News
Kuwait-India JV to explore for gold, iron in Cambodia
Kuwait’s Pima International Co and D&D Pattnaik Group of India have jointly established Pima D&D International Co to explore for gold and iron in Cambodia The firm plans to invest between US$10 million and $15 million in gold and iron exploration in Kampong Chhnang, Kratie and ...
Radiation detection equipment installed at Sihanoukville Port
In the fulfillment of a 2009 pact made between the US and Cambodia to reduce the risk of terrorist activity, the US National Nuclear Security Administration announced on Thursday that it had installed radiation detection equipment at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port. With the new equipment, the port ...
Bio-fuelled power plant to go online
A rice-husk powered power plant will officially open in Kampong Speu at the end of the year, set to provide electricity to the district’s rice millers, according to officials from operator Golden Rice Cambodia. The US$2 million generator is set to supply power to all of ...
Yingluck adds fuel to gas talks
Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Cambodian National Petroleum Association Sok An has called for the resumption of talks with Thailand over the disputed overlapping claims area in the Gulf of Thailand, believed to be rich in oil and natural-gas reserves. The oil industry had ...
Arbitration council orders an end to strike
The Arbitration Council has ordered more than 700 workers at the Wei Xin garment factory to end a week-long strike they have staged in protest against a spate of issues they have with the company over contracts and payment. A decision handed down on Saturday by ...
Kingdom awaits US trade law
The US House of Representatives has renewed a trade law experts said could have a substantial effect on Cambodia’s exports to the United States, as well as the future of the Kingdom’s manufacturing sector. The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program waived tariffs on about US$13 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011091251593/Business/kingdom-awaits-us-trade-law.html
responsAbility Invests $13.5m in Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) VisionFund Cambodia, Equity Bank of Kenya
responsAbility Social Investments AG, a Swiss for-profit company that operates four microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs), recently reported to MicroCapital that it has invested USD 13.5 million in microfinance institutions (MFIs) Equity Bank of Kenya and VisionFund Cambodia. The investments have been made through three MIVs: ...
Laos aims to build Mekong dam this year, testing neighbours
Laos wants to start construction this year on the $3.8 billion (Bt115 billion) Thai-financed Xayaburi hydropower plant on the Mekong River after changing the design of the dam to placate neighbouring countries opposed to the project. Laos completed a review of the dam recently to ease ...
Labour Ministry releases mass fainting figures
Figures released by the Ministry of Labor on Friday showed that 1,578 garment factory workers have fainted in workplace incidents since the beginning of this year. Pok Vanthat, deputy director of the Labor Ministry’s Medical Unit and chief of its research committee, said that his committee ...
Dozens protest in Phnom Penh over land loss
Sixty villagers from Kratie province staged a protest Friday in Phnom Penh’s Wat Botum Park, claiming that their land had been grabbed by three private companies, and appealed to Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene in their case. Slesh Vansoekrya, a representative of the villages, said ...
SRP calls to suspend Prey Long rubber firm
Opposition party lawmaker Son Chhay has sent a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Sok An asking for the immediate suspension of a Vietnamese rubber plantation in the endangered Prey Long forest, accusing the firm of illegal deforestation. In the letter dated Wednesday, Mr Chhay also asked ...
Trade unions demand change to draft law
A group of independent trade unions yesterday put forth a list of demands for changes to Cambodia’s first trade union law, which will be finalised by the government in the coming months. Unionists said the revisions were necessary, as the current draft law would undermine unions ...
Cambodia ranked ninth most at risk for disasters
Cambodia was ranked the ninth most at risk country of being exposed to natural disasters out of 173 countries surveyed in a new report by the UN University’s Institute for Environment and Human Security A UNDP report released in August supported the World Risk report’s findings ...
Kingdom's garment shipments still growing
Cambodian garment and textile exports increased nearly 20 per cent in the first eight months of 2011 compared to the same period last year, according to Ministry of Commerce figures. The Kingdom exported US$2.35 billion in garments during the period, a 19.6 per cent increase over ...
Global brands join fainting 'phenomenon' inquiry
At least 24 international apparel brands have pledged to immediately investigate the mass fainting “phenomenon” that has hit the Cambodian garment factories that supply them, the International Labour Organisation says. Executives of global brands had pledged to work together “to determine the precise causes of incidences ...
NBC calls on MFIs to spread risk
The National Bank of Cambodia was pushing microfinance institutions to look to domestic banks for funding in an industry heavily reliant on foreign loans, experts said yesterday. Although the NBC is seeking to foster healthier relationships between MFIs and the Kingdom’s commercial banks, a dearth of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011090951563/Business/nbc-asks-mfis-to-diversify.html
Bokor Resort to Open for Visitors for Late 2011
Mount Borkor Resort, the highest location in Cambodia, located near the coastline, will be inaugurated to welcome tourists from all destinations by the end of 2011, while the road climbing to the plateau’s peak and other tourism structures are about to be completed So far, the ...
Competitiveness Improves
The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index 2011-2012 ranked the Philippines 75th out of 142 economies, up from 85th out of 139 in the 2010-2011 report. Last year’s placing marked a reversal of 2009’s slide to 87th in a list of 133, from 71st ...
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=TopStory&title=Competitiveness-improves&id=37920
Land for Rubber Farms to Nearly Double by 2020
Cambodia expects to almost double the amount of land used to cultivate rubber between now and 2020, a move that rights groups say could result in more evictions across Cambodia. Ly Phalla, director general of General Directorate of Rubber Plantations, said yesterday that there are ...
Country’s Buyers Discuss Faintings, Union Law
Multiple government ministries and the International Labor organization will form a group to investigate the mass fainting that have plagued Cambodia’s garment industry over the past several months, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said yesterday. There have been at least 15 mass fainting since the beginning ...
K Thom Authorities Prevent NGO Workshop
Authorities in Kompong Thom province yesterday forced a pagoda to withdraw its invitation to host a workshop about forest protection, continuing their pressure on two NGOs that provide community legal education in the province, a monk and NGO worker said. Chin Neth, chief monk at ...
Officials Move to Bring Unruly Garment Subcontractors in Line
Citing a government investigation that revealed factories colluding with unlicensed subcontractors to use unethical labor sources including prisoners, Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh has asked the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia to urge adherence to labor law. Rehabilitation programs meant to teach vocational skills such ...
Mining Firm Hit With Fines for Illegal Exports
A mining company owned by the wife of RCAF Major General Nim Meng has been ordered by the government to pay fines and unpaid taxes after the firm was found to have illegally exported minerals from Cambodia, a report released yesterday by the Cambodian Investment ...
Investment by China Doubles In First Half
Cambodia approved $1.2 billion in investments from China in the first six months of the year, a 104 percent increase in the amount of Chinese money set to flood into the economy compared to the same period last year, the Cambodian Investment Board said. The ...