News
Cambodian rice output grows in 2011 despite floods
Cambodia’s total paddy rice output reached 8.4 million tonnes in 2011, up from 8.25 million tonnes last year, according an initial assessment by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Provincial MAFF officials from across the Kingdom met in Phnom Penh on Saturday, when data was ...
Pakistan, Cambodia talk economic ties
Pakistan and Cambodia yesterday discussed strengthening economic ties in areas such banking and transportation, a government official said. Ambassador of Pakistan Fazal-ur-Rahman Kazi and Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sok An considered an agreement on the protection of trade and investment, Ek Tha, spokesman for the Council ...
Climate onus on government: poll
Most Cambodians believe it is the government’s responsibility to respond to climate change, but are unclear about who in government should take the lead, according to a survey discussed by officials at a workshop on climate change yesterday. The survey, Understanding Public Perceptions of Climate Change ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011122353583/National-news/climate-onus-on-govt-poll.html
New securities dealer launches in Kingdom
Golden Fortune Securities, a Cambodian-Chinese joint venture and the Kingdom’s second securities dealer, officially opened its doors yesterday. The company was the most recent of Cambodia’s 13 licensed dealers, brokers and underwriters to launch operations. A date for company listings, or actual Cambodia Securities Exchange operations, was ...
Digital content key to growth for Kingdom's telecom firms
CAMBODIAN telecoms must produce digital content to remain competitive in the country’s crowded sector, experts said yesterday. However, others claimed the consumer market for that content was still too small. A lack of domestically produced TV programs, websites and other digital offerings has Cambodia’s estimated 755,000 internet ...
Shine on Pailin gems seen fading
THE precious stone industry in Pailin province is facing bankruptcy as supplies dwindle and locals turn to agriculture as their main source of revenue, provincial authorities told the Post. Pailin, long known for its rubies, sapphires and other precious stones, now depends on foreign imports to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011122253558/Business/shine-on-pailin-gems-seen-fading.html
Mob breaks evictee into home
A PROTEST on the fifth storey of a residential high-rise in Borei Keila ended with authorities fleeing the scene and incensed villagers breaking down a door yesterday. About 50 villagers converged on the site to protest against Phan Imex and authorities evicting a man from his ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011122253561/National-news/mob-breaks-evictee-into-home.html
Prey Lang protesters on run after police allegedly pay a visit
TWO activists involved in last month’s Prey Lang forest protest against illegal logging fled their houses yesterday in Sandan district in an attempt to evade local authorities, villagers reported. Roeun Sopheap, village representative in Sandan commune, said he fled his home yesterday after finding several police ...
Unions to request litany of changes to draft law
A group of five unions plans to send a petition to the Ministry of Labor on Friday requesting a number of changes in the controversial draft union law. Speaking at a conference in Phnom Penh yesterday, Cambodian Confederation of Unions President Rong Chhun detailed the requests ...
Hun Sen sets out northeast development plans
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday outlined the government’s plans to spur economic growth in the northeast of the country through implementing a wide range of projects in sectors such as agriculture and the extractive industries. Rights workers have warned that little information on the plans for ...
Assembly votes for first pesticide law
The National Assembly yesterday passed Cambodia’s first law on pesticide and chemical fertiliser control, which the government hopes will regulate the use and sale of dangerous chemicals on agricultural products. Currently, hazardous pesticides are sold with little regulation and often without proper labeling that instructs farmers ...
ADB offers $15m loan for financial-sector growth
Cambodia and the Asian Development Bank have signed their latest loan agreement of US$15 million for the development of the Kingdom’s financial sector, according to ADB. The money would be used for a number of development programs, including the improvement of regulatory regimes, creation of an ...
Called to court: Summonsed woman brings crowd of 150
A woman summonsed to Kampong Speu provincial court over a land dispute yesterday returned home without being arrested after about 150 protesting villagers turned out to support her. Rath Thavy, provincial monitor for human rights group Adhoc, speculated that the court decided not to arrest Khem ...
Gathering of youths makes case for forests
Cambodia’s National Youth Congress called on the government yesterday to act to protect the country’s natural resources from illegal traders. About 100 young people from 30 colleges in Phnom Penh, Kratie and Kampong Thom Chhnang provinces attended a discussion about protecting natural resources – with a ...
Logging in the wild west
Illegal logging of staggering proportions abetted by military personnel is decimating stocks of luxury rosewood in the Central Cardamom Protected Forest, while the conversation group tasked with protecting the area and its government counterparts deny the trade is even happening. In a period of several hours ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011122153536/National-news/logging-in-the-wild-west.html
Union heads rally to end short-term contracts
Seven union leaders representing garment workers will send a statement today urging the Ministry of Labor and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) to decrease the use of temporary labor contracts, because they erode the rights of workers, union leaders said yesterday. Rong Chhun, president ...
Krama petition urges government to abandon trio of laws
Rolling out what may be the world’s longest krama, some 130 protesters presented the National Assembly with a petition yesterday morning bearing thousands of thumbprints urging lawmakers not to pass a trio of pending laws. “We all urge the government to stop its attempt to pass ...
Telecom Cambodia finds Vietnamese ISP partner
State-owned Telecom Cambodia has signed a business cooperation agreement with Vietnam National Post and Telecommunications Corp in order to bolster TC’s product portfolio and coverage area, company officials said yesterday. Telecom Cambodia offers both fixed-line phone and internet services in the Kingdom. Vietnam National Post and ...
Kingdom pushes power grid
The Cambodian government yesterday offered a subsidy on equipment to private electricity distributors in an effort to expand the Kingdom’s limited power grid. Private power suppliers who have completed between 70 to 80 per cent of their planned investments in electricity networks can request subsidies on ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011122053502/Business/kingdom-pushes-power-grid.html
Incitement claim: monk called to court over land protest
A Kampuchea Krom monk was issued a summons yesterday to appear in a Phnom Penh court tomorrow to face accusations of incitement. In a letter obtained by the Post yesterday, the investigating municipal judge, Duch Kimson, ordered Sieng Sovannra, a monk at the Samaki Raingsey pagoda, ...
Unions cry foul on temp contracts
Union leaders gathered in the capital yesterday to discuss strategies to curb the garment industry’s widespread use of temporary contracts for hiring workers, saying employers were using them to discourage unions and ensure their workforce remained docile and easy to exploit. They also accused employers of ...
Minister says mobile subscribers rise to 14m
The number of mobile phone subscribers in Cambodia increased to 14 million, or 98 percent of the country’s population, during the first 11 months of the year, the minister of Posts and Telecommunications said yesterday. So Khun said Metfone, which is owned by the Vietnamese military, ...
Vietnamese military bank to open doors today
Vietnam’s Military Commercial Joint-Stock Bank (MB Bank) will open its doors in Phnom Penh today, becoming the fourth Vietnamese bank to set up operations here and bringing the total number of commercial banks in Cambodia to 31. Nguon Sokha, general director of the National Bank of ...
More than two dozen men held in Laos after logging
Twenty-eight Cambodians were arrested Thursday by Lao soldiers after crossing the border while logging rosewood, officials said yesterday. The Stung Treng provincial RCAF commander, Brigadier General Svay Ngorn, said yesterday that Stung Treng authorities were negotiating the men’s release with their Lao counterparts ...