Ministries and other national bodies

The government sold off more than 10,000 cubic meters of illegally logged wood in direct negotiations with private businessmen over the past two days, according to a Finance Ministry official, after abandoning efforts to auction it off due to a lack of interest. ...

During the past five years the government approved close to $6.83 billion worth of investments in 1,183 construction projects, according to a senior official from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. ...

The Ministry of Social Affairs yesterday once again called on the Kingdom’s employers to hire the disabled, something mandated in a widely ignored 2010 sub-decree. ...

Though the rice-planting season has started and nationwide rice cultivation this month has been higher than planned, farmers are worried that adverse weather events caused by climate change will ruin their crops. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ planning and statistics department, the ...

The Cambodian government is on track to provide electricity to all villages in the Kingdom by 2020 as this year’s seven-month data, from the Ministry of Mines and Energy, indicate that 71 percent of rural areas now have regular power supply. Ith Praing, secretary of state ...

Meanchey district police and security guards yesterday clashed with about 70 Koh Kong province villagers at the capital’s Samaki Rainsy pagoda, shoving and pushing them as they tried to make their way to the Ministry of Land Management. ...

Cambodia has announced it will shutter the office of the inter-governmental Mekong River Commission in Phnom Penh, relocating its functions to neighboring Laos. ...

American software giant Microsoft announced yesterday that it would jointly implement a project with Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce to create a translation program to simplify complex English and Khmer business terminology in order to help businesses better understand commonly used jargon. ...

The Ministry of Public Works and Transportation yesterday announced that 75 fewer drivers had been fined for overloaded trucks last month compared to June, attributing the decline to recent crackdowns. ...

The NGO Forum on Cambodia yesterday demanded government funding for higher education for indigenous students to mark World Indigenous Peoples’ Day.   ...

Residents from villages in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district gathered outside the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction yesterday to ask the prime minister and government to honor their titles to land they said had been claimed by Royal Railway. ...

After an unexpectedly lengthy review, the Ministry of Environment has approved the environmental and social impact study of Indian mining firm Mesco Gold, clearing the last major hurdle for the company to receive a licence to operate the Kingdom’s first royalty-generating mine. ...

Sun Chanthol, senior minister and minister of Public Works and Transport, met with the president of Dansan Consultants on Friday to talk about the lack of safety signs on a construction site on National Road 21 that allegedly caused two deaths in a traffic accident. ...

Tourism Minister Thong Khon said on Sunday he did not believe an upcoming hike in the cost of tickets for foreigners visiting Angkor Wat will cause fewer tourists to come to Cambodia, with surveys showing most who visit the country are prepared to pay more. ...

The number of tourist arrivals from China and Thailand rose in the first six months of the year while arrivals from Vietnam, South Korea and Laos dropped, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Tourism. ...

The Ministry of Labour has said it will consider the Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA)’s request to ratify an International Labour Organization convention on domestic workers’ rights.   ...

President Trần Đại Quang hosted a reception in Hà Nội yesterday for Cambodia’s Senior Minister and Minister of Cults and Religion, Him Chhem, during which he stressed the need for the two countries to boost religious cooperation in bilateral and multilateral frameworks. ...

An angry mob stormed a military police compound in Kratie province on Wednesday to retrieve two trucks loaded with wood that were confiscated for not having proper licenses, and two villagers were seriously injured, a rights worker claimed. ...

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron on Wednesday defended the decision not to expel a senior official from the ministry after he was arrested for sexually assaulting his interpreter during a visit to South Korea in May, saying the crime was not serious—“not rape.” ...

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said yesterday that about $4 million was being spent on the upcoming national exam and that strict rules will ensure a fair contest. “Each candidate costs an estimated 140,000 riel [$35] that the ministry will spend for whole process of the ...

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is helping Cambodia conduct a feasibility study on an automated gateway transit system (AGT) to overcome Phnom Penh’s daily gridlock, caused by traffic congestion, during peak hours. Hideaki Wase, an urban transportation advisor in JICA, told Khmer Times yesterday that ...

The Ministry of Health (MoH) intends to discuss with Dr. Beat Richner the possibility of organizing a test for doctors in private clinics throughout the Kingdom about their professional knowledge, a spokesman confirmed yesterday. ...

The government launched a campaign yesterday to distribute 3.4 million pieces of reflective tape in an effort to reduce traffic accidents at night, with Prime Minister Hun Sen ordering officials and party members to give the tape out for free and threatening to arrest anyone ...

Thirty-two Vietnamese nationals were arrested during raids by immigration police in Phnom Penh’s Toul Kork district yesterday morning, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Keo Vanthorn.   ...