Khmer translated by ODC

Cambodia’s tourism industry is expanding beyond the iconic temples of Siem Reap and its white-sand beaches to the country’s little-explored northeast, with domestic tourists leading the surge, provincial data showed yesterday.  ...

Cambodian democracy regressed last year, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2015 Democracy Index, which indicates that the Kingdom is “on the cusp of the ‘authoritarian regime’ category”. ...

A visiting delegation from the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong met with relevant ministries and stakeholders yesterday to discuss the progress of Cambodia’s trade union law and the issues surrounding industrial relations in the Kingdom. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen urged logistics companies transporting heavy goods to switch from container truck shipping to rail shipments, increasing cost efficiency while sparing the nation’s roads from load damage. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned opposition leaders they will face ruling party rallies at home if he is met with anti-government demonstrations during his high-profile trip to the US next month, a threat that raised the spectre of pro-government protests in October that ended ...

Cambodia’s rice industry faces a ple­thora of challenges—both internal and external—that have led to low prices and prevented ex­porters from achieving a lofty tonnage target set by the government in 2010, Prime Minister Hun­ Sen said on Monday. ...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry launched a swing through Southeast Asia en route to China on Jan. 24 with visits to Laos and Cambodia, part of a broader U.S. push to improve relations with the region and counterbalance China’s rising influence. ...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is being pressed to ensure that democratic reforms and human rights are at the top of the agenda when he meets here Tuesday with Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, leader of the ruling Cambodia People’s Party (CPP). ...

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) yesterday said that it would divide between itself and the Cambodian government the duties of processing and potentially relocating the scores of Montagnard asylum seekers whose claims the government finally agreed to hear on Wednesday. ...

Cambodia canceled two offshore licenses of Malaysia’s operator Resourceful Petroleum, due to violations of the concession agreement and not performing obligations of petroleum agreements. The two licenses were for development and operations of offshore oil Block B and Block F, which has sufficient resources of oil ...

The U.S. and Cambodia have so far forged a good relationship, but there is room for improvement, a Cambodian lawmaker said Wednesday. Hun Many, who spoke at the U.S.-Korean Institute under Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, said Cambodia needs more friends than ...

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has started work with Cambodia on patent applications, a move which will allow firms from both countries to hasten the process. ...

The National Election Committee (NEC) is confronting challenges this week regarding new voter registration, paying particularly close attention to problems arising from the dissemination of new voter ID cards and allowing better access to monks who wish to obtain them. ...

The Cambodian government on Monday launched its first nationwide policy for child development, aiming to enhance education, promote social welfare and strengthen protection for children in the Kingdom. ...

Authorities from the government’s new anti-logging task force swooped into Stung Treng yesterday and inspected timber stockpiles belonging to the Kingdom’s most prominent logging magnate, Try Pheap, who has been accused of reaping immense profits from the clear-cutting of Cambodian forests for years. ...

The Ministry of Rural Development, UNICEF and NGO Plan International Cambodia on Monday launched a new project to improve access to sanitation for 2,000 families in Ratanakkiri province. ...

Experts on Wednesday urged Cambodia to move away from large-scale hydropower and coal projects and toward more environmentally friendly sources of power or risk long-term energy insecurity, following the launch of a report by investment and advisory firm Mekong Strategic Partners in Phnom Penh. ...

In a seeming about-face, the government has backed away from its looming deadline to deport more than 100 Montagnards currently seeking asylum in Cambodia, instead pledging to “expedite” the process of assessing their refugee status. ...

All Nippon Airways (ANA) – Japan’s largest carrier – will begin flying between Tokyo and Phnom Penh on September 1, the spokesman for the Secretariat of State of Civil Aviation told Khmer Times yesterday, adding that the first direct flight from Japan to Cambodia will ...

The Agriculture Ministry yesterday launched a strategy for the developing the sector, aiming to expand exports of agricultural products to spur economic growth through sustainable farming practices.Agriculture Minister Ouk Rabun said the government has implemented many strategies and development plans to boost the agriculture sector ...

Cambodia is lagging behind its target to achieve nationwide electrification by 2020, the head of the country’s electricity regulator warned Tuesday. ...

Some 3,000 Vietnamese women and children were suspected to have been trafficked to Laos and Cambodia in 2015, the Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper reported.The women were sold into prostitution and children were forced into hard physical labor. ...

France’s BRED Bank, one of the largest lenders in Europe, plans to open its first branch in Cambodia by the end of the year as it expands its network in ASEAN, its CEO said, adding that it aims to assist  small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) ...

Investment in the construction industry in 2015 amounted to $3.3 billion – a 33.14 per cent increase from the same period in 2014, which was only $2.5 billion.Seng Lot, spokesperson for the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction (MLMUPC) said on Tuesday that ...