News

BANGKOK: Demand for farmland may strip the Greater Mekong region of a third of its remaining forest cover over the next two decades without swift government action, a leading conservation group warned Thursday. Forests are being cleared for commodities such as rubber and rice while illegal logging is decimating ...

The Ministry of Commerce has released figures showing Cambodia’s export of fishery goods including fresh and dried fish products have decreased drastically in the first quarter of the year, though several government officials viewed the figures with scepticism. Cambodia exported 49.9 tonnes of fish products in ...

Representatives of 157 families evicted in 2010 from a social land concession in Preah Vihear province belonging to businessman Pen Lim, a one-time adviser to Senate President Chea Sim, were in Phnom Penh yesterday to petition Hun Sen. The families say they were forced off the ...

Cambodia Angkor Air is planning rapid fleet and network expansion as competition intensifies in the Cambodian market. The Cambodian flag carrier is expected to more than double its fleet by the end of 2015 and launch services to several new markets, including mainland China, Hong ...

Cambodia announced two major bilateral trade agreements last month, with the Philippines and Thailand, that are expected to further expand the country’s rice export sector. Over the last few years, Cambodia has emerged as a major rice exporter in the region, due in large part ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) last month signed a prakas, a ministerial decision, to ensure tax agents’ professionalism, an insider told the Post yesterday. After the full implementation of Prakas 455, signed on April 12, agents have to pay one million riel to ...

Thousands of Cambodian people visited and bought Thai products on Thursday at a large scale exhibition although simmering border spat between the two countries remains unsolved. “Even though border dispute is still going on, trade and investment ties between Thailand and Cambodia are still good,” Amparwon ...

More economic activity and a better understanding of using formal financial services among rural residents are leading to good loan performance rates and increases in savings deposits in Cambodia’s microfinance industry, according to industry sources. The loan portfolios of the 35 registered microfinance institutions (MFI) and ...

Corruption, a weak judicial system and the potential for complicity with human and labour rights abuses are key risks for firms looking to invest in Cambodia, a new report [by Maplecroft, a UK-based global risk and strategic consulting firm] analysing investment risk in the Kingdom ...

Cambodia has lost almost a quarter of its forests in the past 40 years due to rapid development and China’s demand for timber, according to a new report released yesterday by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on the Greater Mekong Region. Looking at five countries in ...

The military’s ongoing clearing of community forests in Oddar Meanchey province risks derailing Cambodia’s first forest-based carbon trading scheme backed by the U.N., according to the latest assessment of the project. Community forest groups, who stand to earn millions from the project, said on Wednesday that ...

Minister of Posts and Telecommunications So Khun said Wednesday that the government’s decision last week to order all mobile phone firms to stop offering generous top-up bonuses came after one of the market’s competitors complained to the ministry. Ian Watson, CEO of Mobitel, denied complaining ...

In diversifing its holiday attractions, Cambodia’s tourism industry should focus on three key areas – the country’s northeastern region, the coasts and the vicinity around Siem Reap – but efforts to promote these destinations are still lacking, an industry leader says. Statistics from the Ministry ...

About 5,000 Cambodian workers took to the street on Wednesday to mark the International Labor Day, calling for pay rise, better labor conditions and decrease in petrol prices, a union representative said. Marchers, mostly garment workers, held banners and walked from the Freedom Park near the ...

The French Development Agency (AFD) said yesterday it is discussing an approximately 50 million euro ($65 million) loan to extend electricity transmission lines, and said it plans to provide more loans for vocational training in the Kingdom. “We are discussing [the] loan . . . that ...

When activists Mom Sakin and Sorn Siyan took a stand against illegal logging in Kratie province last month, they were allegedly threatened with violence and lawsuits from officials. “Powerful people who wanted to intimidate us shot their guns into the air to prevent us from going ...

About a decade ago, global manufacturing firms staged a mass exodus to Asia in search of low-cost alternatives to increasing domestic wage demands and operational costs. The consensus was the continued development of a regional supply chain that had formed in countries like Vietnam and Indonesia, ...

With competition rife in Cambodia’s telecommunication market, two of the country’s largest mobile phone operators have engaged in a battle over prices and are at odds over the tactics being used to gain market share. On Friday, the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) ordered all mobile ...

The government’s abuse of land rights and indigenous minorities were among the top concerns raised Tuesday by non-governmental groups at a workshop in Phnom Penh on Cambodia’s progress toward achieving a long list of U.N. human rights recommendations. As part of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s ...

Police at border checkpoints have in the past weeks stopped more than 2,200 people in Banteay Meanchey province from crossing into Thailand to look for better paid work, officials said yesterday. The focus on Cambodian workers migrating to Thailand-many illegally-comes amid a shortage of labor at ...

Jarai minority villagers in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district protested in two locations yesterday against a Vietnamese company that community leaders say has been clearing their protected land and forcing villagers to accept inadequate compensation. Community leader Sev Hem said 30 angry villagers directly confronted five Company 72 ...

The Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) is calling all mobile phone operators to attend a meeting next week in order to reconsider the costs for within-and across-network calls, after disputes over bonus promotions in Cambodia’s crowded telecoms market. TRC director Mao Chakrya said that for the ...

Illegal border movements, illegal logging, drug trafficking, illegal fishing and unofficial cross border trade are among the issues being confronted by Laos and Cambodia along their shared border at the moment. The report was made during a meeting held between Champassak provincial authorities from Laos and ...

Japan agreed Tuesday to provide a loan package of 90 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia for the improvement of a stretch of the national road No. 5 and two bypasses in northwestern provinces, according to a statement from Japanese Embassy to Cambodia. The statement said ...