Ministries and other national bodies

More than a year after Prime Minister Hun Sen’s land-titling program was suspended in the lead-up to the 2013 national elections, it has still not begun again despite government claims that the program would resume following the poll. The unfinished work left by student volunteers, who ...

In June, after about a quarter million migrant workers returned from their jobs in Thailand fearing the military junta’s crackdown on illegal labor, Cambodia’s government announced it had slashed the cost of emigration, and would charge workers only $49 to legally return to work across ...

Try Chamroeun, a 19-year-old student, was planting soybeans on Sunday along with fellow villagers on a two-hectare (half-acre) plot in Preah Vihear province, when soldier Poeun Tash demanded that he stop, claiming the land belonged to his military boss, according to London-based environmental advocacy group ...

Cambodian cashew nut exports are on the rise, yet export figures are still well below production numbers, with thousands of tonnes unaccounted for. Unshelled cashew nut exports totalled close to $2.5 million in the first six months of the year, with 2,800 tonnes exported, a rise ...

The National Bank of Cambodia on Wednesday hosted its first annual macroeconomic conference, outlining the need to ensure Cambodia’s rapidly growing financial sector supports sustainable and inclusive economic growth while managing greater risks. Cambodia’s banking and microfinance sectors have seen enormous growth in recent years with ...

Staff from the Ministry of Cults and Religion seized promotional material from a man claiming to be a Buddhist “god” on Sunday in Kandal province, officials said yesterday. The operation was conducted at Reachea pagoda, where Thean Vuthy had been promoting himself as the fifth and ...

Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, recorded 445 demonstrations during a year-long political crisis following disputed election results in July last year, municipal police chief Chuon Sovann said Wednesday. “About 445 protests had occurred in the past 12 months, including more than 80 protests led by the ...

The opposition leader Sam Rainsy on Wednesday sent a letter attaching with draft Constitution amendment to Interior Minister Sar Kheng. ...

Discussion about hydroelectric power plants in Cambodia tends to focus on two aspects, both negative. One is an overdependence on Chinese investment, and the other is a relatively disproportionate focus on the environmental impacts of hydroelectric power. Chinese Influence Most hydroelectric power plants in Cambodia are associated ...

Expatriates working in Cambodia without labour identification cards will face fines and even jail when strict new enforcement kicks in, according to a July 16 joint statement from the ministries of interior and labour. Government inspectors, the statement adds, will begin checking workplaces immediately in order ...

NGOs say the Ministry of Labour’s use of its own method for determining the garment industry’s minimum wage is risking a repeat of the tensions that exploded in violent protests in January, when authorities killed at least five people. More than six months after the Labour ...

The Ministry of Agriculture on Tuesday released a draft policy to strengthen the agriculture sector by educating farmers on how to gain greater access to markets and increase their productivity by using sustainable farming methods. The Agriculture Extension Policy, drafted in cooperation with USAID, aims to ...

Villagers representing families in Kratie province petitioned the South Korean Embassy for help Tuesday in their dispute with a South Korean agribusiness firm, after hearing that the embassy had lodged a complaint against them. About 200 villagers from Kratie province’s Snuol district are staying at the ...

In what is the government’s latest pledge to hold tycoons and foreign investors to account for their business practices, the Ministry of Environment will begin assessing existing and proposed economic land concessions (ELCs), cancelling or rejecting those that have negative social or environment impacts, a ...

For as long as Cambodian rice farmers can remember, their product has had an unsavory reputation. Tough, dirty and unmilled, it was impossible to cook evenly, and even farmers traded it as pig feed in exchange for cash or better-quality rice from Vietnam or Thailand. Even ...

Cambodia has seen a 91 percent rise in dry rubber exports in the first half of 2014 as revenue from the exports increased only 3 percent due to global decline of rubber prices. During the January-June period this year, the country exported 42,190 tons of dry ...

Lt Gen Hun Manet, son of Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, is among the entourage of Cambodia’s deputy premier and defence minister Gen Tea Banh who arrived in Thailand Monday. ...

Cambodia never offered sanctuary for red-shirt members or those fleeing arrest in Thailand, Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh said Tuesday. Gen Tea Banh said Cambodian law does not allow any movement from other countries to hold political activities in the country. The whereabouts of red-shirt members ...

Deputy Prime Minister General Tea Banh, who is also Cambodia’s defence minister and led the delegation of senior commanders, said Thailand under the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) was addressing the country’s problems in a clear manner and with the aim of restoring ...

Rights groups have called on the government to increase tax rates for logging companies amid the latest domestic revenue figures. According to the Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, timber exports produced $9.4 million in government tax revenue during the first half of the year, up ...

Cambodia’s world heritage Preah Vihear temple greeted 63,610 local and foreign visitors in the first half of 2014, up 53 percent over the same period last year, a report from the Preah Vihear provincial tourism department showed Tuesday. The temple welcomed about 56,870 local visitors and ...

The ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC) has postponed a two-day meeting with telecom firms to discuss a controversial draft law leaked to the Post last week, which details the government’s plan to assert control over the industry. A representative from one telecommunications provider who wished ...

A ground-breaking ceremony at Poipet in Cambodia on July 25 marked the start of work to reinstate the cross-border railway to Thailand. The ceremony was attended by Cambodia’s Deputy Minister for Public Works & Transport Guang Sun and Thailand’s Permanent Secretary for Transport Soithip Traisuth. ...

Svay Pak is an internationally known district for child sex in Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh, where foreign men come to seek sex with young girls. According to a 2011 study by ECPAT Cambodia, around 75 percent of the victims of sex trafficking within Cambodia were children. The study also ...