Economy and commerce

ASEAN needs to seek more funds from development partners to develop infrastructure and connectivity in order to narrow the gap among member states, said Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday at the opening ceremony of the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting. The Premier said strengthening the connectivity ...

Countries in the region need to move faster to reduce the economic gaps between Asean nations if they are to successfully integrate and establish the Asean Economic Community by 2015, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday. Speaking at the 44th Asean Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Siem ...

Cambodia’s largest mobile phone company CamGSM Co. Ltd., which operates under the MobiTel brand name, has been accused by three other firms in the market of refusing to pay more than $1.5 million owed to them in interconnection fees. In a letter to Telecommunications Minister So Khun dated ...

US-listed corporations in Cambodia, including Chevron, Total, CNOOC and ConocoPhillips, that are engaged in extractive industries are now required to comply with additional transparency rules. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) implemented new regulations last week, two years after the legislation was initially passed by Congress. Cambodian monitors ...

Overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong, Brunei and Cambodia who need to shuttle between these countries and the Philippines can now avail themselves of the multiple travel exit clearance (MTEC), according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). The Memorandum Circular No. 7 issued by POEA ...

Malaysia-based GO Communications Group has acquired 100 percent of a public relations agency in Cambodia as a part of its ambitious plan to control a leading PR network in Southeast Asia, chief executive officer Michael De Kretser said In terms of foreign direct investment in Cambodia, ...

Trade between Vietnam and Cambodia exceeded US$1.9 billion (Bt60 billion) in the first seven months of this year, the High Quality Vietnamese Goods Business Association said yesterday The news conference coincided with Thursday’s opening of a five-day trade fair promoting high-quality Vietnamese goods and the association’s ...

The economic, social and environmental consequences of the construction of dams on the Mekong River could be devastating.. ANU research suggests that millions of people are in danger of going hungry if the dams proceed. Replacing fish as a protein source with alternative food would use ...

Tyre manufacturer MRF Ltd was looking at acquiring rubber estates to meet the company’s long-term raw material requirements and to bring down costs, a top official said. “We are scouting for acquisitions of estates abroad to meet long-term rubber needs,” said Koshy Varghese, executive vice-president, marketing, ...

Younger Southeast Asian countries will look for a means of filling the financial gap between poorer mainland ASEAN members and more developed states this week during the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting, which kicked off today. At the five-day meeting which Prime Minister Hun Sen was ...

Rocket Internet, the successful German-based internet copycat, says that despite its interest in Cambodia’s e-commerce market, tax issues in the Kingdom had forced it to “reposition” its projects. In July, the company launched an online retail site, saying it planned to invest millions in the country’s ...

Workers striking at Ocean Garment factory say they still fear for their safety after being ordered back to work on Friday, where a manager accused of sexual harassment continues to work. More than 2,500 workers at the Phnom Penh factory – which supplies retail giant Gap ...

While tourism numbers in Cambodia are growing rapidly, visitors might increasingly have a hard time finding a restaurant to their liking since the country is experiencing a shortage of qualified personnel, especially waiters and chefs, accordingly to the Cambodia Restaurant Association. “The tourism industry needs at ...

One of Japan’s biggest banks, Sumimoto Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) signed agreement with Acleda Bank to share market data and banking services. The deal will give Japanese investors information on the economy and offer other banking services and is aimed at improving bilateral trade and investment. The deal would ...

Cambodia’s General Department of Customs and Excise will begin certifying firms it deems trustworthy so that their products will have easier passage across the country’s borders, officials have said. The government is working on a program to provide “authorized economic operators” or “AEO” status on approved ...

Danish brewer Carlsberg has vowed to improve the working conditions of Angkor and Carlsberg beer promoters in Cambodia as it tries to stamp out coerced workplace drinking. The company announced late last week it had joined forces with the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) to ...

More than 2,000 garment factory workers protested Saturday and plan to strike today in support of union organizers who face prosecution in court for alleged “incitement” over demonstrations at the plant, a union representative said yesterday. The workers at Ocean Garment factory began demonstrating on Aug. ...

The secong Cambodia International Textile and Garment Exhibition from August 17 to 20 aimed to boost the Kingdom’s all-important garment sector by highlighting high-tech machinery which could boost factories’ productivity and bottom lines. Over 2,700 square meters at the Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Center, the ...

After a day sewing, treating fabrics and ironing, workers steam out of the Maurea Garment Factory in a suburb of Phnom Penh. Unilke some other factories, this one doesn’t have to deal with work slowdowns due to electricity outages of high monthly energy bills since ...

About 50 villagers in Kandal province protested yesterday in an attempt to halt the activities of a Vietnamese sand-dredging company, which they said has caused a huge swath of their land to slide into the Mekong River. Residents of Kien Svay district’s Koh Prak village said ...

For the first time since the bourse went alive in April, no trading took place on the Cambodian Securities Exchange on Friday. The share price of the bourse’s sole listing, the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA), remained flat at 6,450 riel ($1.58) at the end ...

Social enterprise may be more than just a buzzword if last Saturday’s attendance at Cambodia’s second-ever conference on the matter was anything to judge by. The 350 person-plus crowd of attendees consisted predominately of Cambodians, for whom doing business appears to be about more than merely ...

The vision regional leaders have for an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015 may become clearer after this week’s Economic Ministers meeting in Siem Reap, but not everyone has a rose-coloured view of what such integration might mean for Cambodia. Students who have not mastered the ...

China’s Export-Import Bank officials proposed to provide loans of up to US$70 million for rice milling in an effort to aid Cambodia’s efforts to export a million tonnes of rice by 2015, government officials said yesterday. The bank’s officials visited Cambodia last week to met with Cambodian ...