Economy and commerce

Corruption remains a major impediment to Cambodia’s development, but the systemic practices associated with it can be curbed if the government takes serious action, a transparency advocate says. Preap Kol, executive director of Transparency International Cambodia, told VOA Khmer in a studio interview recently that Cambodia ...

Newly re-elected US President Barack Obama will attend a series of top-level Asian meetings next week, with Cambodia hosting an Asean summit, and China in attendance with new leadership. The high-profile meetings will present challenges for the US president, whose administration has become more deeply ...

Total trade in Cambodia reached $11.17 billion from January through October, an 18.1 percent increase compared to the same period last year, according to data released yesterday by the Ministry of Commerce. Khon Savuth, chief of statistics at the ministry’s Camcontrol department said that the ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the OPEC Fund for International Development have signed an agreement to support trade in emerging Asian countries under the ADB’s Trade Finance Program, according to a news release. The risk distribution agreement will support a projected incremental trade flow between ...

As Cambodia prepares to host a series of top-level meetings in Phnom Penh next week, questions remain over how it will approach major issues such as the South China Sea. Analysts now say next week’s meeting will be a test of whether Cambodia will continue ...

Thousand of families that stand to be evicted when construction work on the Lower Sesan 2 Dam begins in 2014 will each receive a 1-hectare plot of land for a home as well as a 5 additional hectares for growing crops, provincial officials said yesterday. Provincial ...

The World Bank and Japan will promote Thailand as the insurance centre of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to help develop the industry in neighbouring countries and provide professional services to the more advanced economies. The move is also expected to upgrade the insurance ...

Kratie province – Cambodia’s transformation from war-torn basket-case to one of Asia’s most promising emerging economies is being overshadowed by a backwards lurch in human rights and land policies that critics say are entrenching poverty. Next week’s visit by Barack Obama, the fist by a U.S. ...

Cambodia imported approximately 1.2 billion tonnes of petroleum in the first nine months of the year, up 12.51 per cent from the 1.1 billion tonnes in the same period last year, statistics from the Ministry of Commerce showed last week. From January to September, Cambodia bought ...

More than 50 businesses from Vietnamese and Cambodian districts met in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang to discuss how to improve investment cooperation, expand the market and increase exports into Cambodia . According to Deputy Director of the Dong Nai provincial Department of Industry ...

The cabinet yesterday approved the Commerce Ministry’s plan to develop a rice trade partnership with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam to stabilise international rice prices According to a source at the Commerce Ministry, the rice trade zone project will begin with Cambodia and will involve rice ...

Some of the U.S.’ most senior lawmakers are urging Barack Obama to speak out on what they called Cambodia’s deteriorating human rights situation when the U.S. president makes what will be the first visit to the country by a sitting American leader later this month. ...

The leaders of two of Cambodia’s biggest donors, China and Japan, will attend the up coming Asean and East Asia summits in Phnom Penh next week, Prime Minister Hun Sen confirmed during a speech in Siem Reap province yesterday. “China Prime Minister [Wen Jiabao] will arrive ...

Insisting on a response from American authorities, more than 100 eviction protestors from Phnom Penh continued to rally outside the U.S. Embassy yesterday and resubmitted a petition asking for President Barack Obama to address their land rights when he visits the country next week. Since confirmation ...

An agriculture and transportation company has allegedly threatened to demolish the homes of about 100 families on Wednesday if they refuse to move off an agricultural land concession in Kampot province’s Chhuk district, villagers said yesterday. “So Nguon company and [Decho Aphivat commune chief] Chum Soeun ...

Police in Banteay Meanchey province detained 298 people for trying to illegally cross the border to Thailand last week in Thma Puok district’s Kork Romiet commune, police said yesterday. During questioning, all 298 detainees admitted that they were trying to cross the border in order to ...

State-owned communications provider Telecom Cambodia is planning to list on the local bourse by June next year Telecom Cambodia was originally scheduled to list by the end of this year but the company did not meet listing requirements in time. ...

Tokyo police arrested 10 Japanese nationals earlier this month for allegedly defrauding more than 1,000 investors out of $20 millions using fictitious investment projects in Cambodia, according to Japanese media reports. “The Metropolitan Police Department found no evidence that the amount of money raised was ...

From large tracts of rural land to sand from the country’s rivers to human hair, a host of Cambodia’s natural resources are on display in the shop window of China’s largest online trading website. Alibaba.com – which claims more than 80 million users worldwide and is ...

As more than 100 protesters continued to spend their days camped outside the US embassy appealing for the release of two land activists, a delegation from Amnesty International visited the Boeung Kak Community yesterday to offer support for their fight Amnesty International would continue to monitor ...

Local company VLK Royal Tourism Group has embarked on a joint venture with a Thai partner to build OC Hotel, a four-star boutique hotel in Sihanoukville. The venture was prompted by rising demand as well as increasing tourist numbers to the coastal area off the ...

Back in 2007 and 2008, Phnom Penh was positively abuzz with the sound of drills, hammers and cranes. Construction sites were found all over the city and it seemed that every day new projects were being announced in the media—a skyscraper here, a retail development ...

Laos began construction last week on a multi-billion dollar hydro dam project that is opposed by other countries along the Mekong River, and activists who say the project will significantly impact the environment and the economies of four countries that rely on the river for ...

Cambodia’s transformation from war-torn basket-case to one of Asia’s most promising emerging economies is being overshadowed by a backwards lurch in human rights and land policies that critics say are entrenching poverty. ...