Aid and development

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 ...

The Chinese and South Korean governments have been granted permission to build 565 km of new railroad in Cambodia and have already conducted feasibility studies, according to a government report released yesterday. In its annual report, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport said that plans ...

Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong yesterday asked the UN’s visiting head of humanitarian affairs for extra support in preparing for future natural disasters, according to ministry spokesman Koy Kuong. ...

The Cambodian government floated the possibility of legislation to help clarify the roles of different actors involved in disaster management yesterday, the UN humanitarian chief said. ...

Toll Group has informed the Cambodian government that it will suspend all railway operations and lay off half of its Cambodian staff at the end of the month, according to a source familiar with the situation. The Australian logistics firm, which in partnership with Royal Group ...

One woman was killed, several villagers injured and more than 80 houses destroyed or badly damaged by storms that swept through the provinces of Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey and Mondulkiri over the weekend, provincial officials said yesterday. “I have never seen this kind of storm ...

Several days after a report that Australian transportation company Toll Holdings would abandon its stake in a joint venture to operate Cambodia’s railway system, the company remained silent Friday on its future plans here. “Let’s wait for the truth rather than make assumptions,” he added. ...

Royal Group chairman Kith Meng yesterday denied reports that Australian company Toll Holdings would be pulling out of a $140 million joint venture project to rehabilitate Cambodia’s railway system. Toll Holdings, in a joint venture with Royal Group, signed a 30-year contract with the government in ...

Australian logistics company Toll Group is allegedly pulling out of its 30-year concession to operate the Kingdom’s national railway, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Citing “reliable sources”, an SMH report said Toll would leave its US$145 million Toll Royal Railway joint venture with Cambodia’s Royal ...

China will continue to help Cambodia with its infrastructure and raise living standard of its people, said Pan Guangxue, Chinese ambassador to Cambodia here Monday. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of Cambodia’s 57 national road Battambang-Pailing section in Battambang, Pan said “The completion of the road ...

Cambodia’s Finance Minister Keat Chhon said Monday that the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is expected at 7 % this year. The forecast is higher than that of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank — all forecast at ...

More than two dozen fisheries experts from across the world have sent a letter of concern to the prime minister and Council of Ministers warning that if construction of the Lower Sesan 2 dam goes ahead as planned, it would negatively impact hundreds of thousands ...

Central banks in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plan to set up an “ASEAN bank” system that would make it easier for designated banks to set up subsidiaries and operate throughout the region, according to official sources. The plan to set up ASEAN banks is ...

How did the floods affect the industry late last year? Of course, we were worried when the floods began because many people were affected. When the floods continued, we did a survey and found that just about 10 per cent of MFI borrowers were affected. But ...

A lack of funds would prevent Cambodia registering some of the country’s specialty products as geographic indications (GI), a form of international recognition that has boosted the sales of other domestic products such as Kampong Speu palm sugar. The government would like to see Siem Reap ...