The Phnom Penh Post

Despite Cambodia having a vibrant startup scene with entrepreneurs launching ventures on a near daily basis, businesses trying to tap into financial resources for growth have difficulty accessing capital and are stuck in the unbankable “missing middle”, according to a recent study. ...

Despite a 31 percent increase in Cambodian rubber exports during the first 11 months of this year, the Ministry of Agriculture is failing to recoup on expenses it has spent sending expert technicians into the field in order to help boost production. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the creation of a school to train spies to combat “colour revolution” and terrorism in Cambodia yesterday, tapping his son and Ministry of Defence Intelligence Director Hun Manith to lead it. ...

The European Union announced yesterday that it is suspending all support for Cambodia’s National Election Committee, calling credible elections impossible in light of the government’s dissolution of the ruling party’s only legitimate competitor. ...

Cambodia’s solid waste collection has increased more than 40 percent over the last five years, according to an official and the Ministry of Environment’s annual report released on Monday. ...

The government unveiled a long-awaited national plan to combat violence against children yesterday, four years after a countrywide survey revealed that more than half of children in Cambodia are physically abused. ...

Cambodia’s economic growth is expected to remain stable this year and the next, but structural reforms and a rebalancing of the budget is critical in the medium term to sustain economic growth, the Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) said yesterday in a report. ...

A team from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons arrived in Cambodia Sunday night, with officials saying they will investigate chemical weapons dropped by the United States during the Vietnam War. ...

The Grassroots Democracy Party, co-founded by slain political analyst Kem Ley, has announced it will compete in the national elections next year in all provinces, though analysts yesterday doubted that it would be able to mount a serious challenge to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party. ...

The United States Embassy has pledged $55,500 to the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts in part to preserve the clothes worn by victims of atrocities at S-21 prison. ...

The Beehive Social Democratic Party will convene next week to pick its third president in four months after party leader Houn Phannary resigned due to “personal reasons”. ...

The coastal city of Sihanoukville is undergoing a massive transformation. Once perceived as a seedy haunt for lethargic backpackers and expats, a flood of Chinese tourists and investors has begun to alter the landscape by setting up everything from gaudy casinos to towering luxury resorts ...

The Apsara Authority announced yesterday that it will begin sharing preservation knowledge and collaborating in restorations with the city officials behind Beijing’s ancient Imperial City. Officials from Cambodia’s heritage preservation authority met with Du Jingxin, an official from Beijing’s Xicheng district, to discuss ways the ...

A memorandum of understanding meant to beef up protections for Cambodian maids in Malaysia is still on hold after Malaysia’s human resources minister said he was not aware of the agreement, according to Malaysian media. ...

Environmental NGOs expressed concerns this week about a requirement from the Ministry of Environment to get advanced permission to patrol the Prey Lang protected forest, saying doing so could lead to illegal loggers getting tipped off, given the history of collusion with officials in the ...

Following several warnings, officials in Prey Veng province’s Peamro district yesterday shuttered an illegal sand-dredging operation being run by a provincial police officer.Chum Chea, Prek Khsay Khor commune chief, said more than 10 officers on Wednesday halted the operation and confiscated machinery, with the operation ...

A lawyer for the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces filed a complaint accusing former opposition leader Sam Rainsy of “incitement” yesterday, despite Prime Minister Hun Sen vowing on Wednesday to sue his long-time political opponent for “treason”. ...

Italy, along with six other European Union countries, has filed a fresh request to European Commission to limit the volume of rice imported from the Kingdom by activating a “safeguard clause” that allows EU member states to impose barriers to protect against trade imbalances. ...

Among the 50 prisoners who were pardoned or received sentence reductions for the Water Festival this year, several were convicted of serious crimes, such as rape, murder and human trafficking, according to a review of the roster included in the most recent Royal Book. ...

The US State Department will issue visa restrictions on individuals “involved in undermining democracy in Cambodia”, the Trump administration announced overnight yesterday, following the dissolution of the main opposition party last month and the arrest in September of former opposition leader Kem Sokha. ...

In a bid to decentralise the certificates of origin (COs) process to help promote international exports and ease cross-border trade, the Ministry of Commerce launched a pilot project yesterday that allows officials in the provinces of Battambang and Pailin to directly issue certification. ...

Cambodia’s beloved Irrawaddy dolphins are facing troubled waters, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) yesterday flagging the riverine mammal as ‘critically endangered’ in an update to its ‘Red List’. ...

Amid accusations of bias in favour of the ruling party – and following the removal of the main opposition party from the electoral field – the National Election Committee has announced the creation of a new press reaction team to “attack back at negative points”. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen and members of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces yesterday announced their intention to formally accuse former opposition leader Sam Rainsy of treason, after Rainsy urged soldiers and policemen not to shoot protesters. ...