News
ASEAN ministers vow to deepen tourism cooperation
Representatives of the ten ASEAN nations met on Sunday in Laos’ capital of Vientiane to launch the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF), where they pledged to expand tourism cooperation and discussed creating a pan-ASEAN tourist visa. The ATF, which was first held in 1981, is designed to ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-01/20/c_132115298.htm
‘Secession’ Leader Says He Will Return to Cambodia, Stage Protest
The convicted ringleader of a so-called secessionist movement in May in Kratie province, who is currently in self-imposed exile to avoid a 30-year prison sentence, has said that he will soon return to Cambodia to organize a large-scale demonstration against the government. Bun Ratha—who was sentenced ...
Japanese firms seek business options in Cambodia
Representatives of a dozen large Japanese companies arrived in Phnom Penh on Tuesday looking for business opportunities in the kingdom. Hidetoshi Nishimura, executive director of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, led the delegation, whose members represent firms in industries such as technology, ...
Advertising industry in Cambodia grows
As Cambodia’s economy continues to grow, advertising in the country has developed to keep pace. But the industry still faces challenges, insiders say. According to Media Adex data by Indochina Research, which monitors advertising spending for TV and print (but not radio) $105.4 million was ...
Bribery a challenge for Cambodia's tourism sector
The tourism sector has complained about the attempted extortion and bribery by officials at the international border checkpoints that still upset tourists coming into Cambodia. The issue was raised yesterday during a meeting of the Interministerial Committee for Facilitating the Travel and Transport of Tourists and ...
Cambodia's World Heritage Angkor Wat attracts 2.06 mln foreigners in 2012
Cambodia’s Angkor Wat Temple, one of the World Heritage Sites, received 2.06 million foreign visitors last year, up 28 percent compared to 1.61 million in a year earlier, a tourism report said Tuesday. The temple greeted 339,530 South Koreans last year, up 23 percent year-on-year; ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/culture/2013-01/15/c_132103894.htm
Xayaburi dam stirs debate on Mekong River Commission
When ministers from the four member countries of the Mekong River Commission and donors meet in Luang Prabang, Laos this week, the future role of the agency will be on the table. Questions about the effectiveness of the Mekong River Commission, set up in 1995 to ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/330603/xayaburi-dam-stirs-up-debate-on-mekong-river-commission
Energy security linked to firm borders
Energy supplies will be more secure once territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia are resolved, Department of Mineral Fuels director-general Songpob Polchan said on Friday. Mr Songpob said that the sooner Thailand and Cambodia are able to work out their differences, the sooner they can exploit ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/330370/end-to-border-row-to-help-energy-sector
Border tension with Cambodia escalates
BANGKOK, 9 January 2013 The cross-border tension between Thailand and Cambodia escalates as both countries prepare to make legal submissions to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the disputed area around the Preah Vihear temple in 3 months. In Surin province, security has tightened ...
http://www.pattayamail.com/news/border-tension-with-cambodia-escalates-20435
Sick of courts, villagers curse
In a sign that they no longer have faith in the court system, more than 100 villagers in Kampong Chhnang province placed their fates in the hands of a higher power yesterday, and prayed for misfortune to rain down on a company with whom they’ve ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/National/sick-of-courts-villagers-curse.html
Britain life insurer Prudential officially launches operations in Cambodia
The U.K.-based life insurer, Prudential Plc, on Wednesday announced the commencement of its life insurance operations in Cambodia, according to the firm’s press release. Alongside the launch of its business operations, Prudential Cambodia and Acleda Bank, the largest commercial bank in Cambodia, also announced the establishment ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-01/09/c_132091413.htm
Kampot Pepper Farmers to see Bumper Year
When the harvest season for Kampot pepper starts next month, farmers in Kampot province expect this year’s crop to yield more than 17 percent above last year, a representative of the farmers said. Nguon Lay, president of the Kampot Pepper Association, said last week that ...
Cambodia sees 2.65 bln USD trade deficit in 2012
Cambodia recorded a trade deficit of 2.65 billion U.S. dollars in 2012, according to the government’s statistics on Wednesday. The country’s total import and export volume had reached 13.63 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 19 percent from 11.48 billion U. S. dollars in a year ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-01/09/c_132091653.htm
Xayaburi dam not on agenda
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) will forgo an opportunity to voice opposition to the Xayaburi dam project – which member state Laos began building in November – when it meets for its annual council meeting next week. Surasak Glahan, communications officer with the MRC secretariat, confirmed ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013010860670/National/xayaburi-dam-not-on-agenda.html
‘Guards are more than farmers in uniform’
Located in a humble, barrack-like building with small offices that are still under construction, Global Security Solutions enjoys the proximity to its biggest customer: Toll Royal Railways. The company not only provides security for embassies, but for petrochemical companies, hotels and airlines as well. Since the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013010860663/Business/guards-are-more-than-farmers-in-uniform.html
Union sues Mfone director for violating labor law
Free Trade Union of Workers of Cambodia said Tuesday it had sued the director of Thailand’s Mfone Co Ltd for not respecting local labor laws. In a letter issued Tuesday to the Department of Labor Disputes, the union’s deputy secretary general Sam Srey Mom accused Mfone ...
Cambodia’s low wages lure manufacturers away from China, other countries
Inside a gleaming white-and-blue garment factory in Cambodia stand rows of second-hand Singers — weathered sewing machines transported from a plant in China that closed last year. The Hong Kong-headquartered Top Form, which has 700 workers at the plant, is one of many businesses that have ...
Wage hike forces Thai firms hire Cambodians
Thai factories have opted to hire Cambodian workers under a memorandum of understanding between Cambodia and Thailand after the Bt300 minimum wage policy came into effect for Thai workers across the country. A total of 154 Cambodians – 118 men and 36 women – with work ...
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Firms-hire-Cambodian-workers-under-MoU-30197348.html
Cambodia Angkor flies to Bangkok
Cambodia Angkor Air will start a daily service between Phnom Penh and Bangkok, 1 February [sic]. The airline launched its first service to Thailand, 30 November [sic] from Siem Reap and is scheduled to start a service to Hanoi 7 January [sic]. The Bangkok-bound flight will ...
http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2013/01/cambodia-angkor-flies-to-bangkok/
Starbucks to open its first outlet in Vietnam
Global coffee-chain giant Starbucks will enter its 12th Asian market next month when it opens an outlet in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City. RMA Cambodia CEO Rami Sharaf said the expansion into Vietnam did not automatically mean Starbucks would enter Cambodia. “I don’t think there is ...
Rise in Cargo Reflects a Diversifying Economy
The amount of air cargo entering and leaving Phnom Penh increased by almost 40 percent last year, and nearly 100,000 more business travelers to the capital were recorded during the first 11 months of last year compared to the same period in 2011, data from ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/rise-in-air-cargo-reflects-a-diversifying-economy-7214/
Cambodia’s Economic Challenge
Even as the skyline of Phnom Penh grows with the symbols of modern architecture, Cambodia’s economy still faces a host of challenges. On the surface, Cambodia’s economy is certainly improving. In September, the IMF raised its 2012 GDP growth forecast from 6.3 to 6.5 percent ...
http://thediplomat.com/2013/01/03/cambodias-failed-trickle-down-economy/
Cambodia greets 3.2 mln foreigners in Jan.-Nov. 2012
Cambodia has greeted some 3.2 million foreigners in the first eleven months of 2012, up 24 percent compared with 2.58 million visitors in the same period a year earlier, showed the latest statistics of Tourism Ministry on Thursday. From January to November last year, Vietnam topped ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-01/03/c_132077998.htm
Cambodia wins awards
The real estate and construction industry in Cambodia has been boosted recently after two companies won prestigious awards for their work in the Kingdom. Vattanac Capital walked away with the prize for Best Commercial Development (South East Asia) for the Vattanac Capital Tower at the second ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013010360594/Real-Estate/cambodia-wins-awards.html