The Phnom Penh Post
Insurance claims drop in Q1
Claims on Cambodia’s six biggest insurance companies declined year on year by more than 90 per cent in the first quarter of 2012, data from the General Insurance Association of Cambodia (GIAC) shows. The value of claims in 2011 was raised by fires that gutted two ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051156100/Business/insurance-claims-drop-in-q1.html
Corporate social responsibility in Cambodia
Frontier and emerging economies such as Cambodia present companies with a specific set of challenges and risk, both real and perceived, beyond those found in more developed markets. A risk category getting ever- increasing attention is that of “social risk”, roughly defined as the risk of ...
Prison labour still a threat: rights group
Prisoners still face being exploited for labour, despite the government’s March prakas banning goods made behind bars from being exported, rights group Licadho has said. Although Licadho believes the prakas will help protect the image of Cambodia’s garment industry, it says inmates still face exploitation under ...
Passport fee latest wrinkle in factory workers’ Thai plight
A rights group has raised concerns that up to 100 Cambodian migrant workers at a Thai seafood processing factory will be stranded abroad in less than a week without any income because they cannot afford to pay a passport fee demanded by their employer. Of the ...
Exports to Korea jump 80pc
Cambodia’s first-quarter exports to South Korea soared nearly 80 per cent year-on-year, driven mostly by garments and agriculture products, but imports still accounted for most of the trade between the two countries. Total exports to South Korea jumped to US$30 million for the first three months of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051056080/Business/exports-to-korea-jump-80pc.html
Oz aid cuts won’t touch Cambodia
Despite major foreign aid budget cuts at home, Australia had upped its assistance to Cambodia by about US$17.4 million for 2012-2013, the embassy here said yesterday. Australia would provide a total of $95.3 million in “official development assistance to Cambodia”, the embassy said in a statement. ...
Cambodia ‘ripe’ for money laundering
Cambodia is ripe for money-laundering and terrorist financing activities due to rampant corruption, banking-sector secrecy and an overall lack of financial transparency, a governance institute says in a report released this week. The Switzerland-based Basel Institute on Governance has ranked Cambodia the third “highest-risk” country out of 144 ...
Dragon building roars to life
Champagne greeted the movers and shakers at the highest level of Cambodia’s tallest building yesterday in a ceremony that marked substantial completion of the structure of Vattanac Capital Tower. Designed in the shape of a dragon with particular attention to the Chinese art of placement for ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051056079/Business/dragon-building-roars-to-life.html
Regional health insider talks Cambodian medical care
A French doctor established International SOS between Jakarta and Singapore 27 years ago. The company conducted emergency airlifts for patients to Singapore due to the lack of quality health services available in Indonesia at the time. The French-owned company now has a presence in 74 countries ...
Thailand's allure is strong in Srei Snam
Dry, parched ground – evidence of severe dry season drought – stretches for miles in Siem Reap’s Srei Snam district. In a couple of months, the rains will flood these fields. Both conditions make it equally impossible to produce a good harvest. Srei Snam was a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012051056096/National-news/looking-for-a-better-life.html
ACU takes aim at bribes
The Anti-Corruption Unit has set its sights on illegal fees paid at the commune level and intends to stamp out a decades-old culture of bribery within the next four months, ACU officials announced yesterday. At a press conference, acting ACU president Chhay Savuth said that 22 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050956060/National-news/acu-takes-aim-at-bribes.html
Timbergreen principal denies illegal logging
The majority shareholder of Timbergreen, a firm that has been the centre of illegal logging allegations, has denied the company is in any way involved in the illicit trade of timber. The company has gained significant attention since prominent environmental activist Chut Wutty, who had made ...
PPWSA closes higher after a week down
For the first time in weeks, Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority yesterday closed up 4.35 per cent, a sign the stock was stablising after a rough opening, insiders said. After an eight-day price decline, PPWSA – the sole listed company on the Cambodia Securities Exchange – ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050956046/Business/follow-up-ipos-still-on-track.html
Follow-up IPOs still on track
Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, one of two state-owned companies slated to list on the Cambodia Securities Exchange this year, yesterday called the price decline in the country’s first publicly traded company worrisome. The eight-day slide in price that neared Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority’s initial public offering ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050956046/Business/follow-up-ipos-still-on-track.html
Northeast new focus for tourism
The Ministry of Tourism will shift its focus to ecotourism development in the Kingdom’s northeast after efforts to promote travel to Cambodia’s coastline proved successful. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050956045/Business/northeast-new-focus-for-tourism.html
Borei Keila evictees look to UN’s Subedi
Borei Keila evictees who have spent months sleeping under staircases and near rubbish dumps delivered a petition to UN Special Rapporteur Suya Subedi yesterday as their quest to be housed again at Borei Keila continued. ...
Cambodian education investor explains his turn to real estate
Chea Sokheng, general director of Arizon Group Ltd, a potential investor in Cambodia’s education and real estate sectors, said that investment in education is a main contributor to developing human resources and growth of the national economy. Though he mentioned the opportunity to invest in the ...
Poipet project: Gaming firm starts build on slot hall
Entertainment Gaming Asia Inc, which today will launch its Dreamworld Casino in Pailin, also will break ground on a slot hall project in Poipet, near the Thai border, on Thursday, according to a company statement. ...
Government silent on ELCs
Ministry officials were silent yesterday on how exactly they planned to implement Prime Minister Hun Sen’s suspension of any new economic land concession grants and review of existing ELCs. Provincial authorities involved in granting the now-suspended land concessions yesterday said they were ready to implement ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012050956051/National-news/government-silent-on-elcs.html
Factory name change fires up workers
More than 5,000 workers went on strike in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district yesterday after discovering the owners had changed the name of their factory almost two years ago, a union representative said. Concerned that the name change from Tai Yeng to Tai Nan in 2010 ...
Leader lost, but activists fight on
An estimated 600 people will travel to parts of the Cardamom Mountains in Koh Kong province to investigate illegal logging and commemorate the death of slain environment activist Chut Wutty tomorrow. Communities from eight provinces that have been affected by deforestation will travel to Koh Kong ...
Thai jobs serve as siren song
Every day they come in the thousands and crowd under a blazing sun for hours, awaiting a moment that costs them more than two full months’ salary – a passport. And where are they going? “Thailand,” 21-year-old Sem Pheaktra said, squinting under a harsh mid-morning sun. He, and ...
Families call for help to find maids
The families of two maids working in Malaysia asked Preah Vihear’s anti-human trafficking office and the human rights group Adhoc yesterday to intervene on behalf of their daughters, whom they haven’t seen or heard from since last year, officials said. ...
Maids seek justice in Malaysia
Chased out of the house by her Malaysian employer, fresh-faced Tieng SaSa, 18, found shelter with an NGO, escaping alleged abuse at the hands of her employer that included binding her hands and beating her feet with a metal club until her bones broke. Three months ...