News

Cambodia needs about $12 billion over a 10-year period to invest in the development of a skilled workforce and improved infrastructure in order to meet the goals of its Industrial Development Policy (IDP), Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak said recently. ...

Cambodia will join an international convention on the registration of industrial designs next month, furthering the scope of the county’s intellectual property protections, a government official said yesterday. ...

A Kampong Speu community is looking to raise money to build three watering holes for wildlife, especially the endangered banteng, for the upcoming hot season after a nearby sugarcane plantation allegedly filled in existing streams. ...

Environmental NGO Mother Nature has hired a Singaporean law firm to investigate alleged irregularities in the country’s importation of Cambodian sand, the organization’s founder said on Wednesday. ...

Geographical indication (GI) status for Kampot pepper and Kampong Speu palm sugar has been accepted in Vietnam. The agreement gives legal protection to both products and stops unscrupulous traders in Vietnam passing off local produce as Cambodian. The deal was reached last Wednesday after negotiations involving the ...

The Ministry of Health has called on all travelers to beware of a new strain of bird flu that is now spreading in South Korea and Japan. In a notice released yesterday, the Health Ministry said the discovery of H5N6, a new strain of the bird ...

After being questioned for more than two hours at the National Assembly yesterday, Environment Minister Say Samal claimed the number of forest crimes decreased in 2016, but acknowledged that some government officials were involved in some of the crimes. A recently released report from the University ...

Nearly 50 families from a village in Banteay Meanchey province’s Poipet town yesterday protested to demand that a private utilities company stop restricting water supply in their area because they didn’t have enough water to drink and irrigate their crops. ...

The number of victims killed or injured by landmines or other unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from Cambodia’s decades-old wars is projected to have dropped below 100 last year, for the first time since the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, as far as ...

The government has delayed plans to renovate the Chroy Changvar Bridge, which was slated to undergo changes and improvements this month, after it was revealed that 21 families will have their homes demolished near the eastern end of the bridge to facilitate the construction. ...

A Chinese company will spend roughly $60 million to build a construction supply center on the outskirts of Phnom Penh after finalizing a land leasing agreement with the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) on Friday. Yunnan Sengmao Investment will build the aptly named Construction Material Supplies ...

The Ministry of Commerce is calling for producers and exporters who have been dealing in dried tobacco leaves and milled rice to apply for licenses to export to Vietnam. Vietnam agreed to waive all duties on 300,000 tons of rice and 3,000 tons of dried tobacco ...

Cambodia last year recorded around 900,000 Chinese tourist arrivals and the kingdom is on track by 2020 to host about seven million foreign tourists, with two million of them coming from mainland China, according to the Tourism Ministry yesterday. ...

Prospective voters ran into problems yesterday during the first publication of the country’s new voter lists. Citizens will have until January 14 to check their names and information on voter lists to confirm they are correct, either in person, at registration offices or online. ...

Cambodia exported more than 108,000 tonnes of sand to India in 36 separate shipments between 2013 and 2015, according to Indian customs data obtained yesterday, contradicting Cambodian customs data that show no sand being sent there at all. ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng yesterday chastised the Rattanakiri provincial governor for lying to three ministers by claiming he was in a meeting with Mr. Kheng to avoid the trio. Mr. Kheng said governor Thorng Savun used his name to avoid meeting Environment Minster Say Samal, Land ...

The National Defense Ministry’s annual draft report showed that Cambodia’s borders are still at risk of abuse from Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, despite the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) cracking down on nearly 6,000 border crimes over the past year. ...

The new Environmental Code, a sweeping piece of legislation that is set to overhaul how protected and communal land are governed and give unprecedented control to the Environment Ministry, was finalized on Sunday and will be released to the public this week, those involved in ...

About 1,000 hectares of protected forest in Mondulkiri province have been logged under the noses of environment officials, rights group Adhoc and community leaders said yesterday. ...

Almost 200 people protested yesterday in Banteay Meanchey province’s Poipet City, demanding the release of Mang Puthy, president of the Cambodia Informal Economy Reinforced Association (CIERA), who says he was arrested after officials framed him for attempted murder. ...

Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng yesterday called on officials to take stricter action in preventing child labor and asked civil society organizations to help monitor and report abuses immediately, but without doing so publicly.The call was made during a ceremony at the Labor Ministry to ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng has publically warned government officials in the areas surrounding the Tonle Sap Lake that they will be fired if they continued to allow illegal fishing.Speaking at the closing ceremony of the “2016 Annual Working Results and the Direction of 2017” at ...

The government plans to spend about $300 million to build a new multipurpose seaport in Preah Sihanouk province, which promises to receive larger cargo ships and reduce logistics costs.The new port will increase the capacity of the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS) to handle cargo shipments, ...

The French Agency for Development has granted a 30 million euro, or $31.1 million, loan for the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) to expand one of its four water plants and increase its water distribution in the capital. ...