News
Cambodia, Among Others, Feeding China's Demand for Timber
The growing market for timber in China is leading to widespread logging around the world, including in Cambodia, according to a report released yesterday. The report from London-based NGO the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) – entitled Appetite for Destruction: China’s trade in illegal timber – outlines ...
Study reveals extent of Mekong dam food security threat
The planned construction of hydropowered dams on the Mekong River in South-East Asia could jeopardise livelihoods, water access and food security for 60 million people, across Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, according to a study. The study reports that dams will block fish migration routes and ...
Aeon eyes major Asean expansion
Aeon Thana Sinsap (Thailand) plans aggressive business expansion both here and in neighbouring countries. The leading Japanese non-bank company is using Thailand as a centre to expand its businesses in other Asean countries. Aeon Thana Sinsap plans to offer more financial services in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/323617/aeon-eyes-major-asean-expansion
Cambodia greets 2.86 mln foreign visitors in 10 months
Cambodia attracted approximately 2.86 million international tourists in the first ten months of this year, up 24 percent over the same period last year, a report of the tourism ministry showed Wednesday. The report said Vietnam remains the largest source of foreign visitors to Cambodia ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/travel/2012-11/28/c_132004445.htm
Rare hardwood sparks gunfights, corruption in Asia
KOH KONG, CAMBODIA — A Thai force dubbed the “Rambo Army” couldn’t stop the gangs, armed with battlefield weaponry, as they scoured the forests. Neither could a brave activist, gunned down when he came to investigate. Nor, apparently, can governments across Southeast Asia. The root of the ...
http://www.bradenton.com/2012/11/24/4291081/rare-hardwood-sparks-gunfights.html
Beeline Sees Decline in Subscribers
The number of customers subscribing to the mobile operator Beeline has dropped by more than 100,000 in the last quarter, and its average revenue per user has sunk to its lowest in more than a year, the company announced in its third-quarter financial report. ...
SCB focus on Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia
Siam Commercial Bank will begin expanding its footprint across the region in anticipation of greater business opportunities and competitive pressures with the launch of the Asean Economic Community in 2016. SCB, Thailand’s third-largest bank in terms of assets, operates branches in Laos, Singapore and Hong ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/322667/scb-focus-on-myanmar-laos-cambodia
Mekong Subregion Investment Cooperation Forum highlights development triangle
Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Vietnam Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises, and the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Association for Economic Cooperation Development jointly held the Mekong Sub-region Investment Cooperation Forum with the theme of Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle before the New Challenges and Opportunities in Buon Ma Thuot ...
Joint visa for Thailand and Cambodia in limbo
Despite the fact that the Chairman’s Statement of the recently wrapped 21st ASEAN Summit welcomed progress on regional “connectivity”, a long-awaited joint visa for Thailand and Cambodia remains stalled. Koy Kuong, spokesman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that there is still no progress ...
Key joins Asian free trade talks
Prime Minister John Key has joined a launch of Asian free trade talks – but made it clear he favours a US-backed deal. The East Asian Summit wrapped up in Phnom Penh yesterday with Asian leaders formally announcing a start to negotiations towards a Regional Comprehensive ...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/7978019/Key-joins-Asian-free-trade-talks
Grouping urged to work together for 2015 integration
The secretary-general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) called on Asean member states to work collectively towards achieving the Asean Economic Community by 2015. Sok Chenda Sophea, who chaired the 2nd Asean Investment Forum (AIF) held in Phnom Penh, said Asean members must ...
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/Grouping-urged-to-work-together-for-2015-integrati-30194612.html
Acleda to Launch Banking Services in Burma
Acleda Bank announced on Sunday that it will expand its banking services into Burma by opening a microfinance institute there in January. ...
Full text of ASEAN Human Rights Declaration
Herewith the full text of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration adopted by Southeast Asian leaders Sunday: WE, the Heads of State/Government of the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (hereinafter referred to as “ASEAN”), namely Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of ...
NGOs ask ASEAN to address Xayaburi
Several groups are calling for the ASEAN summit to address the regional discord caused by the Xayaburi dam, which Laos began constructing earlier this month despite opposition downriver from neighbours Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as from conservation groups. On Friday, the Rivers Coalition in Cambodia ...
Healthy growth for Cambodia’s economy
A NEW report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says GDP growth in Cambodia over the next five years is likely to hit 6.9 per cent, the highest of any ASEAN country apart from Laos. However, the report warns that Cambodia needs to ...
ASEAN+3 leaders meet in Cambodia to chart future cooperation
The ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and South Korea) Summit was held here on Monday to discuss measures and actions to further enhance cooperation in the future. The Summit was made between the leaders of the ten-country ASEAN led by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and the leaders ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-11/19/c_131984651.htm
Gillard talks trade in Cambodia
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard is aiming for an ambitious trade agreement that not only covers ASEAN and its neighbours but leaves the door open for other entrants. Ms Gillard arrived in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh on Monday for the East Asia Summit, which is set ...
Southeast Asia calls for talks with China on sea dispute
Southeast Asian nations displayed a rare show of unity on Sunday against China’s sweeping maritime claims, calling for the first formal talks with Beijing over a sea dispute that has raised tensions and exposed deep divisions in the region. As Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/18/asia-summit-southchinasea-upd-idUSL3E8MI0BU20121118
Cambodia Drops a Spot in Asean as Burma Reforms
THE ten-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is used to fending off “interference” by the West in the internal affairs of some of its members. In recent years the human-rights record of the regime in Myanmar has been the tenderest of these sore spots. ...
China's Aid to Cambodia Helps Cement Ties
When Asia-Pacific leaders gather this weekend in Southeast Asia—a bright spot in a sputtering global economy—their Cambodian hosts may extend a warm welcome to U.S. President Barack Obama, but they will view officials from Beijing as old friends. Mr. Obama’s visit to Cambodia—this year’s host for ...
Chun Han Wong
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324595904578120582308358540.html
Forum talks up CLV development triangle
A Dak Lak province business forum late last week discussed measures to further promote investment in the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle. About 300 delegates and guests from the three countries attended the forum, organised by the Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), in partnership with Vietnam’s ...
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/52545/business-in-brief-15-11.html
Merit in rice trade plan
The cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal allowing the Commerce Ministry to form a rice trade partnership with Asean’s four other rice-producing countries, namely Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, to stabilise rice prices in the global market and to promote food security in the region. The ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/321297/rice-trade-area-plan-has-merit
As All Eyes Turn To Cambodia…
Along the Phnom Penh waterfront the city’s landmark flags have been raised and the street children and beggars are being removed – an unwanted sight for a government out to impress the biggest gathering of world leaders this country has ever seen. At the center of this will ...
http://thediplomat.com/asean-beat/2012/11/15/as-the-world-descends-on-cambodia/
Ratch puts mine purchase on hold as coal price dips sharply
The SET-listed Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc (RATCH), Thailand’s largest private power producer, is to delay the purchase of a coal mine in Indonesia, as the global coal price has dropped sharply. Ratch had planned to acquire a mine to serve its new coal-fired power plants ...