Government
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Embassies abroad get reminder about graft
Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on all embassies and consulates to accelerate visa application procedures and cease charging “unofficial” fees, in an apparent bid to stamp out corruption abroad. ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/embassies-abroad-get-reminder-about-graft
Passports pledged anew
Migrant workers and students who have won scholarships abroad will now pay only a small tax fee for passports, according to a government sub-decree enacted this month that seeks to reprise a similar effort from 2008 widely perceived to have been ineffective. The latest sub-decree, signed ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/passports-pledged-anew
Cambodia sees 59 pct drop in dengue fever cases last year
Cambodia reported about 17,533 dengue fever cases in 2013, down 59 percent from the 42,362 cases in a year earlier, a health official said Monday. The disease killed 59 children, representing a 69 percent decrease from the 189 deaths in a year earlier, said Char Meng ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/health/2014-01/20/c_133059371.htm
Capital to be hit with blackouts
Rolling blackouts between three and nine hours long hit some locations in the capital, Kandal and Kampong Speu yesterday and will continue through Sunday, according to Electricite du Cambodge. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/capital-be-hit-blackouts
No union for workers in food biz
After the Ministry of Labour denied a food service union official registration, a union official is crying foul, asserting that authorities are discriminating against her group – a charge the government denies. The Cambodian Food and Service Worker Federation (CFSWF), a 4,000-member union representing workers in ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/no-union-workers-food-biz
More foreigners visit Cambodia's two world heritage sites in 2013
Cambodia’s two world heritage sites, the Angkor Wat temple and Preah Vihear temple, continued to see growth in the number of foreign tourists in 2013, tourism officials said on Sunday. The Angkor Wat temple welcomed about 2.23 million international visitors in the year, up 8 percent ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-01/12/c_133038342.htm
New districts signed into being by PM
Prime Minister Hun Sen approved the creation of three new districts for Phnom Penh on Wednesday. Four existing districts are being divided to create the new areas, dubbed Chbar Ampov, Prek Pnov and Chroy Changva. Phnom Penh City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche told the Post last ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-districts-signed-being-pm
Opposition Warns It May Block All Roads to Phnom Penh
The opposition CNRP on Thursday threatened to block traffic in and out of Phnom Penh along all major roads next month unless the government meets its demands, including new elections and Prime Minister Hun Sen’s resignation. Mao Monivann, deputy director of the CNRP’s executive committee, said ...
Khuon Narim and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/opposition-warns-it-may-block-all-roads-to-phnom-penh-49500/
Labor Unions agree to one time hike in wage
Around 40 Labor Unions in Cambodia have all agreed to pursue the third formula given by the Ministry of Labor, of a one time hike in minimum wage for footwear and garment factory employees in 2014. The Labor Unions agreed to pursue the hike in salary ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=MWNmYzg4Yjc2YjJ
Disability Groups Put Focus on Speech Therapy
The government’s Disability Action Council (DAC) on Monday announced that it would be including speech therapy in its strategic plan for the next four years to address the problem of speech and swallowing disorders. DAC Secretary-General Em Chan Makara said the decision comes after research, conducted ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/disability-groups-put-focus-on-speech-therapy-49400/
Factory Owners Slam Government Over Handling of Strikes
Members of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) said during a conference Sunday that they are “fed up” with the government for not controlling strikes by labor unions. “All of us have the same issue: illegal strikes,” Van Porphin, a member of GMAC’s executive committee, ...
Colin Meyn and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factory-owners-slam-government-over-handling-of-strikes-49352/
Interior Minister Says Electronic ID Cards to Become Standard
Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Wednesday said that the government had begun formalizing the process for obtaining electronic national identity cards in a bid to reduce graft carried out by local authorities. Speaking on the sidelines of the 10th Government Discussion Forum on Electronic Identity at ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/interior-minister-says-electronic-id-cards-to-become-standard-49161/
Suy Sem Set for Reinstatement as Minister of Mines and Energy
The National Assembly will vote this month to decide whether the ruling CPP’s recently removed Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy, Suy Sem, will be appointed as the new Minister of Mines and Energy, CPP lawmaker Chheang Vun said Friday. Mr. Sem’s return to his old, ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/suy-sem-set-for-reinstatement-as-minister-of-mines-and-energy-48820/
After Reform Promise, a Return to Statecraft as Usual
In an epic, six-hour address in September, Prime Minister Hun Sen apologized for the government’s many “problems” and promised a more reformist government over the next five years of his rule. Targeting corruption, deforestation and the lack of transparency across government sectors, the prime minister made ...
Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-reform-promise-a-return-to-statecraft-as-usual-48602/
Capital to launch trial bus route
Phnom Penh commuters fed up with navigating the city’s increasingly busy streets will have a chance to test a new public bus service beginning in February. Phnom Penh Municipality spokesman Long Dimanche yesterday confirmed a one-month trial of a bus service along a 7.5-kilometre route running ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/capital-launch-trial-bus-route
Local Groups Say They Must Protect Forest, as Government Fails
Local watchdog groups say they have been forced to take forest protection into their hands, due to a failure of government to do so. “As we have seen: the National Assembly, the Senate and the government do not work,” Ouch Leng, head of the Cambodian Human ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/local-grouos-say-they-must-protect-forest-as-government-fails/1800429.html
Transparency NGOs Call for CPP to End Parking Corruption
A group of NGOs released a statement Thursday calling on the CPP government of Prime Minister Hun Sen to begin its program of promised post-election reforms by ending the practice of overcharging for motorcycle parking outside of local markets. The Affiliated Network for Social Accountability-Cambodia, a ...
Ben Sokhean and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/transparency-ngos-call-for-cpp-to-end-parking-corruption-48213/
Gov’t pledges to cut red tape
In a bid to make Cambodia more business-friendly, the government will cut back on red tape and reduce industry membership costs, Sun Chanthol, the new minister of commerce, said yesterday. Speaking to representatives from the private sector at a conference at the InterContinental Hotel in Phnom ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/gov%E2%80%99t-pledges-cut-red-tape
Govt may sell medical services to Cambodia
The government will likely sell a Japanese-style medical service to Cambodia in a package that includes an emergency care center, a medical graduate school and an insurance system. The government has decided to seek a market for the medical service in emerging nations in the Association ...
The Japan News Staff
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0000762523
New fees, political crisis mean fewer businesses
The number of new businesses registering in Cambodia continued to plummet through the third quarter of this year amid tightened rules for start-ups and waning investor confidence following the still-unresolved national elections. Data from the Ministry of Commerce yesterday showed that 853 new businesses registered with ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/new-fees-political-crisis-mean-fewer-businesses
Report Finds Disaster Committee Severely Lacking
The government’s National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) fails to meet regularly and is void of an annual budget to cover its operations while most of its staff members are totally unaware of their job description, according to a report released in March and funded ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/report-finds-disaster-committee-severely-lacking-43998/
Sar Kheng Says ‘Change’ Needs to Go Beyond New Names
Officiating a ceremony on Friday to welcome the country’s new minister of post and telecommunications, Interior Minister Sar Kheng reminded the audience of government officials that the public expects change—as was demonstrated in their election support for the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). Mr. Kheng, who ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sar-kheng-says-change-needs-to-go-beyond-new-names-43848/
Hun Sen urges new Finance Minister to eliminate money under the table
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday urged the Ministry of Economy and Finance to eliminate the practice of bribery or greasing the palm to facilitate development projects funded by the Ministry itself or the National Treasury. New Finance Minister, Oun Porn Monirath, successor of Keat Chhon, ...
Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=NjQ2NTYwYTA4NTI#sthash.XqY6JrsS.dpuf
Democratic Reform Needed to Ensure Growth, Prosperity
With the long-ruling CPP sworn in to govern for another five years despite the opposition CNRP abstaining from sitting in the National Assembly due to election irregularities, a new report argues that imminent threats to Cambodia’s future development can only be overcome with significant government ...
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/democratic-reform-needed-to-ensure-growth-prosperity-43690/