Ministries and other national bodies

In a startling admission yesterday, the Ministry of Agriculture finally acknowledged that the Kingdom’s forest cover has decreased rapidly over the past few decades, down from a high of 73 percent in 1965 to now, where only 49.5 percent of the country’s forests remain. ...

USAID and the US Treasury Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) have launched a joint initiative with the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) to improve fiscal transparency and accountability in the management of public finances, according to a press release issued yesterday.   ...

A notorious fraudster with whom Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana allegedly had a business relationship has turned out to be a violent critic of Prime Minister Hun Sen.     ...

With a $148 million injection of capital through a Share Purchase Agreement, National Bank of Canada (NBC) now holds a 90 percent stake in ABA Bank, according to ABA and NBC executives, who ensured that the agreement will not alter ABA Bank’s strategy but enhance ...

To help improve the logistics sector, the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation has announced it will set up the Logistics Committee, which will work to improve the flow of goods in the Kingdom. ...

The total number of telephone subscriptions in Cambodia surpassed the 21-million mark earlier this year   ...

An environmental youth group has asked the National Assembly’s head of the Environment and Water Resource Commission, Pol Hom, to visit and investigate the pollution that will be caused by construction of Laos’ Don Sahong hydropower dam. ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) will send officials to South Korea next month to further investigate the case of former ambassador Suth Dina, who was arrested and detained at Prey Sar prison early last month on corruption charges. ...

Two convicted Cambodian-American fraudsters were named among five shareholders, including Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana, in a shadowy offshore company based in the British Virgin Islands in the latest trove of “Panama Papers,” which were released on Tuesday.   ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday confirmed official announcements made on Monday that about 70,000 cubic meters of timber confiscated by the National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) would be put up for auction, reneging on his previous statement that the timber would go to the Education Ministry ...

The Labor Ministry has called for improvements to workplace safety in response to an International Labor Organization (ILO) report stating that 181 workers died in more than 30,000 workplace accidents across the Kingdom last year, according to officials. ...

Forty factories were registered during the first three months of the year, creating over 12,000 jobs, according to new data by the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft. ...

Twenty-nine Cambodian men were arrested while logging rosewood in the mountains of Thailand’s Prachinburi province on Wednesday, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Friday.  ...

In order to promote and protect the rights of migrants and migrant workers, Cambodia and the Philippines held their first bilateral roundtable meeting over migration earlier this week. ...

Cambodia is hosting the two-day 19th ASEAN Valuers Association (AVA) Congress, the first time it has been held in the Kingdom. ...

The Ministry of Industry and Handicraft and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) yesterday signed an agreement for facilitating patent grants to obtain protection in Cambodia. ...

Two more refugees being held by Australia in an offshore detention facility have volunteered to relocate to Cambodia, an immigration official said on Wednesday, a sign that the teetering resettlement deal between the two countries has yet to run its course. ...

At least 78 trucks carrying mining materials including gravel, sand and soil were stopped on National Road 3 by traffic police on Tuesday in cooperation with Mining Ministry officials. ...

Five international financial institutions will join forces with the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) to hold the 1st Mekong Financial Inclusion Forum in Phnom Penh in July to explore and discuss the differences, similarities and opportunities for achieving financial inclusion in this unique region. ...

An awning at the NagaWorld casino which extends three meters onto a public sidewalk was ordered to be destroyed yesterday by the Minister of Land Management, according to officials. ...

Power went out for more than a full day in Stung Treng province starting on Monday afternoon due to a storm in Laos, officials said yesterday, only worsening the situation for residents coping with scorching temperatures.   ...

In a bid to increase visitor numbers, the government has agreed to issue three-year multiple-entry visas to Chinese, South Korean and Japanese tourists later this year, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said yesterday. ...

Loans and deposits in the Kingdom’s crowded microfinance sector rose about 10 percent during the first quarter of the year from the same period last year, according to a report from the Cambodia Microfinance Association, which put the rise down to an expanding economy. ...

Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vattana has weighed in on a prolonged land dispute at the Battambang Provincial Court that has seen three protestors shot and another imprisoned. ...