Fifty-eight Cambodian migrant workers, 40 of whom who were reportedly arrested and beaten by the police in Thailand’s Songkla province last month, returned to their home provinces on Saturday after their employer gave back their passports, said a worker representative yesterday. “We don’t know yet if ...

Despite receiving applications from banks looking to enter Cambodia’s market, the central bank has said it will offer no more commercial banking licenses as the market already has enough players. The decision appears to follow advice offered by the International Monetary Fund earlier this year that ...

There was a sense of déjà vu at the Peace Palace yesterday as a week of largely closed-door ASEAN meetings kicked off in earnest with the same contentious issue that so dominated April’s ASEAN Summit: a code of conduct for the South China Sea. With China ...

Cambodia’s branded Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs) market might double in value to US$1 billion over the next seven years, according to Unilever Indochina. Factors influencing this are the increasing urbanization of Cambodian society and the desire for more choice, said Maks Mukundan, Unilever Indochina’s managing director. Cambodia’s open ...

Cambodia has received a US$1 million grant in order to develop its milled rice industry and strengthen the country’s exporting capacity, according to the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce. It is part of a larger, US$3-4 million grant from the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), a partnership ...

A plan to create a free trade area covering roughly half the world’s population by 2015 was initiated yesterday by regional and world leaders meeting in Phnom Penh. During the Asean and related meetings at his office, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced that the group of ...

A group of local property agents has initiated a monthly gathering for real estate professionals and those interested in the industry to meet and share business ideas and industry insights. The first of the monthly gatherings, known as Real Estate Monday, was held this week at ...

Despite the inaugural train traveling between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville by a new rail link a month ago, no goods have yet been transported between the capital and the country’s largest port. Toll Royal Railways, a joint venture between Australia’s Toll Group and local conglomerate Royal ...

Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) yesterday announced plans to pay its first dividend to shareholders. Dividends from the stock will be given to investors next month in cash after the financial performance of the company is audited by an international firm. Up until now, the ...

Cambodia migrant workers seeking to leave allegedly exploitative conditions at the Phatthana Seafood factory in southern Thailand said yesterday that they were still being forced to pay to get their passports back. The factory, which exports fish to buyers across the world including Walmart, has come ...

Hotel and guesthouse operators have pushed back against government calls to avoid price increases during holidays, claiming group booking, as well as supply and demand, dictated the price of accommodation. Government officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, have recently tried to dissuade operators from raising the ...

A radio competition organized by the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia will enable garment workers to showcase their knowledge and teach the public about the country’s Labor Law, an ILO representative said yesterday. “The objective is not only to allow workers to express their ...

Democratic Kampuchea’s commerce committee was under the leadership of co-accused Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary, testimony by former national bank deputy director Sar Kimlomouth revealed yesterday at the Khmer Rouge tribunal. Although the Khmer Rouge regime had eliminated currency and attempted to turn the nation into ...

Authorities are investigating the death of a Cambodian worker that took place on Monday outside a factory in Thailand’s Songkhla province, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said yesterday. Phan Chem, a representative of Cambodian workers at Siam International Food Co said a 19-year-old worker ...

Milled-rice exporters have called on the government to continue its efforts in reducing electricity and transportation costs, two of the main obstacles facing the government’s goal of exporting 1 million tonnes of milled rice by 2015. At a working group on rice exports on Friday, 40 ...

A military police commander has filed a complaint against a Forestry Administration chief whom he accuses of wrongly sending authorities to search a truck suspected of transporting illegally logged luxury wood, officials said yesterday. When Forestry Administration officials searched the truck at a military police base in Kompong Thom province on ...

Human rights group Adhoc released a report on the state of Cambodian migrant workers yesterday, saying that tales of abuse from migrant workers and their families have increased five-fold compared to the same period last year. Seventy per cent of this year’s 141 complaints concerned domestic ...

Cambodia and Thailand are poised for a boost in trade and tourism following a new agreement taking effect today that simplifies procedures at a key border crossing between the two nations. “The ability to move people, goods, and vehicles across borders efficiently and responsibly is at the heart of regional economic integration,” said Craig Steffensen, ...

Keo Kounila is Cambodian blogger who recently attend the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum in Bonn, Germany. After meeting amid some 1,500 participants, she told VOA Khmer she had garnered new ideas to help develop Cambodia, including organizing seminars to help university students make better use ...

The plane carrying the body of late King Father Norodom Sihanouk touched down this afternoon. The body made its way to the Royal Palace in a procession attended by more than 100,000 mourners. Even hours before the Boeing 747 carrying the late King Father arrived from Beijing, ...