Aid and development

The Asian Development Bank announced Wednesday that it will provide $81.7 million, including a $6.7 million grant from Australia, in additional financing to help Cambodia recover from catastrophic floods in late 2013. The flooding affected 1.7 million people and caused an estimated $356 million in damage. ...

Nearly 500 women were tested this month in a screening drive at Phnom Penh’s Calmette Hospital for human papillomavirus (HPV), two strains of which are known to cause cervical cancer, but the free Pap smear was advertised as being available only to married women. Hav Monirath, ...

In an effort to bolster China’s cultural influence and expand bilateral ties, the Chinese government last week donated $203,000 to support the Kingdom’s increasingly popular Chinese-language classes. The funding was transferred last Thursday to the Chinese Association in Cambodia, which said it plans to expand class ...

Cambodia is encouraging green industry development in order to minimize impact on environment and reduce emission of greenhouse gas, Minister of Industry and Handicraft Cham Prasidh said Monday. Speaking at the Green Industry Seminar, Prasidh said currently industry has seen rapid growth but contributed to increasing ...

The U.N.’s human rights office in Cambodia expressed concern Monday that 22 detained protesters may not be allowed to attend their trials on Friday, while the government insisted that the prisoners will be transported to the court. Two minors were arrested for intentional violence for their ...

The world’s wealthiest person, Bill Gates, and his wife, Melinda, made a brief appearance in the border town of Pailin on Saturday, where their foundation funds projects to combat drug-resistant malaria. According to staff at the Memoria Palace & Resort, the philanthropists met with health ministry ...

The Council of Ministers of Cambodia on Friday passed three draft laws, designed to strengthen the country’s longtime-criticized judicial system, according to a government media statement. The green light was given during a weekly cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MoEF) will scrap customs fees for rice exporters from May 1 in an effort to reduce production costs and boost Cambodia’s competitiveness in the sector, according to a letter obtained by the Post. “[The ministry] has agreed to eliminate charges ...

The Sichuan-Cambodia Business Matching Session 2014 was held here Thursday with an aim to further promote economic and trade relations between Cambodia and China. The half-day forum brought together business executives from 51 enterprises in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province and some 120 Cambodian business people. ...

Casualties from landmines and unexploded ordnance have remarkably increased in the first two months of this year, a report of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority showed Tuesday. The country reported 40 casualties, 6 people died and 34 injured, during the January-February period this ...

More than two dozen NGOs have written to the head of the Asian Development Bank demanding the immediate release of a draft plan the ADB has drawn up to help Cambodian families evicted to make way for a bank-funded railway rehabilitation project. They also want ...

Phnom Penh City Hall decides to run public buses by itself after Chinese-owned Global withdrew​ itself due to internal issues. Long Dimanche, spokesman for the City Hall, said that the Global withdrew itslef from the public bus service project after two-month trial from February 5th to ...

Families evicted for a rail project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) threatened to demonstrate if the bank does not show them its plan to improve their living conditions within one week. About 1,000 families who built homes over the country’s long-neglected train tracks were ...

Anil Wadhwa, India’s deputy foreign minister, met with Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on Wednesday and promised to honor his request for millions of dollars in loans, a spokesman said. He [Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong] said that Mr. Namhong then requested money to complete ...

The two sides of the Second Chroy Changva Bridge were connected Wednesday in a ceremony presided over by Transport Minister Tram Iv Tek. He said the Chinese-funded bridge would be completed by September. “The bridge was projected to cost $27.5 million to be spent on construction ...

Cambodian and Indian senior diplomats on Wednesday discussed ways to strengthen and expand bilateral relations and cooperation for mutual benefits of the two countries and peoples. The talk was made between Cambodian deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Indian Ministry of External Affairs ...

Without more efforts to punish traffic violators, the government is all but certain to miss its 2020 goal of cutting traffic deaths by 20 percent and drunk driving deaths by 50 percent, road safety experts said at a forum Tuesday. There were 1,910 deaths due to ...

The Cambodian Red Cross, which bills itself as the country’s largest humanitarian organization, is building a six-story luxury hotel in Preah Vihear City. Government officials said Tuesday that the hotel would be used to generate revenue for the Cambodian Red Cross (CRC). The hotel is being ...

The National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) said Tuesday that it needs an additional $217 million from donors and NGOs to help recovery efforts from the floods of September and October 2013. A document accompanying the Post-Flood Early Recovery Needs Assessment Report, prepared by the ...

Cambodia’s 11-year-old investment law may be the most liberal in the region, according to the World Bank, but in practice, day-to-day business operations are far from simple, economists and business operators say. Mey Kalyan, senior adviser to the Supreme National Economic Council, said that despite a ...

Like mob deals and black market trades, the Cambodian school budget is dealt in suitcases of cash. Four times a year, the school operating budget is dispersed in stacks of cash transferred from the central bank to the Ministry of Education, eventually ending up with the ...

In 2011, Oeun Phirun took out a $450 loan from the Asian Development Bank, using half to buy a used motorbike and spending the rest on a small flock of ducks and chickens he hoped to raise. His family and about 1,000 others have been evicted ...

Dangerous political instability in Cambodia could put asylum seekers at grave risk, a leading academic has warned, as Immigration Minister Scott Morrison gave his strongest indication yet that refugees may be resettled there. University of NSW emeritus professor Carl Thayer said he was shocked the government would ...

Education Ministry officials on Monday confirmed that the ministry would no longer organize or oversee the junior high school exam, delegating the process to individual schools. As part of Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron’s reform of the graft-riddled education system, his ministry will forgo coordination of ...