Aid and development
Suppliers to Global Fund back in biz
Two suppliers of mosquito nets to Cambodia found to have bribed officials to gain contracts under the Global Fund’s health grant scheme have had their contracts renewed. The two firms, Sumitomo Chemical and Vestergaard Frandsen, were found by the fund’s Office of the Inspector General in ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/suppliers-global-fund-back-biz
Worse off than before
In May of 2010, just four days after their family was resettled in Battambang province, two children, accompanied by their sister-in-law, walked to a pond. Stories differ as to why they were there. Rights groups say they went to bathe and collect water. Police claim ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/worse
Phnom Penh warms to new buses on second day of service
On the second day of Phnom Penh’s monthlong public bus experiment, there was a visible uptick in passengers Thursday traveling the single route along Monivong Boulevard. About a dozen passengers interviewed, who included civil servants, NGO staff and a large number of uniformed students, were ...
Hul Reaksmey and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/phnom-penh-warms-to-new-buses-on-second-day-of-service-51641/
Hun Sen leaves for Laos
Prime Minister Hun Sen left on Thursday for two-day visit to Laos. The delegation accompanying Hun Sen included Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Cabinet Minister Sok An and other members of the Royal Government. A number of agreements will be signed during his visit. The Ministry of Foreign ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=OTNkNGI3NTlhNmY
UN Envoy Asks Cambodia to Lift Demonstrations Ban
A U.N. rights envoy suggested Thursday that Cambodia lift a ban on public gatherings in the capital imposed amid a violent crackdown on demonstrators a month ago. Maina Kiai, the U.N.’s global Special Rapporteur for freedom of peaceful assembly and association, made the suggestion to Foreign ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/rapporteur-02062014181843.html
Khmer minority lack equal rights: report
Thach Ry, a 64-year-old Khmer Krom man, fled Vietnam in 2008 after authorities there tried to arrest him for protesting the government’s treatment of his community. Arriving in Cambodia with his wife and daughter, authorities here tried to arrest him, too, he said, so like many ...
Kevin Ponniah and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/khmer-minority-lack-equal-rights-report
Flood trouble spots mapped
Thanks to a crowd-sourcing campaign spearheaded by grassroots map developers Urban Voice Cambodia, residents of Phnom Penh can now access a map pinpointing flood-prone areas in the capital during rainy season. Updated online yesterday, the map was generated by citizens, who contributed 119 reports of flooding over a ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/flood-trouble-spots-mapped
Test Drive Begins for New City Bus Service
Ten buses set off Wednesday morning along Monivong Boulevard in Phnom Penh on a month-long test-run to determine if the public is ready to jettison their motorbikes and luxury cars and hop on board mass transport. This is the second attempt by the Japanese International Cooperation ...
Hul Reaksmey and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/test-drive-begins-for-new-city-bus-service-51538/
IMF says Cambodia's strong outlook subject to 'considerable' risks
Cambodia’s strong economic growth and foreign investment are subject to “considerable” downside risks, the International Monetary Fund has warned. A staff report released in Washington late Tuesday said “economic activity remains strong driven by robust exports, with garment exports helped by preferential access to European Union.” At ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=M2FjYzE4NzRmYzQ
Long-Awaited Phnom Penh Bus Service Begins One-Month Trial
A fleet of 10 municipal buses was set to roll out early this morning, commencing a one-month public bus service trial along a single route on Monivong Boulevard. If successful, the bus route will mark the first step in establishing a long-overdue public transit system to ...
Simon Henderson and Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/long-awaited-phnom-penh-bus-service-begins-one-month-trial-51446/
Cambodia attracts some 460,000 Chinese visitors in 2013, up 38 pct
Cambodia greeted about 460,000 Chinese tourists last year, up 38 percent from 333,900 in a year earlier, according to a report of the Ministry of Tourism on Tuesday. China is the second largest source of tourists to Cambodia after Vietnam, the report said. Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong ...
Shanghai Daily News Staff
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=198122
Cambodia’s rice under fire
Amid falling local production in Italy, officials there are calling on the European Union to scrap a preferential trade agreement that gives Cambodia’s rice exports duty-free advantages in the global market. According to a January 31 report from rice industry publication Oryza, members of the Italian ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodia%E2%80%99s-rice-under-fire
National Rail Project on Hold ‘Indefinitely’
Work on a $143 million donor project to renovate the country’s creaking railway system, which is already over budget and years behind schedule, is now indefinitely postponed due to a lack of funds, with more than 300 km of rail still to be laid, a ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/national-rail-project-on-hold-indefinitely-51323/
ADB Admits Fault in Rail Project, Pledges Compensation
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has for the first time admitted to major flaws in its efforts to protect the roughly 4,000 families losing land to a $143 million project it is funding to rehabilitate Cambodia’s dilapidated railway system. On Friday, the ADB said it would ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/adb-admits-fault-in-rail-project-pledges-compensation-51210/
Mixed message to UN
A call for the Cambodian government to lift its controversial ban on public assembly is among 34 such recommendations it has chosen to defer in the wake of last week’s second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of its human rights situation. The UN on Saturday released a ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mixed-message-un
CMAC eyes budget bump of $13 million
The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) is looking to increase its annual budget to $33 million this year amid a need to upgrade its life-saving equipment, an official said yesterday. Approximately $10 million has already been raised, according to CMAC director Heng Ratana, who expressed confidence ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cmac-eyes-budget-bump-13-million
Hun Sen asks Britain to help human resource development
Prime Minister Hun Sen asked Britain to help Cambodia on human resource development. Hun Sen and Hugo Swire, British Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs, had a meeting Friday at the Peace Palace. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=OGY0MjA0ZDI1MDA
IMF forecasts Cambodia's economy at 7.2 pct in 2014
Cambodia’s economy is expected to grow by 7.2 percent this year, and pick up to 7.5 percent next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said. The IMF hailed Cambodia for making good progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and reducing poverty substantially. It said ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2014-02/01/c_133087969.htm
Cambodia needs more British investors: PM
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Friday that the country wanted to see more British investors in order to further contribute to developing local economy and reducing poverty. The premier made the remarks during a meeting with visiting British Minister of State at the Foreign and ...
Shanghai Daily News Staff
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=197529
Made here, owned there
At the end of a well-paved road just past the city’s airport sits a cluster of factories. Each one is barely discernible from the next – grey concrete walls and blue aluminium roofs. But one factory in the lot, MAG (Cambodia), is different. In a country ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/made-here-owned-there
EU Parliamentarian Probes Sugar Plantations in Cambodia
A member of the European Parliament is in Cambodia investigating agri-business firms accused of evicting hundreds of families while benefiting from a free-trade scheme with Europe worth millions of dollars, according to the NGO Equitable Cambodia. The visit from France’s Patrice Tirolien follows a resolution the ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eu-parliamentarian-probes-sugar-plantations-in-cambodia-51166/
Anti-Corruption Unit investigates corruption cases in response to Global Fund’s report
The anti-corruption Unit is launching its investigation on corruption cases after being revealed by Global Fund Organization through its progressive report. The investigation is being launched in line with the Unit’s announcement on the 37th Meeting of the National Anti-Corruption Council on 29 January 2014. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=NmY2NWI0NGUxMTg
New Cambodian Ambassadors Told to Counter CNRP ‘Distortion’
CPP National Assembly President Heng Samrin has ordered Cambodia’s newest ambassadors to Asia and Europe to go on a public relations offensive against mounting news abroad that the country’s respect for democracy and human rights is slipping. Cambodian security forces have shot dead seven people ...
Sek Odom and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-cambodian-ambassadors-told-to-counter-cnrp-distortion-51099/
France fronts $359 million
The French Agency for Development (AFD) has pledged $359 million in grants and loans to Cambodia over the next three years, state news agency AKP reported Friday. ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/france-fronts-359-million