Economy and commerce
Economic policy and administration
Cambodia needs 26.5 bln USD for next five-year development plan
The Cambodian Council of Ministers on Friday approved a five-year development strategic plan (2014-2018), which needs financial resources of 26.5 billion U.S. dollars to achieve the target, according to a news statement released after a weekly cabinet meeting. The plan is designed to develop infrastructure, ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-05/30/c_133374027.htm
Gov’t orders halt to Koh Pich expansion
The owner and developer of Koh Pich in Phnom Penh has been ordered by the government to scale back its expansion of the island, according to the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology. According to a statement posted to the ministry’s website on Wednesday, the Overseas ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-orders-halt-to-koh-pich-expansion-60029/
As verdicts loom in 25 protest related cases, acquittals sought
Verdicts will be handed down Friday in two garment protest-related cases that rights groups say were built on a weak body of evidence. The two cases occurred months apart but followed a similar narrative: Garment workers fed up with their calls for a higher monthly minimum ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-verdicts-loom-in-25-protest-related-cases-acquittals-sought-60056/
Monks protest over institute
A group of about 100 people, including 50 or so monks, attempted to march yesterday to protest outside Phnom Penh’s Buddhist Institute, but were thwarted by droves of military police and district security guards on Sisowath Quay. No violence occurred as Independent Monk Network leader But ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/monks-protest-over-institute
Villagers defy ban, march to Gov’t buildings
More than 200 people from the group Land Communities for Peace marched from the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) to the National Assembly on Thursday in defiance of a ban issued by City Hall. Phnom Penh deputy governor Khuong Sreng said the protest would not be allowed after ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-defy-ban-march-to-govt-buildings-60037/
Rice industry caught in flux
The rice industry’s quest for greater quality at lower cost reached a dead end yesterday at a conference in Phnom Penh, with exporters and farmers polarised on how to achieve greater returns for the industry. The workshop, titled “Improving Rice Value Chain and Enhancing Farmers’ Livelihoods”, ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-industry-caught-flux
Boy caught up in protests faces 11 years in jail
As several hundred garment workers from the SL Garment factory pelted police with rocks during a protest near the Stung Meanchey pagoda in November, Men Sok Sambath, a 14-year-old scrap collector, decided to join the crowd. “I saw other people throwing rocks at the [police] truck, ...
Mech Dara and George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/boy-caught-up-in-protests-faces-11-years-in-jail-59934/
Borey River Town developer eyes second, $100 million property investment
Following the success of Borey River Town, the investor behind it has announced plans to inject $100 million into developing a new project. General manager Teng Rith says that construction of Borey River Town is now 50 per cent complete, with some 80 per cent of ...
De Castle Royal partners with The Place for first-class gym workout
The management of the 32-storey De Castle Royal condominium project in BKK1 has announced that the The Place, widely regarded as Phnom Penh’s only independent five-star gym, will manage the development’s fitness centre. This means the air-conditioned De Castle Royal gym will be fully fitted out ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/de-castle-royal-partners-place-first-class-gym-workout
Grand Twins again delays bourse listing
Grand Twins International (Cambodia) Co. Ltd., a Phnom Penh-based manufacturer of clothes for U.S. athletic brands, has again delayed its listing on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX), officials said Wednesday. The company was expected to list Thursday, but technical problems prevented it from doing so, according ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/grand-twins-again-delays-bourse-listing-59958/
Electronics workers call for child care
About 700 workers at a Svay Rieng province electronics factory were to demonstrate for the third day today after management refused their demands for access to child care and the reinstatement of five union leaders. The provincial department of labour yesterday proved unable to sway management ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/electronics-workers-call-child-care
Ocean garment workers on strike after factory halts operations
About 1,000 workers protested outside Ocean Garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district on Wednesday to demand compensation for being out of work while the factory suspends its operations for a month due to flagging demand from buyers, a union leader said. Workers have been ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ocean-garment-workers-on-strike-after-factory-halts-operations-59954/
Construction, sales of Casa Meridian to get under way this weekend
The Hong Kong-invested Casa Meridian project plans to launch sales and start construction at the end of this month. Casa Meridian is a skyscraper condominium development on Diamond Island (Koh Pich), which developers there hope will become a modern commercial and residential area of Phnom Penh ...
Siv Meng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/construction-sales-casa-meridian-get-under-way-weekend
Australian firm bets on Bavet
Australian-listed Cell Aquaculture (CAQ) – a onetime a marine technology company – has purchased a casino on the Cambodia-Vietnam border in a bid to generate much-needed revenue after nearing bankruptcy in 2013. On May 26, CAQ announced in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange that ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/australian-firm-bets-bavet
State regulator warned Smart over luring qb subscribers
The Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) last week warned mobile operator Smart that it could face legal action for attempting to lure customers away from rival operator qb, and ordered Smart to resolve the issue “immediately,” according to a letter from TRC to Smart’s CEO ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/state-regulator-warned-smart-over-qb-dispute-59813/
NGOs lobby China, companies over Sesan dam
A group of 15 local and international rights groups Tuesday sent a slew of letters to the Chinese government and companies involved in the Lower Sesan II hydropower dam in Stung Treng province seeking a halt to dam construction due to serious environmental and social ...
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngos-lobby-china-companies-over-sesan-dam-59807/
Police raid store, seize fake beauty products
Police raided a discount store in Phnom Penh and seized more than 1,000 bottles of beauty products on Monday after receiving a tip that the shop was selling counterfeit goods, an official said. Police confiscated 872 bottles of shower gel and 280 bottles of whitening cream ...
Hay Pisey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-raid-store-seize-fake-beauty-products-59803/
Institute land not leased: gov’t
Responding to reported fears among staff that the destruction of a wall at Phnom Penh’s Buddhist Institute could herald the piecemeal sale of the grounds to adjacent casino operator NagaCorp, the government yesterday chalked the alarm up to a simple misunderstanding. According to the Ministry of ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/institute-land-not-leased-gov%E2%80%99t
Brands, international unions press Cambodian government on labor issues
Representatives from some of the world’s largest fashion brands and the leader of one of the world’s biggest union organizations met this week with Cambodian officials and local clothing manufacturers to demand better treatment and improve workplace safety for the country’s estimated 600,000 garment workers. Garment ...
Robert Carmichael
http://www.voanews.com/content/brands-international-unions-press-government-on-labor-issues/1923596.html
CSX gets help from Thailand
Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) will partner with the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) to bolster technical knowledge and potential investment into Cambodia’s nascent stock market. An agreement between the two financial institutions was signed in Phnom Penh yesterday at the CSX office, a deal that will ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/csx-gets-help-thailand
Institute feeling crowded
Construction work at the site of Phnom Penh’s Buddhist Institute by Hong Kong-listed casino operator NagaCorp has caused concern among staff that the large development is driving away students. In recent days, a wall separating the institute from Hun Sen Park in Chamkarmon district’s Tonle Bassac ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/institute-feeling-crowded
Workers turn models on political catwalk
About 150 garment workers turned out to the Phnom Penh offices of the United Sisterhood Alliance NGO on Sunday to watch a politically charged fashion show entitled “Beautiful Clothes, Ugly Reality.” Aimed to highlight “the income gap between Cambodian garment workers and the selected CEOs of ...
Mech Dara and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/workers-turn-models-on-political-catwalk-59540/
More unionists charged on eve of brand meeting
The Takeo Provincial Court charged eight union representatives with incitement Sunday for taking part in a garment factory strike, bringing to 17 the number of unionists charged this month alone. The latest in the spate of recent arrests came just ahead of today’s high-level meeting between ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/more-unionists-charged-on-eve-of-brand-meeting-59538/
Lawmaker blasts illegal logging in Stung Treng
Two draft laws on judicial reform were easily passed by the single-party National Assembly on Friday but the session was overshadowed by a rookie lawmaker’s attack on lax enforcement of forestry laws in Stung Treng province. On the fourth day of the third plenary session of ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmaker-blasts-illegal-logging-in-s-treng-59494/