News

More than four years after the violent forced eviction of about 800 families from Dey Krahorm in the capital’s high-rent Tonle Bassac commune, small-scale construction is finally beginning on the site. In the past month, the skeletons of a future barbecue restaurant and a beer garden ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday that he will pay an official visit to China early next month to meet with new Chinese leaders for talks on further enhancing bilateral relations. “I hope that new Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang ...

A BHP Billiton mining deal being investigated for alleged corruption was personally overseen by Cambodian strongman Hun Sen, diplomatic cables reveal. The miner’s aborted attempt to establish a bauxite mine in Cambodia, and its hospitality program for Chinese officials at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, are at ...

Lao PDR says it will consider joining Thailand and Cambodia’s single visa scheme launched late last year saying it will help to boost Mekong region tourism. A senior official at the consular department in Vientiane told the Vientiane Times, last week, that the government would hold ...

The Prime Minister said Tuesday there will be another discussion about the increase of minimum wages for factory workers. Speaking at an inauguration ceremony for the Toul Sophy Secondary School in the district of Ou Rang Ov, he said around 500,000 to 600,000 people are working ...

A week after British researchers released a study warning that the nation’s grasslands would soon be lost if drastic action was not taken to protect them, some agricultural experts have called for moderation, noting that the intensive rice cultivation blamed for the grasslands’ destruction is ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday urged China to come up with enough funding for Cambodia to build a 3.5km bridge across the Tonle Sap and connect National Road 6 in Kampong Thom with Kampong Chhang province. Speaking at a ground-breaking ceremony for a $20 million Chinese ...

The British chairman of a Biofuel firm is facing up to 15 years in jail after he was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) in Phnom Penh on Saturday and charged with forgery, a court official said yesterday. Gregg Fryett’s company, Sustainable Agro Energy, has been ...

The Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) and the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) yesterday discussed means of safely stocking industrial chemicals, with the hope of reducing environmental pollution in the region. At a conference on sustainable manufacturing practices, Sok Narin, the head of UNIDO ...

Malaysia-based Harta Packaging Industries Sdn Bhd opened a new Cambodian factory to meet the demands of a growing exports sector and benefit from Sihanoukville port’s ambitious expansion plans, officials said. Harta Packaging, a wholly owned subsidiary of HPI Resources Berhad and part of the Oji Paper ...

Cambodian officials say they will focus on nine different sectors in a bid to diversify and ensure continued national economic growth. Among the nine priorities, rubber will play a crucial role in Cambodia’s trade integration strategy. After opening a workshop on Cambodia’s trade strategy for the coming ...

Villagers who confiscated land-clearing equipment during a forest patrol yesterday in Khsuem commune in Kratie province’s Snuol district are claiming the equipment belongs to a rubber concessionaire attempting to expand into state land, an allegation local authorities denied. Villager representative Mom Sokkin said the Binh ...

Dozens of families at Borei Keila have moved back on to land they were evicted from last year, despite intimidation and threats of arrest by security forces employed by developer Phan Imex. Earlier this month, security guards tore down the shelters of 12 families who had ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen warned thousands of villagers yesterday that his most popular initiatives, including his far-reaching land-titling scheme, will simply disappear if he is not re-elected in July’s national election – amid suggestions his campaigning has unofficially begun. In a marked shift from his apparent ...

Jarai ethnic minority villagers appeared at Ratanakkiri provincial court yesterday, demanding compensation from a Vietnamese company they say illegally cleared 30 hectares of community land in November last year. Chea Chanrith was granted a licence from the Ministry of Agriculture last year to clear land ...

A ground breaking ceremony of the $19.39 million, Koh Thom Bridge, has been launched Monday. The 407 meter bridge will be built over the, Tonle Bassac River, linking National Road 110 in the village of Prek Thmey, Chroy Takeo commune and National Road 21 in ...

The Department of Foreign Trade plans to set up a “rice trade zone” project in the East to process Cambodian rice for export to other countries. Tikhumporn Natvaratat, deputy director-general of the department, said his organisation plans to implement the project in Chanthaburi, Trat, Sa Kaeo ...

The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund has committed to provide another $10 mln U.S. in grants to address the environmental crisis engulfing mainland Southeast Asia. The ground-breaking biodiversity fund was launched in 2008. During the first phase, $10 mln was invested in efforts to conserve the critical ...

About a quarter of the garment factories in Cambodia that supply Swedish clothing giant H&M have been the scene of mass faintings or large-scale strikes since 2010, based on a suppliers list the clothing giant released late last week. Along with its 2012 sustainability report, the ...

The British chairman of an embattled agricultural investment firm was arrested Saturday by Cambodian authorities over charges of forging documents and using them in an attempt to illegally purchase thousands of hectares of land, a court prosecutor said. Greg Fryett, the main shareholder of Sustainable Agro ...

A major Vietnamese bank is closing its brokerage and securities arm in Cambodia, an official said yesterday, amid the ongoing drought of listings on the Cambodian Securities Exchange (CSX). Sacombank, which will continue to operate as a bank in Cambodia, set up the securities firm ...

The total number of new trucks registered last year increased slightly, but industry insiders said that even though more trucks are needed to boost the Kingdom’s trading volume, the country’s export capacity is relatively unaffected because of trucks bought in previous years. The number of big ...

The legitimacy of a lawsuit filed by prominent businesswoman Chhin Sokountheary, also known as “Crocodile Grandmother”, accusing Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema of abusing his power by stealing some 34 hectares of privately owned land is being called into question by the Phnom Penh Municipal ...

As air-conditioning units slow to a halt, computers die and the lights go out, the frustration of local business owners and organizations in Phnom Penh is boiling over once again as the annual hot season blackouts have arrived. The 190-megawatt, Chinese-built Kamchay hydropower dam in ...