Government
International relations
Alternative to TPP shows no sign of activity: analysts
While Prime Minister Hun Sen has publicly expressed his distaste for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was dealt a critical blow by US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the agreement, economists say there has been little visible progress in cementing ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/air-cargo-volume-soars-again
Level the playing field: PM to World Trade Organization
Prime Minister Hun Sen accused the World Trade Organization (WTO) of operating under a double standard yesterday, claiming the international trade body was applying pressure on small developing economies while overlooking the regulatory breaches of its more developed member states. ...
Kali Kotoski and Touch Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/level-playing-field-pm-world-trade-organization
Make RCEP a success, says Hun Sen
Cambodia is committed to join hands with other Asean member states to make the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) a success after the cancellation of the US-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), said Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday. ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36681/make-rcep-a-success--says-hun-sen/
Cambodia, Vietnam build ties
Cambodia and Vietnam have vowed to build closer ties and improve border trade after three days of closed-door meetings. Chum Sounry, the spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, said officials from the two countries spent time discussing how to work together on agriculture, education, culture, energy, ...
Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36532/cambodia--vietnam-build-ties/
Thais ‘offer trains’ for new rail link
The Thai government has made a verbal commitment to supply four trains to Cambodia for a railway set to connect the neighbouring countries by early July, said Ly Borin, undersecretary of state at the Public Works and Transport Ministry and director of the Cambodia Railroad ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thais-offer-trains-new-rail-link
Parliaments share auditing experience
The Cambodian, Laos, and Vietnam parliaments have shared a stage to discuss their expenditure experiences and improve transparency and auditing of public investment in areas such as infrastructure. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36507/parliaments-share-auditing-experience/
Thailand rail link held up by compensation claims
Government officials are working to settle compensation claims for 50 families living alongside a kilometer of rail track in Poipet town, to allow a rail link between Cambodia and Thailand to open by the middle of the year. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36509/thailand-rail-link-held-up-by-compensation-claims/
PM offers Myanmar a ‘win-win’
During the inauguration of a pagoda in Prey Veng on Friday, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced he will send several advisers to Myanmar to share lessons from his “Win-Win” policy, which he credits with ending Cambodia’s civil war. ...
Touch Sokha and Cristina Maza
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-offers-myanmar-win-win
Cambodia eases deeper into China’s defensive embrace
Cambodia currently faces significant foreign policy challenges amid great power rivalry in the Asia-Pacific. Against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s uncertain and unpredictable foreign policy in the region, China’s economic, military, and strategic influence over Cambodia continues to grow. China is now Cambodia’s ...
East Asia Forum
https://aecnewstoday.com/2017/cambodia-eases-deeper-into-chinas-defensive-embrace/
Myanmar urges closer ties with military
Myanmar’s army chiefs want to increase cooperation with Cambodia in a bid to build closer bilateral ties, according to a senior military official. ...
Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36280/myanmar-urges-closer-ties-with-military/
Church underpins Cambodia-Vietnam ties
For decades, political and economic upheaval in Southeast Asia separated ethnic Vietnamese communities in the United States from those in Asia, as their lives followed radically divergent trajectories. ...
Cristina Maza
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/church-underpins-cambodia-vietnam-ties
Let’s talks about debt: US envoy
US ambassador to Cambodia William A. Heidt says he wants the Cambodian government to sit down and talk about a multi-million-dollar debt owed to America from the days before the Khmer Rouge regime. ...
Ven Rathavong
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36077/let---s-talks-about-debt--us-envoy/
PM calls out US again for bombs
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday used a speaking slot at a children’s rights conference to once again castigate the United States, urging the UN to “increase its volume” in condemning the US for dropping bombs that maimed and killed children. ...
Touch Sokha and Erin Handley
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-calls-out-us-again-bombs
Joint Cambodia, Laos tour packages
Cambodia and Laos, in a bid to promote bilateral tourism, will create joint tour packages to facilitate the visit of tourists to both countries. The tour packages will focus on provinces, in both countries, that lie on either side of the Mekong river. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/36005/joint-cambodia--laos-tour-packages/
In further shift, military cancels drill with Australia
Breaking further from traditional partners, Cambodia has aborted a planned military exercise with Australia, a defense official said on Tuesday, tilting the country’s allegiances once again toward China. ...
Aun Pheap and Michael Dickison
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/in-further-shift-military-cancels-drill-with-australia-125943/
Laos Dismisses Concerns Over Hydropower Project
High-ranking Laos officials said on Wednesday that the proposed Pak Beng hydropower dam will not have a major impact on downstream communities, claiming that they would take time to study its potential impacts. ...
Sun Narin
http://www.voacambodia.com/a/laos-dismisses-concerns-over-hydropower-project/3735377.html
PM slams US take on Party Law
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday launched a not-so-thinly-veiled attack on the US over its recent public airing of concerns over the newly amended Law on Political Parties, arguing that its past bombing of Cambodia left it no moral high ground from which to criticise the ...
Touch Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-slams-us-take-party-law
Border row amid state visit by Laos
Lao President Bounnhang Vorachith is expected to arrive in Phnom Penh today for a state visit to the Kingdom. Meanwhile 600 kilometres away, Cambodian and Lao troops remain in a stand-off after a territorial dispute over a Cambodian-built road near the countries’ border. ...
Shaun Turton and Touch Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/border-row-amid-state-visit-laos
Forces build up on Laos border over construction dispute
More than 400 Laotian soldiers have crossed into Cambodian territory to block military engineers from constructing a road, sparking an armed buildup in the border area over the past two weeks, Cambodian officials said on Sunday. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/forces-build-up-on-laos-border-over-construction-dispute-125410/
US congressman urges CPP to drop party-busting bill
A U.S. congressman on Wednesday called on the CPP to abandon an imminent vote on legislation that would give the Cambodian government sweeping new powers to abolish its political rivals, the same day the U.S. ambassador met with CNRP acting President Kem Sokha to discuss ...
Ben Sokhean and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-congressman-urges-cpp-to-drop-party-busting-bill-125317/
A year after letter to Hun Sen, U.S. Senator says little sign of progress in Cambodia
The senators say they wrote as friends of Cambodia, who wish to see a strong relationship between the two countries but who are troubled by the increased social and political turmoil in Cambodia. ...
Governments target trafficking
Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos are joining forces to boost their fight against human trafficking in the region, the kingdom’s National Police chief said yesterday. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35519/governments-target-trafficking/
Donors silent as CPP plots party-busting legislation
The National Assembly will vote on Monday on landmark legislation giving the government unprecedented new powers to suspend and dissolve its political rivals, and with barely a note of concern from the democracies helping bankroll the country. ...
Ben Sokhean and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/donors-silent-as-cpp-plots-party-busting-legislation-125228/
Russian FSB director meets PM
Nikolai Patrushev, director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and a top adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, met with Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday to discuss ways the two countries can combat terrorism and transnational crime, the prime minister announced via Facebook. ...
Cristina Maza
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/russian-fsb-director-meets-pm