Bilateral development assistance
Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members
Australia Courted for Further Railway Funding
The government has asked Australia to provide more funding to help complete the rehabilitation of the dilapidated railway line between Phnom Penh and the Thai border, a spokesman said yesterday. Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong met with Lieutenant General John Sanderson, former chief of the Australian ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/australia-courted-for-further-railway-funding-9422/
Rail Operator Still Awaiting Approval for Cargo
Despite the inaugural train traveling between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville by a new rail link a month ago, no goods have yet been transported between the capital and the country’s largest port. Toll Royal Railways, a joint venture between Australia’s Toll Group and local conglomerate Royal ...
EU Ambassador Says Listen to Envoy's Advice
The European Union’s ambassador to Cambodia yesterday urged the government to heed the advice of the U.N.’s visiting human rights envoy, who has come under increasing rebuke from officials for his unflattering reports. Addressing a crowd of about 3,000, mostly garment factory workers, at Phnom Penh’s ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eu-ambassador-says-listen-to-envoys-advice-6582/
Tate and Lyle faces boycott over Cambodian sugar land grabbing claims
Following our investigation which highlighted allegations of human rights abuses in Cambodia’s sugar industry, activists are stepping up their campaign against sugar companies buying from the region. The call to boycott sugar company Tate and Lyle over allegations of illegal land seizures and human rights ...
Cambodian, U.S. leaders hold talks on old debt, human rights
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and visiting U.S. President Barack Obama met here on Monday to discuss a number of issues including old debt, human rights, democracy and forced evictions in Cambodia, a senior Cambodian official said. Hun Sen also raised the issue of old ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-11/20/c_123972558.htm
EU warns 8 nations to improve their fight against illegal fishing
he European Union is warning eight nations from around the world to improve their fight against illegal fishing or risk sanctions. EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki said Thursday that naming Belize, Cambodia, Fiji, Guinea, Panama, Sri Lanka, Togo and Vanuatu did not mean they were put ...
Leaders of Japan, China to Attend Asean, East Asia Summits
The leaders of two of Cambodia’s biggest donors, China and Japan, will attend the up coming Asean and East Asia summits in Phnom Penh next week, Prime Minister Hun Sen confirmed during a speech in Siem Reap province yesterday. “China Prime Minister [Wen Jiabao] will arrive ...
Australian Senate Pushes for Fair Elections in Cambodia
The Australian Senate yesterday urged the Cambodian government to run free and fair national elections next year without the “harassment or intimidation” of opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who remains in self-imposed exile avoiding an 11-year jail sentence. The appeal comes only days after the European Parliament ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/australian-senate-pushes-for-fair-elections-in-cambodia-4930/
Europe Adopts Resolution on Cambodian Rights Situation
Drawing from a long list of human rights abuses, the European Parliament has urged the Cambodian government to stop forced evictions, called on the European Commission (E.C.) to investigate the country’s controversial land concessions policy, and raised the prospect of sanctions. In a resolution passed Friday ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/europe-adopts-resolution-on-cambodian-rights-situation-4862/
European body sends a message
The European Parliament, representing one of the country’s largest donors, on Friday called for a moratorium on forced evictions, an overhaul of elections and even went so far as to suggest to the European Union that it suspend tariff-free imports of agricultural goods linked to ...
EU Bike Import Shows Huge Shifts
The import flow of bicycles (excluding e-bikes) into the European Union is changing rapidly between countries What is in particular striking is the massive upswing in imports from Cambodia. In 2011 the European Union imported 366,000 bikes from Cambodia which took the country to the 9th ...
Relocated families appeal to Oz
Thirty families uprooted by Cambodia’s railway rehabilitation project have filed a complaint with Australia’s highest human rights body, alleging rights abuses as a result of the partially AusAid-funded rail project. The complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission was made on behalf of the families by NGOs Equitable Cambodia and Inclusive ...
Garment Exports to EU Catching Up With US
The value of garment and shoe exports to the European Union are expected to reach the same level as those sent to the U.S. by 2013, an official from the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) said yesterday. Garment, textile and shoe exports to the E.U. ...
First certified organic rice heads for Europe
Five metric tonnes of certified organic rice — the first such shipment from Cambodia — will depart for the European Union this Friday. The shipment, exported from Cambodia by an entity called Green Trade, comprises three tonnes of brown rice and two tonnes of white jasmine ...
U.S. to aid Cambodia in agriculture, food security, environment
The United States will sign up to provide 18.5 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia to support the country’s priorities in agriculture, food security, and climate change adaptation and mitigation, according to a media release from the U.S. Embassy here on Thursday. The agreement will be signed ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/20/c_131863234.htm
Anti-Eviction Activists Ask EU, World Bank for Help
Residents of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak and Borei Keila communities delivered petitions to the offices of the European Union and World Bank yesterday in their ongoing attempts to enlist Cambodia’s aid donors in their efforts to have jailed anti-eviction activists released from Prey Sar prison. ...
Changing a culture of impunity
Despite the recent spate of high-profile arrests and deportations, analysts, attorneys and civil society groups are divided on whether the Kingdom is finally beginning to live down its reputation as a haven for the fugitives and criminals who have long been drawn to the country ...
Japan to Give $840,000 To Demining Projects
Japan signed an agreement Thursday with the Japan Mine Action Service (JMAS) to provide $839,363 to deining projects in Battambang province, which will benefit about 5,500 residents. Together with the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), which will receive almost half of the donations from Japan, JMAS ...
Soft loan from Sweden
Sweden loaned Cambodia US$57 million yesterday for economic country development and cooperation for the duration of 2012-2013. The agreement was made between Cambodia’s Economic Minister Keat Chhon and Swedish ambassador to Cambodia Anne Hoglund at the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) yesterday morning. Keat Chhon ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090658528/Business/soft-loan-from-sweden.html
Japanese bank to sign cooperation deal with Cambodian bank
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, one of the leading banks in Japan, will sign a memorandum of understanding with Cambodia’s leading Acleda Bank on Friday for business cooperation, according to a press release from Acleda on Thursday. Under the agreement, both banks will provide mutual support for ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2012-08/23/c_131803018.htm
Seoul Court Releases CEOs Tied to Local Projects
The chief executives of two companies behind major developments in Cambodia-who were jailed in Seoul in February for their part in a major South Korean financial scandal-have been partially cleared and released, according to a court official. Lee Sang-ho – the CEO of World City Co. ...
Rail Operator Restarts Train Services to Kampot
Toll Royal Railways (TRR), the current operator of Cambodia’s dilapidated rail network, restarted freight services to Kampot province yesterday, four months after it suspended its work. TRR’s resumption comes on the heals of a rival proposal to manage the train network by a consortium that includes one ...
Bank Would Back Firm to Take Over Rail Project
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), which has so far contributed $84 million toward the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s dilapidated railway network, said yesterday it would support a deal to drop the current railway operator if it means the new concessionaire would foot the $60 to $100 million needed ...
Firm says gold deposit discovered in Mondolkiri
Renaissance Minerals announced Friday it has discovered a high-grade gold deposit in an area in Mondolkiri province that lies within the Australian firm’s Cambodian Gold Project. The new find is located about 500 meters to the northeast of the company’s Okvau exploration zone. The announcement comes ...