Economy and commerce

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said Monday they have taken the necessary steps to investigate claims that the world’s largest mining company, BHP Billiton, bribed officials in Cambodia and played down reports that it had mishandled one the country’s largest cases in corporate corruption. “The ...

A court official at the Kompong Speu Provincial Court said Monday that a total of 16 union representatives have been charged with damaging property and inciting violence during a protest outside a garment factory earlier this month, twice the number of arrests previously confirmed. Provincial Judge ...

Economic cooperation between Cambodia and Hong Kong is on the rise, while the introduction of a new visa extension is also evidence of strengthening relations, officials say. On June 1, Cambodian officials will be able to travel to Hong Kong without a visa and stay ...

One of Japan’s largest banks will open a representative office in July due to burgeoning interest in Cambodia most likely by Japanese investors, a bank official said yesterday. Mizuho Financial Group will open a small office in Phnom Penh Tower on Monivong Boulevard on July 8, ...

Cambodia expects to welcome 4.5 million tourists by 2015, increasing from 3.5 million in 2012, thanks to its cultural properties, Prime Minister Hun Sen said. “Undoubtedly, heritage and cultural tourism are playing a substantial part in this growth. Twenty years ago, when Angkor was inscribed on ...

Reports have today emerged criminal allegations that BHP Billiton employees bribed officials in Cambodia and China were not thoroughly investigated by the Australian Federal Police, with the matter instead being passed over to corporate regulator ASIC, which also ran no in-depth investigation. The documents released ...

About two months after Phnom Penh-based Tonlesap Airlines suspended its chartered flights, the local carrier’s future seems as cloudy as ever. Vann Chanty, the director of air transport with Cambodia’s State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, said yesterday that the airline had not resumed operations and that ...

Cassava farmers in Banteay Meanchey province had to import seeds from Thailand this season in response to rapidly-changing weather conditions that interfered with seed growth. Te Haing, a cassava farmer in Banteay Meanchey who planted more than 1,000 hectares this season, told the Post yesterday that ...

An Indian business delegation visiting Cambodia hopes to boost bilateral cooperation in trade, tourism and transport, officials said yesterday. Meeting with key Cambodian officials, Director General of the Indian Chamber of Commerce said the Kingdom presented many opportunities for  India. ...

More than 700 villagers from five provinces yesterday protested in front of the provincial government headquarters in Kompong Chhnang after losing their community forests to large agro-industry firms. Organized by the Cambodian Grassroots People’s Assembly- a network of communities that includes forestry and land activists as ...

Cambodia has eyed to become a precious stone and jewelry hub in Southeast Asia region in the near future, Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said Thursday. Speaking at the opening of the 5th international gems and jewelry fair here, the minister said that with the fast ...

Cambodia and China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Thursday vowed to further enhance cooperation in trade, investment, and tourism for mutual benefits. The commitment was made during a meeting between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Peng Qinghua, secretary of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region’s CPC Committee, ...

Taiwan-based Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank Ltd plans to open a representative office in Cambodia, joining an increasing number of Taiwanese banks and garment industry investors in the Kingdom. Shanghai Commercial & Savings would enter a crowded sector, behind other Taiwanese-based financial intuitions [sic]. Hua ...

While Cambodia’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector has seen progress, a huge gap between ICT development in urban and rural areas still exists, industry experts said in Phnom Penh yesterday. ...

Cambodian diplomats and a range of government officials can now travel to Hong Kong without a visa and stay for 14 days under a new exemption agreement with the commercial Chinese city, officials said. The new exemption took effect on June 1, according to a statement ...

Diners may soon be able to leave their wallets at home the next time they decide to eat at a restaurant in Phnom Penh. Starting next week, WING, a Cambodian mobile payment service provider, will introduce a new service that allows people to pay their restaurant ...

More than 800 street vendors and drivers of taxis, tuk-tuks and motorcycles working the border area between Banteay Meanchey province and Thailand yesterday marched through Poipet City calling for an end to the rampant corruption being carried out by border officials. Migrant workers who cross ...

The world’s poorest nations have won an eight-year extension of a waiver on intellectual property rules at a session of the World Trade Organisation’s TRIPS Council. A session of the 159-nation WTO’s TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) Council has ruled the waiver for 34 ...

The Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, the kingdom’s largest shipping facility, has seen a 14 percent increase in cargo shipment in the first five months of this year thanks to growing business activities, a port senior official said Wednesday. During January-May period this year, the state-owned port had ...

The foreign ministers of Thailand and Cambodia signed a memorandum of understanding in Phnom Penh yesterday reconfirming their commitment to developing their joint border with new economic zones, checkpoints and a 1,800-MW power plant. “We have agreed to create four international checkpoints to improve trade ...

Okhna Try Pheap’s ballooning empire of exclusive natural resource licences and concessions has been expanded even further with the granting of a special economic zone (SEZ) in Ratanakkiri province. The May 27 issue of the Royal Gazette reveals Pheap was granted a 136-hectare SEZ in O’Yadav ...

Motorbikes, vegetables, iPhones, artwork, or even land on which to build a house – a quick browse through website 7Makara.com gives the impression of a Cambodian eBay or Amazon. The difference, however, is that you can’t complete the transaction from the convenience of your bedroom. In ...

Thousands of Cambodians cross the border via illegal checkpoints into Thailand every year. Some end up working in slave-like conditions on illegal fishing trawlers. Others work in factories while getting paid under the table. It is often a last resort fraught with danger and uncertainty and ...

In a country where corruption is as rife as it is in Cambodia, global brands must work with governments to ensure garment factories are safe and working conditions legal, international NGO Transparency International (TI) said yesterday. In Cambodia, where two workers were killed when a ceiling ...