News
GMAC members double
The number of companies registering to become members of the Garment Manufacturing Association in Cambodia (GMAC) doubled last year, with more investment in value-added products. GMAC said the number of new members reached 120 last year, compared with 60 newcomers in 2011. “Labour-intensive industries in China ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013013061067/Business/gmac-members-double.html
Chinese Sugar Firms Accused of Land Grabbing
More than 100 villagers in Preah Vihear province have accused a group of Chinese-owned sugar plantations of encroaching on their farms and community forests since mid-2012 and say they are still waiting for a resolution. Sen Som, a rice farmer in Chheb district, said Heng Rui ...
Siem Reap Theft Fears Rise
Fears of theft are on the rise among market vendors in a tourist district in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province, the gateway to the world-renowned Angkor archeological site. Vendors at a market in Puok district said they had lost a lot of money following a slew of ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/siem-reap-01302013174007.html
Bunong Say They Don't Want Private Land Titles
Ethnic Bunong villagers living in Mondolkiri province’s Pech Chreada district have sent a petition to the Ministry of Land Management, urging the government to refrain from issuing them private land titles, local officials said yesterday. This way they may instead to eligible for a communal title ...
Committee Formed to Create Plan for Land Use Nationwide
Senior official from across the government have started drafting a master plan that aims to map out the future locations of everything from roads to cities and development zones across the country. Land Management Minister Im Chhun Lim chaired the first meeting of a 20-member National ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/committee-formed-to-create-plan-for-land-use-nationwide-8658/
Mfone $65 million in debt
Failed Cambodian telco Mfone owes at least $65 million to multiple creditors that sources say include the government. A court injunction to freeze Mfone‘s assets, obtained by the Post yesterday, shows Mfone owes Chinese telco provider Huawei Technologies more than $65 million. Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013013061068/Business/mfone-65-million-in-debt.html
Ministry Lists Fees to Help Firms Avoid Graft Claims
The government has publicly issued lists showing the costs of fees that businesses must pay to authorities for various services, in an effort to help companies avoid making informal payments made illegal by the anticorruption law. The lists were drafted during the past year after Cambodia ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-lists-fees-to-help-firms-avoid-graft-claims-8434/
Cambodia attracts $2.28 bln investment projects last year: gov't report
Cambodia had granted licenses to 157 domestic and foreign investment projects with a total investment of 2.28 billion U.S. dollars in 2012, according to a report of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) on Tuesday. Domestic investors topped the chart among all investors last ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-01/29/c_132136638.htm
Jarai Accuse Firm of Planning to Drain Lake
Ethnic Jarai families living in Ratanakkiri province’s Borkeo district have accused a Vietnamese rubber company of digging a channel to drain a lake the indigenous villagers use for fishing and irrigation, a local official and rights worker said yesterday. Rochom Vin, Yeak Som village chief, said ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/jarai-accuse-firm-of-planning-to-drain-lake-8470/
Last Year Saw More New Firms Register
Almost 3,400 new businesses were registered in Cambodia in 2012, an increase of 9 percent on the previous year, according to figures from the Ministry of Commerce. In 2012, the ministry’s business registration department recorded some 3,385 new companies, compared with 3,104 new companies in 2011, ...
Government Asks for Asian Development Bank's Help on Railway
The government yesterday asked the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to continue to help Cambodia’s troubled railway rehabilitation project, which is in desperate need of more funding in order to complete the network’s northern line. Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong met with the ADB’s recently appointed country ...
E-card holders concerned about SIM card exchange
Mfone e-card holders are concerned that the cards can no longer be used after the change from Mfone’s SIM card to Cellcard’s SIM and, along with officials, are unsure of a solution. Wholesalers and retailers have expressed concern that they will lose money when the scratch ...
Opposition Questions Shortcoming in Government Revenue
The National Assembly on Friday passed a law approving the government’s revenue and spending in 2011, drawing criticism from the opposition, which claimed the amount taken in by the government during the period was too low. All 77 CPP lawmakers present voted in favor of the ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/opposition-questions-shortcomings-in-government-revenue-8468/
Huge rosewood haul seized in Preah Vihear province
Senior members of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) yesterday seized about a tonne of luxury rosewood near the house of a two-star general in the Choam Ksan district of Preah Vihear province after a night hunting for illegal smuggling. General Ngeth Chanthon, deputy general of ...
MoU to improve tech skills
A Thailand-based technical university yesterday signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with technical training institutes in Cambodia to improve human resources in the technical sector. The MoUs were signed between the Thai Rajamangala University of Technology and the National Polytechnic Institute of Cambodia and the National ...
Better to Ride These Bikes Than Make Them
Cambodia’s export business is in the process of changing due to shifts in manufacturing in Asia. A business publication in the country has reported unexpected growth in the “machinery and transport equipment” sector and speculated it was as [sic] “probably bicycles.” But when Cambodia jumped ...
http://www.iede.co.uk/news/2013_750/better-ride-these-bikes-make-them
Cambodia begins to construct 3-storey stock market building in capital center
Cambodia’s Securities Exchange (CSX) on Monday broke ground for the construction of a 3-storey building in the heart of Phnom Penh, the country’s capital. “The construction of the building reflects the government’s firm stance in developing the stock market and the building will build ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-01/28/c_132133406.htm
Capital ideas for developers
Peering out over the Tonle Sap River in Phnom Penh from a sixteenth-storey private balcony at the new Bellevue Apartments, one could watch for hours as cranes swing back in forth over all the new developments on the west side of the water. “Phnom ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/332995/capital-ideas-for-developers
Hun Sen completes land titling mission in Koh Kong
Prime Minister Hun Sen presented land titles Monday to 513 families in Thmorbang district, an official said. The land titles cover 1,504 hectares in Tropang Cheurtrav and Korki villages in Russey Chrum commune. The official said Monday’s ceremony marked the completion of a land-titling mission launched ...
Fish exports performed swimmingly in 2012
Exports of Cambodian fish and shellfish products reached 1,618 tonnes last year, worth $3.5 million, a 16 per cent increase from 1,391 tonnes in 2011, according to figures from the Ministry of Commerce. “A major share of the total exports last year was from saltwater fish ...
Rail Operator Still Awaiting Approval for Cargo
Despite the inaugural train traveling between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville by a new rail link a month ago, no goods have yet been transported between the capital and the country’s largest port. Toll Royal Railways, a joint venture between Australia’s Toll Group and local conglomerate Royal ...
Officials Draft Sub-Decree to Develop the Silk Sector
Officials at the Ministry of Commerce met on Friday to draft a sub-decree for the promotion and development of the Cambodian silk sector, but industry experts say the draft does not do enough for the local products used in the production of silk. The main ...
Israel envoy pledges to boost tourism, agriculture ties with Cambodia
Bangkok-based new ambassador of Israel to Cambodia Simon Roded on Monday expressed Israel’s desires to promote bilateral ties with Cambodia in tourism and agriculture. Speaking during presenting credentials to President of Cambodia ‘s National Assembly Heng Samrin, who received the credentials on behalf of King Norodom ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-01/28/c_132133078.htm
Imported Delays Cap Pharma Growth
Although the Ministry of Heath estimates that 40 to 50 percent of Cambodians use traditional medicine, the Kingdoms Pharmaceutical industry is growing rapidly. In 2012, according to the latest forecast from Business Monitor International (BMI) people in Cambodia spent $263 million on pharmaceuticals, compared with $217 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013012861016/Business/import-delays-cap-pharma-growth.html