National government

The government on Saturday inaugurated a new Royal Cambodian Armed Forces brigade to serve a disputed part of the Cambodia-Laos border. Defence Minister General Tea Banh presided over a ceremony to mark the establishment of infantry brigade 128, which comes under the control of RCAF’s ...

The government plans to borrow an additional 1 billion through Special Drawing Rights (SDR), or $1.4 billion, to meet its planned budget for next year, bringing the total national debt to $7.6 billion by the end of 2018 compared to the current level of $6.2 ...

The Ministry of Information is inspecting the content of TV commercials accused of damaging social values following a request for intervention from the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. ...

The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia has denied accusations that its election activities were connected to attempts to foment a popular uprising or “colour revolution”. ...

The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a national budget for next year that calls for more than $6 billion in spending, the largest increase ever proposed for the Kingdom, with big boosts for education, defence and the arts. ...

The Japanese government on Friday granted $3.2 million to Cambodia through the World Food Programme to provide meals to students in vulnerable communities. ...

The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has announced plans to strengthen the image of Sihanoukville’s coast as a tourism destination, with authorities expecting the province to surpass the two-million mark in tourist arrivals in 2017. ...

One year after lifting a decade-old ban on snakehead fish farming, the number of aquatic farms growing the fish remains surprisingly low, with the high cost of feeding them driving many away from what could otherwise be a very lucrative business. ...

Japan has pledged to continue providing aid to Cambodia, including support to prepare for the general election next year. Foreign Affairs Minister Prak Sokhonn yesterday met with Iwao Horii, the Japanese vice-minister of foreign affairs. ...

Employers – public and private – which do not meet their obligations to take on disabled people are to face cash penalties, the Social Affairs Ministry says. Ministry secretary of state Sem Sokha said yesterday that for the first time the government had prepared guidance on ...

Illegal logging within the Prey Lang protected forest decreased significantly year-on-year over a six-month period ending in February, collected data show, though forest-clearing in the area remains rampant. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen branded the opposition party a “terrorist network” yesterday, while vowing to “cut the arms and legs” of the alleged operation and its purported attempt at “colour revolution” after the disputed 2013 national election. ...

A new centre will launch in April 2018 to train Cambodian migrant workers to work with elderly people in Japan. On Tuesday, Minister of Labour Ith Samheng said the Japanese company Procast Asia would establish the centre. ...

The Ministry of Industry and Handicraft will cooperate with two South Korean high-tech companies to establish a technology centre with the aim of facilitating the exchange of information on the development of optic cable technology. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s lawyer yesterday filed a lawsuit against former Deputy Prime Minister Lu Lay Sreng for defamation over comments made during a private phone conversation leaked to social media. ...

United States Senator Ted Cruz issued an ultimatum to Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday, pledging to work to ban top officials from travelling to the US unless jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha is released. ...

Military Police officials apprehended two suspects in Takeo province’s Angkor Borei district on Monday for attempting to transport around 1 tonne of wildlife, including turtles, birds and rare snakes, to Vietnam. ...

With trade and investment between Cambodia and China steadily increasing, Chinese currency-backed settlements for cross-border commerce have sharply taken off as the Kingdom continues to deepen its economic dependency on the northern giant, a central bank official said yesterday. ...

In the latest attempt to push its narrative of an impending “colour revolution”, the Press and Quick Reaction Unit released a sweeping, nearly hourlong video, broadcast on multiple television stations on Monday night, attempting to link the opposition’s activities to protest movements in the Middle ...

Defence Minister General Tea Banh yesterday told Asean member states and eight other countries how the recent government crackdown on media outlets and NGOs was legal and justified. ...

The Environment Ministry is to request the creation of six new protected areas to safeguard biodiversity and boost conservation in the country. Tim Sitha, deputy director of the general department of conservation, said the ministry has been studying the potential to establish the new areas.  ...

The government had reclassified four economic land concessions as state property, reclaiming almost 20,000 hectares earlier handed to private firms to use for rubber plantations. ...

The central bank officially held a soft launch last Friday for its central shared switch mechanism, which connects account records of three of the Kingdom’s leading financial institutions, allowing them to operate ATM and point-of-sale (POS) terminals in tandem. ...

Villagers and NGOs have accused local authorities, including forestry and environmental officials, of accepting bribes from illegal loggers in exchange for unfettered logging expeditions in Preah Vihear province’s Preah Roka protected forest. ...