The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia’s lagging agriculture and nascent manufacturing sectors need to diversify as the threat of regional competition heats up, a World Bank economist warned yesterday, while enumerating the challenges the Kingdom faces after having officially graduated into a lower-middle income country last year. ...

More than 300 ethnic villagers at two separate locations in Preah Vihear province conducted traditional ceremonies yesterday beseeching the spirits for an end to their ongoing land dispute with the Chinese-owned Rui Feng sugar company. ...

Seven Vietnamese nationals were arrested during a timber bust on Wednesday when Mondulkiri authorities intercepted eight trucks loaded with illegal timber in the Keo Seima protected area. ...

The Cambodian government and UNICEF yesterday released results of a clinical trial on new locally produced food supplements to tackle the country’s persistently dismal malnutrition figures, with at least one of the two products proving effective.   ...

The EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Frederica Mogherini, yesterday released a letter outlining Europe’s continued concern with what it perceives as a deteriorating political situation in Cambodia. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday launched a not-so-thinly-veiled attack on the US over its recent public airing of concerns over the newly amended Law on Political Parties, arguing that its past bombing of Cambodia left it no moral high ground from which to criticise the ...

Cambodia’s already swollen prison population leapt by more than 20 percent last year, according to the Ministry of Interior’s annual report, which acknowledged the influx has caused “serious challenges” with overcrowding, and revealed one-third of inmates are in pre-trial detention. ...

Lao President Bounnhang Vorachith is expected to arrive in Phnom Penh today for a state visit to the Kingdom. Meanwhile 600 kilometres away, Cambodian and Lao troops remain in a stand-off after a territorial dispute over a Cambodian-built road near the countries’ border. ...

Emirates Airlines will expand its presence in Cambodia by launching a daily passenger flight between Dubai and Phnom Penh, with a stopover in Yangon, as part of the Dubai-based carrier’s push into the region. ...

Villagers living in two drought-afflicted Banteay Meanchey districts appealed to authorities to distribute water yesterday, though officials claim the situation is not yet severe enough to warrant it. ...

A new online trading platform is being developed to spur interest in Cambodia’s sleepy stock market by allowing traders to access the exchange remotely via software compatible with smartphones, a bourse spokesman said yesterday. ...

The government will recruit more than 12,000 civil servants and teachers and an additional 20,000 service contractors for 2017, according to an announcement by the Ministry of Public Function. ...

More than 700 logs, many of them luxury timber, were discovered in Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary in Ratanikkiri province on Sunday, according to local military police, though the loggers were nowhere in sight. ...

Kerry WorldBridge Logistics SEZ, which is developing a 63-hectare industrial park and free trade zone 17 kilometres south of the capital in Kandal province, has taken on a new partner to design and create an “industry and technology cluster” aimed at attracting non-garment manufacturing investment ...

The Council of Ministers on Friday gave the green light for construction of a transmission line from Koh Kong province’s Stung Tatai hydropower dam to Phnom Penh, raising concerns from conservationists who fear the impact of cutting through largely untouched forest areas in the Southern ...

ACLEDA Bank, Cambodia’s largest bank in terms of assets, will have to shell out millions in the next three weeks to comply with a Council of Ministers decision last Friday that the private financial institution must redesign and replace its logo on all company materials ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has issued a warrant for the temporary seizure of Top World Garment Cambodia Ltd’s property in order to get the employer to appear and find a solution for workers still owed their December salaries. ...

A group of non-profits have banded together to push for the recruitment of thousands more election observers they say are necessary for the June 4 commune elections. ...

With the Kingdom’s main rice harvesting season wrapping up, just a fraction of a government emergency loan package that aimed at giving millers the liquidity they needed to purchase rice paddy duringthe harvest cycle has been disbursed, leaving the government and private sector divided on ...

SM Waypoint claims its unmanned aerial vehicles can help local farm and plantation owners increase their yields. ...

The Kingdom’s two main ports reported markedly slower growth in container traffic last year due to a fall in import traffic, although exports of garments and agricultural products continued to rise, according to newly released port data. ...

Phnom Penh SEZ posted a 42.5 percent decline in consolidated revenue for 2016, which led to a sharp 65 percent decrease in net profit, according to its annual report released on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) yesterday. ...

Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng yesterday fingered large end-of-contract severance payments as a prime reason owners flee when their factories go bankrupt, suggesting the introduction of a yearly bonus scheme and fortnightly salaries would “reduce the risk” of garment workers being left in the ...

Private sector industry leaders speaking at an investment conference yesterday in the capital railed on the high cost of electrical power, which they said was sapping their competitiveness, while state officials offered assurances that state-backed power generation schemes would soon bring prices down. ...