Ministries and other national bodies

Another group of 33 Cambodian laborers, who were trafficked to work as illegal fishermen on fishing boats in Indonesia, returned home on Tuesday afternoon, Xinhua quoted Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman Chum Sounry said. ...

Drivers in Cambodia have a lot to contend with: cavernous potholes, weaving motorcycles kicking up clouds of choking dust and noodle hawkers trundling down the “fast” lane. Now motorists may find their pockets as ravaged as their nerves, after officials announced a fivefold bump in ...

Demand for driving lessons is growing along with car ownership in Cambodia. ...

The government is strengthening the quality of the civil service, warning that staff who fall short of standards will be let go and that so-called “ghost workers” will be eliminated, Interior Minister Sar Kheng said yesterday. ...

Concerned Koh Kong residents, joined by environmental activists from the campaign group Mother Nature, began an ambitious protest last weekend in the province’s Andong Teuk commune. ...

A group of Cambodia’s businessmen will attend the upcoming trade exhibition in Macau this year, said ministry of commerce. ...

The European Chamber of Commerce on Monday signed an agreement with the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction to help it come up with development standards to increase investment in the Kingdom. ...

About 80 villagers and activists in Koh Kong province on Monday boarded and attempted to tow away five sand-dredging barges as part of their ongoing campaign against two firms they accuse of polluting a local waterway and causing riverbank collapses, activists and officials said. ...

Cambodia may not achieve its goal of attracting 5 million tourists this year due to the slowdown in the global economy, according to the Ministry of Tourism. ...

The effort to reduce violence against children in Cambodia is gaining speed, with a boost from the Religion Ministry, which will highlight the Buddhist value of nonviolence as well as the practice of meditation in the country’s schools, according to ministry officials. ...

The Cambodian Rice Federation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday to receive $450,000 in financial support from the government to increase Cambodia’s rice exports, according to a federation official. ...

Alcohol consumption in Cambodia is high enough that authorities are now drafting legislation for a drinking age. But as the country and its economy develop, many here say it has become an essential part of their social—and professional—lives. ...

The government has set aside some $33 million to finish rebuilding Cambodia’s northern rail line by late next year, according to the Transportation Ministry, reanimating a long-delayed and over-budget project that had been one of the Asian Development Bank’s priorities in the country. ...

Cambodia’s Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction had granted licenses to 915 construction projects with a total investment of 808 million U.S. dollars in the first six months of 2015, an official said Thursday.       ...

The Mines and Energy Ministry on Thursday announced the winners of its public auction to award four sand dredging licenses along a stretch of the Mekong River where there is a buildup of silt. ...

A deal signed Thursday with the China Law Society will give Justice Ministry officials access to scholarships at Chinese universities and see Beijing fund the construction of a legal research center in Cambodia, ministry spokesman Chin Malin said. ...

Following a meeting at the Labor Ministry’s conflict resolution department Thursday, the Capitol Tours bus company and five of its drivers—who claim they were fired for attempting to organize a union—remained deadlocked over their reinstatement. ...

The governor of the National Bank of Cambodia hit out at unlicensed microfinance institutions or lenders, who he said were the reason why interest rates in the sector were high, despite interest rates falling among registered lenders. ...

Each year, more than a quarter of possible teaching hours are lost at the primary school level – the equivalent of 50.5 school days – due to teacher absences, missing class hours and the high number of school holidays, a report released yesterday found. ...

Some 5,000 security personnel were called to the headquarters of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit in Kandal province on Thursday, where the premier said they must protect Cambodia’s territorial integrity, according to a number of officials in attendance. ...

For more than 30 years, Svay Simorn, a social worker in Phnom Penh, has cared for her daughter and grandson, both of whom are mentally disabled. Over time, she has experienced discrimination and isolation. ...

Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol warned students at the elite Royal School of Administration on Tuesday: “We cannot live on a rich island in the middle of a poor ocean.” ...

Environment Minister Say Sam Al was in Preah Vihear province on Sunday to help inaugurate Try Pheap’s newest project, a $52-million rubber plantation and additional facilities that the timber magnate has cleared thousands of hectares of protected forest to build. ...

In their continuing effort to stop illegal fishing in Cambodian waters, the Kingdom’s Immigration Police impounded 11 Vietnamese fishing boats last week caught in Cambodian territorial waters off Koh Kong province and ordered their 39 crew members deported. ...