Aid and development
Ministry rolls out new strategy to revitalize arts
The Ministry of Culture on Tuesday introduced the country’s first strategic cultural policy, an ambitious plan that includes setting up provincial cultural centers, launching arts education in schools, holding annual cultural events and promoting individual artists. Speaking to an audience that included representatives from the leading ...
Kuch Naren and Michelle Vachon
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-rolls-out-new-strategy-to-revitalize-arts-68720/
UN address focuses less on Cambodia than international issues
Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong addressed the UN’s General Assembly on Monday, in a speech that focused more on the threat of the Islamic State and international conflicts than it did on Cambodian issues. Hor Namhong told the Assembly that Cambodia supports joint international efforts to ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/un-address-focuses-less-on-cambodia-than-international-issues/2467446.html
AU tightens Cambodia relation with $40m aid and bilateral agreement on refugees
Foreign minister Julie Bishop announced that an additional $40 million in development assistance was given to Cambodia. The amount shall boost Cambodia’s effort to provide humanitarian aid to those who are in need of protection as part of the Refugees Convention and a member of ...
Athena Yenko
http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/567991/20140929/cambodia-refugees-kingdom-australia-memorandum-agreement.htm#.VCoK8PmSxqU
Cambodia will take in Australia's refugees on voluntary basis: PM
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday that the country will take in refugees from Australia on a voluntary basis, stressing that accepting asylum seekers is part of an international obligation for Cambodia. Hun Sen said a Cambodian working group will interview those refugees ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-09/29/c_133681664.htm
Cambodia should not accept refugees from Australia: Sam Rainsy
Opposition party leader Sam Rainsy said that Cambodia should not have signed a deal with Australia to accept refugees to live in Cambodia. Cambodia should not have accepted the refugees from Australia because they are not goods for being exported or imported by any country, Sam ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=ODE5MjAzZTY3Yjh
Vocational training to get $30M ADB boost
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced last week a $30 million loan aimed at overhauling Cambodia’s technical and vocational education system (TVET). According to a September 26 statement issued by the ADB, the new funding will go towards launching a “competency-based” assessment and certification process, and ...
Eddie Morton
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/vocational-training-get-30m-adb-boost
Australia defends sending refugees to Cambodia
Australia’s Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has defended the government’s plan to transfer refugees to Cambodia, saying the programme would start small but be a long-term arrangement. Under Canberra’s hardline immigration policy, asylum-seekers who arrive on boats are denied resettlement in Australia and sent to Papua New ...
RTÉ News Staff
http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0927/648375-australia-cambodia/
ADB firms up growth prediction
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has maintained its growth projections for Cambodia in 2014. The ADB’s midyear outlook for Cambodia, released yesterday, states that Cambodia’s economy still stands to achieve 7 per cent growth by the end of the year, and potentially 7.3 per cent in ...
Eddie Morton
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/adb-firms-growth-prediction
Cambodia: amid human rights progress, UN expert calls for more reform
Cambodia may be on the verge of a new era in human rights protection, an independent United Nations human rights expert declared today, adding that while the political momentum in the country was headed in a “positive direction,” a strong human rights infrastructure was still ...
UN News Centre Staff
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48815#.VCkNr_mSxqU
Land communities take on World Bank
About 100 anti-eviction activists from the Boeng Kak, Borei Keila and Lor Peang communities held their latest joint protest outside the World Bank office on Thursday over a recent announcement that it is considering the resumption of loan to the government after a three-year freeze. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/land-communities-take-on-world-bank-68238/
Cambodia needs 11 bln USD for public investment in 5 years: PM
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Thursday that the country needs about 11 billion U.S. dollars for public investment to support the implementation of the government’s priorities from 2013 to 2018. ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-09/18/c_133653197.htm
World Bank prepares to lift freeze on lending to Cambodia
The World Bank is contemplating a $25-million project to build up 15 social land concessions (SLCs) across Cambodia and could approve the scheme as soon as December, according to a proposal posted to the Bank’s website late last month, a move that would end its ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/world-bank-prepares-to-lift-freeze-on-lending-to-cambodia-68083/
Asia-Pacific officials discuss climate change in Cambodia
More than 100 officials from some 20 economies in Asia and the Pacific are meeting with donor institution representatives in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province in a bid to strengthen public financial management systems for climate change adaptation projects, said a news statement on Monday. ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140915/asia-pacific-officials-discuss-climate-change-cambodia
China to deliver 200 ambulances to Cambodia for health sector development
The Chinese government provided 200 sets of ambulances to the Cambodian Ministry of Health on Friday to contribute to the development of health sector. Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Bu Jianguo signed to deliver the ambulances to Cambodian Minister of Health Mam Bunheng. ...
People's Daily Online News Staff
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/n/2014/0912/c90883-8782114.html
Civil society, tech team up
With security footage of elephants, clouded leopards and other wildlife caught on hidden cameras in Cambodia’s Eastern Plains flashing on a TV screen, Toby Eastoe of Conservation International noted that their cameras also catch other activity. Presenters ranging from anti-corruption advocates to health service workers ...
Sean Teehan
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/civil-society-tech-team
US launches 16 mln USD nutrition, sanitation project in Cambodia
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Monday unveiled a five-year Integrated Nutrition, Hygiene and Sanitation project in Cambodia, which is estimated to cost 16 million U.S. dollars, according to a press statement from the U.S. Embassy to Cambodia. ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2014-09/08/c_133627929.htm
Government passes $5.24b investment plan
The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a three-year $5.24 billion “public investment program”—a package of several hundred projects from 2015 to 2017 designed to help the government reach its goal of 7 percent annual growth or better. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-passes-5-24b-investment-plan-67675/
Cambodian deputy PM says strategic partnership with China creates more opportunities for businesses
The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation between Cambodia and China has been providing “more favourable conditions” for economic, trade and investment ties between the two countries, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Cabinet Minister Sok An said on Sunday. ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-09/07/c_126962873.htm
Proposal aims to bring workers’ voices to negotiating table
A proposed project hopes to channel the widespread use of mobile phones among factory workers to bring the voice of the 600,000 Cambodians employed in the crucial garment sector into future wage negotiations. The project, which would collect information about working hours, conditions, wages and expenses ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/proposal-aims-to-bring-workers-voices-to-negotiating-table-67629/
World Bank wants ‘task force’ to fix Cambodia logistics
Weak logistics have stood in the way of Cambodia’s trade progress for years with its export costs at least 30 percent higher than those of Southeast Asian neighbours Thailand and Vietnam. Getting the goods from farmers to markets remains difficult, and exporters struggle to supply overseas ...
Greg Knowler
http://www.joc.com/international-logistics/world-bank-wants-%E2%80%98task-force%E2%80%99-fix-cambodia-logistics_20140904.html
Hun Sen says business breeds bribes
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday defended his government, saying its reputation for corruption is undeserved, laying blame on the private sector for initiating the bribe process and calling out international development partners for applying double standards. Speaking at the Eighth Regional Conference of Anti-Corruption Intiative for ...
Chan Muyhong
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/hun-sen-says-business-breeds-bribes
ADB gives update on aid for railway families
The government has finished calculating the additional compensation it will pay out to some of the families forced to move for a $143 million railway rehabilitation project being funded mostly by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), according to a new report. The report, released this week ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/adb-gives-update-on-aid-for-railway-families-67520/
Asia-Pacific region needs to join force to fight against corruption: Cambodian PM
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that countries and economies in Asia and the Pacific region needed to work together to fight against corruption. ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-09/03/c_133617623.htm
China provides forestry equipment to Cambodia
The Chinese government has provided forestry equipment in equivalent to 4.1 million yuan (667, 200 U.S. dollars) to Cambodia for protecting and developing forest sector, officials said. ...
ASEAN-China Center News Staff
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2014-09/03/c_133617815.htm