Monday that the two countries should strengthen their economic and business ties.

”Political and diplomatic relations between the two countries are good but economic and business relations should be equally good,” he said after the meeting. ...

Housing rights groups yesterday criticized resettlement packages paid out by the government and Asian Development Bank (ADB) to people displaced by the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s railways, saying the packages do not account for growing inflation. A joint statement issued yesterday by Housing Rights Task Force, ...

Visiting Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr on Monday praised Cambodia for its rapid economic growth in recent years and political stability. Bob Carr said that Australian Development Assistance Program has allocated 77 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia in 2011-2012, focusing on agriculture development, health, services, infrastructure ...

The contractor in charge of rebuilding Cambodia’s national railway has been cutting corners on the health and safety of its workers, according to a report published yesterday by the Asian Development Bank. TSO-AS & Nawarath, a French-Thai joint venture, was reportedly found to have grossly violated ...

Cambodia, in its role as Asean chair, has decided that the thorny issue of the South China Sea will not be on the agenda at next month’s Asean Summit in Phnom Penh, CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap announced yesterday. “Cambodia is a neutral country, and based on ...

Having already spent millions of dollars, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will not foot the additional $70 to $90 million in funds still needed to complete more than half of Cambodia’s railway rehabilitation project, an official from the ADB said yesterday. Toll Royal Railways, a joint venture ...

The rehabilitation of Cambodia’s dilapidated railway network is nearly six months behind schedule, and with more than a year’s worth of work to do, the project is running out of money, a consultant for the Ministry of Public Works and Transport said yesterday. Paul Power, a ...

In a ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation yesterday, the Japanese government officially granted aid of 974 million yen (about US$12.2 million) to the Cambodian government. The Honorable Masafumi Kuroki, Japanese ambassador to Cambodia, said his country had made the donation to ...