Ministries and other national bodies

European Union Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said he has no plans to launch an investigation into Cambodia’s much-criticized sugarcane plantations after a meeting with Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. Bottom line: Cambodia’s free trade benefits to Europe are safe for ...

Thousands of workers at the Wing Star Shoes factory demonstrated Tuesday for the second day in a row outside the factory in Kom­pong Speu province after a meeting between union and company officials failed to reach an agreement that would end an ongoing strike, worker ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) released a statement Tuesday in which Hor Sothoun, the eldest son of Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong, defended himself against complaints of nepotism, abuse of power and mishandling of overtime bonuses in his position as permanent secretary-general in his father’s ministry. The ...

A day after a bipartisan election reform committee put the neutrality of the armed forces into a list of proposed areas of reform, Defence Minister Tea Banh reiterated that the armed forces would not tolerate opposition supporters calling for Hun Sen to step down. ...

Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh on Tuesday offered grave warnings to anyone who “tries to topple the current government.” The minister appeared to be addressing the opposition, which has said it will call for mass demonstrations if election reform is not enacted by the ruling Cambodian ...

The Japanese government will sign up to provide 11.7 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia next week to help the country in its health sector development, according to a news statement from the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday. ...

The Cambodian Ministry of Defense on Tuesday afternoon sent four helicopters and two ships to search on its sea for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. The plane vanished over south Vietnam on March 8. “At the behest of the head of the government, the Navy ...

The European Union (EU) Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht started his visit to Cambodia on Tuesday to bolster bilateral trade link. De Gucht held talks with his Cambodian counterpart Sun Chanthol and both sides agreed to further promote bilateral trade relations for mutual benefits, Ken Ratha, ...

The long-awaited draft law on the Supreme Council of Magistracy continues the practice of secret votes and gives Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana key powers, according to excerpts from the document, but it would reduce the position of King Norodom Sihamoni if passed in its ...

When he assumed leadership of Phnom Penh municipality in May 2013, Pa Socheatvong vowed to be a governor who would get things done. His predecessor, Kep Chuktema, oversaw the filling in of Boeng Kak lake and the mass eviction of its residents. A similar scenario unfolded ...

Thailand has denied its forces shot dead 12 Cambodian loggers who crossed the border illegally on March 5, Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said yesterday. During a meeting with Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative Long Visalo, Thai ambassador Touchayoot Pakdi said Thai soldiers had made ...

Provincial Ministry of Labour officials will today meet with union representatives and management at the factory where a ceiling collapse killed two workers last May, in an attempt to resolve a strike. About 5,000 employees at Wing Star Shoes, an Asics supplier, walked off the job ...

Cambodia’s bicycle exports to the European Union are expected to decline this year after changes to EU trade preferences in early January excluded Malaysian and Singaporean parts from the scheme. Under EU preferences, a bicycle is considered a Cambodian product when at least 30 per cent ...

The newly appointed local distributor of German carmaker Porsche broke ground yesterday on a $2 million dealership that is set to open within eight months across from the Phnom Penh International Airport on Russian Boulevard. Equipped with four service bays, the planned Porsche Centre Phnom Penh ...

Members of the government, military and civil society met on Monday to form a working group to undertake security reform and reporting. The working group will have 26 members from a wide spectrum of government and nongovernment agencies to produce policy recommendations to Cambodia’s leaders. The formation ...

A 2-year-old girl from southwestern Kampot province died of H5N1 human avian influenza on Friday, bringing the number of cases to nine so far this year, said a joint statement from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Cambodian Health Ministry on Monday. ...

A Cambodian human rights group today asked the caretaker government of Thailand to end executions of Cambodia civilians after 15 Cambodians were shot dead this month. In its statement released today, The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (“CCHR”) expresses its deep concern regarding the continued arbitrary ...

European Union Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht will visit Cambodia this week, the European Commission announced, with rights groups hoping that land grabbing related to sugar plantations will be high on the agenda. Following bilateral meetings in Brussels last week between Cambodia and the EU during ...

The European Union has called on Cambodia to release 21 jailed activists and protesters and told the government during high level talks held here this week that a failure to reform the judiciary and electoral process could have severe consequences for the ruling party by ...

It took three illegal border crossings, several bribed officials and six months in an overcrowded detention centre before Mohammed Ibrahim* finally arrived in Cambodia. Four years later, the ethnic Rohingya, a victim of violence and oppression in strife-torn Rakhine state in Myanmar’s west, is one of ...

The government on Friday finalized guidelines aimed at reducing the number of children who work in the fisheries sector and do not attend school, the Min­istry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the NGO World Vision said in a statement. World Vision said the guidelines, which it ...

A new draft law on the Status of Judges and Prosecutors does not prohibit the judiciary from affiliation with political parties and allows Supreme Court judges and prosecutors to work beyond the mandatory retirement age of 60, when all other judges will be expected to ...

The 8th EU-Cambodia Joint Committee was held in Brussels on Thursday, preceded by the subgroups on development cooperation, on trade and on institution building, administrative reform, legal and judicial reform, governance and human rights, the European bloc said in a press release. The two sides ...

Corruption is weighing on businesses, and the avenues to address it are limited, according to Cambodia’s leading employer association. At a joint conference with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Cambodian Federation of Employers (CAMFEBA) in Phnom Penh yesterday, the employer representative called on the ...