The Phnom Penh Post
Official releases EU trade data amid spat
Cambodia exported about $3 billion worth of goods to the EU in the first nine months of last year, according to Ouch Borith, a secretary of state at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Borith’s remarks came at the ministry’s annual meeting and were in response to a ...
Brendan O’Byrne
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/official-releases-eu-trade-data-amid-spat
Probe into Chinese investment to Sihanoukville still idle
A task force established a month ago to address problems stemming from an influx of Chinese investment to Sihanoukville has not received a single report of illegal businesses or taken any enforcement action, with one official maintaining it was impossible to take “serious” action for ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/probe-chinese-investment-sihanoukville-still-idle
UN releases memos on concerns
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday published a batch of communications held with the Cambodian government since June last year, showing that the international body has voiced its concern about a range of issues from the arrest of ...
Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/un-releases-memos-concerns
Man arrested, timber seized in Kampong Thom raid
One man has been arrested and more than 100 planks of second-grade luxury timber seized by authorities in Kampong Thom yesterday. Hang Vunn, 22, was arrested by Sandan district police after he was found to be operating an illegal sawmill in Sochetr commune. ...
Soth Koemsoeun
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/man-arrested-timber-seized-kampong-thom-raid
Battambang, Siem Reap and Kampot among nation’s cleanest
The cities of Battambang, Kampot, Sihanoukville, Siem Reap, Kep, Kampong Cham, in addition to Doun Penh, a district of Phnom Penh, all received the top accolade, three romdul flowers, in the second edition of the country’s Clean City Contest. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50111141/battambang-siem-reap-kampot-among-nations-cleanest/
‘Thousands of tonnes’ of weapons imported: PM
Prime Minister Hun Sen bragged yesterday about importing “thousands or tens of thousands” of tonnes of weaponry overnight in the run-up to a major joint military exercise with China. “Samdech Tea Banh, the minister of defence, he does not transport flowers,” the premier said to an ...
Ben Sokhean and Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thousands-tonnes-weapons-imported-pm
Analysis: The government has announced plans to cover workers’ severance, but is it the best solution to factory disputes?
The government will begin to pay out of pocket for severance wages for labourers at abruptly shuttered factories whose owners have fled, effectively enacting a pro-worker policy without further burdening private businesses – albeit at the risk of discouraging good corporate citizenship, experts say. ...
Yon Sineat and Brendan O’Byrne
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-depth-business/analysis-government-has-announced-plans-cover-workers-severance-it-best-solution
US cuts aid to Cambodia with aim to ‘urge government to reconsider its current course’
The White House is cutting aid to several assistance programs in Cambodia due to “recent setbacks to democracy”, it announced late Tuesday. Some programs supporting Cambodia’s Tax Department, military and local government will be cut or reduced “to ensure that American taxpayer funds are not being ...
Daphne Chen and Erin Handley
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/us-cuts-aid-cambodia-aim-urge-government-reconsider-its-current-course
Licences to log SLCs are ordered revoked
The Council of Ministers has ordered licences granted to private companies to log and collect timber from social land concessions (SLC) and state-owned land revoked, following years of allegations that some companies were exploiting the permits to carry out illegal logging. The council on Monday released ...
Phak Seangly and Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/licences-log-slcs-are-ordered-revoked
Freeze ordered on CNRP offices
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday ordered a freeze placed on the former headquarters of the Cambodia National Rescue Party in Phnom Penh, warning that the property may be sold to pay fines and compensation incurred by its owner, former party President Sam Rainsy, in ...
Ben Sokhean and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/freeze-ordered-cnrp-offices
Government pledges documentation for ethnic Vietnamese
The government yesterday maintained it was opening a path to citizenship for roughly 70,000 ethnic Vietnamese people living in Cambodia, though many have lived here for generations, and advocates say a current drive to revoke “irregular” government documents is effectively rendering many stateless. ...
Mech Dara and Daphne Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/government-pledges-documentation-ethnic-vietnamese
Phnong want damages for Sesan flooded graves
Fifty-eight Phnong ethnic families in Kbal Romeas village, whose land was flooded late last year by the reservoir of the controversial Lower Sesan II Dam, are seeking at least 1,500 buffaloes from authorities and company representatives in compensation for their ancestral graves that are now ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/phnong-want-damages-sesan-flooded-graves
Government sticks to plan on power price cuts ahead of election
Officials appeared to walk back a promise to issue larger-than-average electricity price reductions ahead of July’s elections, instead following a previously announced plan to make small reductions in costs. Ty Norin, chairman of the Electricity Authority of Cambodia (EAC), released a statement earlier this month announcing ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/government-sticks-plan-power-price-cuts-ahead-election
EU council condemns crackdown but stops short of concrete action
The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union yesterday adopted a set of conclusions condemning “recent worrying political developments and the continuing deterioration of democracy” in Cambodia, though some politicians expressed regret about a missed opportunity to take concrete measures. The conclusions, passed by the European ...
Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/eu-council-condemns-crackdown-stops-short-concrete-action
CPP spokesman touts one-party rule, points to China’s example
Fresh off a clean sweep in the Senate elections on Sunday, a ruling party spokesman and newly elected senator yesterday espoused the benefits of one-party rule in Cambodia, pointing to the example of chief patron China while glossing over longstanding concerns about the superpower’s human ...
Ben Sokhean and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-politics/cpp-spokesman-touts-one-party-rule-points-chinas-example
Government swaps 30 hectares
The Ministry of Interior is giving 30 hectares of land to a well-connected development company in exchange for a smaller piece of land on the southern outskirts of Phnom Penh. The land swap, announced in a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on January 18, ...
Mech Dara and Daphne Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/government-swaps-30-hectares
Officials inspect forest that was filled in, sold
On the orders of Prime Minister Hun Sen, Koh Kong provincial authorities on Friday inspected a section of protected mangrove forest that in December was discovered to have been filled in with sand and illegally sold, with the consent of local authorities, to tycoon Chea ...
Phak Seangly and Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officials-inspect-forest-was-filled-sold
Industrial sector grows, but still reliant on garment factories
The government released a summary of the country’s industrial sector over the past five years, showing a marked increase in growth across a wide variety of indicators. The report, released by the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts (MIH) last week, lacks specific data but shows a ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/industrial-sector-grows-still-reliant-garment-factories
Cambodian media under threat: report
Media outlets in Cambodia have came under increasing threat over the past year, according to a new report by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), though the Ministry of Information, responding to a similar recent report, has insisted freedom of expression and the press is ...
Leonie Kijewski and Rinith Taing
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodian-media-under-threat-report
Village representative arrested in LYP dispute
A villager representing 50 families in a long-running dispute with a company owned by ruling party Senator Ly Yong Phat is in pre-trial detention after his Saturday arrest for allegedly installing boundary markers on disputed company land. Lay Tiro, deputy head of the felonies office at ...
Soth Koemsoeun
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/village-representative-arrested-lyp-dispute
CPP claims all 58 seats up for grabs in Senate
Absent any legitimate competition, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party swept all 58 elected seats in Sunday’s Senate elections, giving it near-absolute control in the upper house of parliament, according to preliminary results. The four-party ballot was expected to be a blowout for the CPP, given its ...
Ben Sokhean and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-politics/cpp-claims-all-58-seats-grabs-senate
Army, Ministry of Environment agree to cooperate
Environment Minster Say Sam Al and Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Commander Pol Saroeun announced three new points of cooperation following a meeting earlier this week, Saroeun announced on his official Facebook page. ...
Yesenia Amaro and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/army-ministry-environment-agree-cooperate
Kheng defends plans for new luxury prisons for inmates who can pay up
Interior Minister Sar Kheng defended plans to create “pay-to-stay” luxury prisons yesterday, claiming the scheme would also help poorer prisoners by reducing overcrowding. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kheng-defends-plans-new-luxury-prisons-inmates-who-can-pay
Officials seek assistance in planning for marine park
Environmental officials confirmed yesterday that they are seeking the assistance of conservation NGO Fauna and Flora International (FFI) in drafting a management plan for the new Koh Rong Marine National Park, and that for now, the previous conservation structure operated by the Fisheries Administration and ...
Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officials-seek-assistance-planning-marine-park