ភ្នំពេញប៉ុស្តិ៍
New unit stops 23 on Thai border
Units of a newly deployed, 100-strong military police force stationed around Banteay Meanchey province’s Poipet town after Pchum Ben snared 23 workers seeking to illegally cross the border into Thailand for work on Tuesday. Twenty mobile, five-man units were patrolling in rotating day and night shifts ...
Scrutiny over Finnish firm’s ties to Xayaburi
The Finnish government will investigate multinational consulting and engineering firm Pöyry over its involvement in Laos’s Xayaburi dam project, a letter obtained by the Post yesterday reveals. According to the letter from Finland’s Ministry of Employment and the Economy, dated October 16, a complaint filed by ...
PM says economy to grow by 7 per cent
Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday that the Kingdom’s economic growth is forecast to grow at 7 per cent this year, according to news agency reports. “We still maintain our forecast of 7 per cent growth and the latest forecast showed that the inflation rate ...
Flood money runneth over
Flooding this year cost the government significantly less than expected due to better preparation and lower water levels than in previous years, first vice president of the National Committee for Disaster Management Nhim Vanda announced yesterday. The NCDM could not yet report the precise amount spent on flood ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012103159481/National-news/flood-money-runneth-over.html
Hun Sen: remove ASEAN trade barriers
Prime Minister Hun Sen has called for the removal of all tariff and non-tariff barriers when the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) integrates in 2015, saying it is of central importance. Speaking at the opening of an ASEAN symposium in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, the premier said integration of ...
Swedish outcry has royal voice in midst
Growing calls in Sweden for multinational clothing giant H&M to increase wages for Cambodian garment workers have taken a royal twist. Cambodia’s Prince Charin Norodom, 38, who has lived in Sweden for more than 30 years, told the Post yesterday that he had been working behind ...
Striking workers resign in trade-off
Tae Young factory workers have ended their strike demanding the reinstatement of 16 fired workers after the factory last week agreed to drop its legal complaints against eight of the 16 in return for the entire group’s official resignations. About 600 protesters began the strike at ...
Hong Kong seeking trade ties
During a visit to Phnom Penh this week, Greg So, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, reiterated Hong Kong’s desire to be inducted into the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement and highlighted Cambodia as a potential beneficiary for foreign direct investment from Hong Kong. In So’s view, economic ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012103159498/Business/hong-kong-seeks-trade-ties.html
Another major Xayaburi pact
The inking of a €300 million contract for water turbines, and job advertisements marked “urgent” appear to be the latest signs that Laos is powering forward with the Xayaburi hydroelectric dam project on the Mekong River. Assurances the $3.8 billion project was on hold pending further ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012103159486/National-news/another-major-xayaburi-pact.html
Silencing the Voice of Dissent
Before its owner was arrested in July on charges of insurrection, Beehive radio had hit the consciousness of few outside Cambodia. While international rights groups and press watchdogs were quick to jump on a story of political posturing and the quashing of free speech in the ...
Cambodia needs to polish reputation
The chief economist at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia says Cambodia needs to attract greater numbers of multinational companies and treat them well, in order to establish production networks that will transfer technology to smaller Cambodian businesses. In an interview with the ...
First financial leasing company for Cambodia
GL Finance (GLF), the first and only financial leasing company in Cambodia, opened its 11th branch in Phnom Penh on Friday, covering all authorized Honda and NCX dealerships in Phnom Penh and its vicinity. GLF, in partnership with Honda NCX, helps customers buy their own motorbikes and provides ...
Banking made more accessible
The largest bank in Cambodia, Acleda Bank Plc, has extended its mobile banking and payments service to consumers without an existing banking relationship of any kind, according to a press release by global technology provider Fiserv. Established in 2010, Acleda Unity now reaches untapped consumer segments using ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012103059461/Business/banking-made-more-accessible.html
Improvements for banks after budget
Improvements to Cambodia’s banking and finance sector are expected to come about as a result of the 2013 national budget, a Council of Ministers spokesman said. “We will dedicate resources to ensuring macro-economic stability,” spokesman for the Council of Ministers, Phay Siphan said. These measures, in conjunction ...
Beef price almost doubles
High demand for beef, particularly during the Islamic Qurban festival which ended yesterday, caused beef prices to almost double compared with the same period last year, according to Islamic leaders and officials. Him Khortieth, IKatan Mahabbah Muslimin’s (IMAN) representative in Cambodia, said the association planned to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012103059462/Business/beef-price-almost-doubles.html
Norwegian firm sues Mfone over $3.7m debt
A lawyer for Norwegian-owned power and electronics equipment firm Eltek Valere yesterday called on investors not to buy stakes in the Thai-owned mobile phone operator Mfone, and to await court’s ruling. The lawyer’s appeal came after the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a warrant for keeping ...
Civil servants' union dilemma
The American Center for International Labor Solidarity has set its sights on the Herculean task of unionizing Cambodia’s civil service, a move that, were it successful, could have profound implications for the country’s political landscape. The term civil service in Cambodia has unusually broad application, referring to bureaucrats, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012103059469/National-news/civil-servants-union-dilemma.html
Hun Sen announces new airport
Prime Minister Hun Sen requisitioned 768 hectares of land on Saturday that will be used to build an international airport in Kampong Chhnang after 2025. During presiding over a land title distribution ceremony in Kampong Chhnang province, the prime minister announced the expansion of the airport. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102959448/Business/hun-sen-announces-new-airport.html
Maid may be stuck in Malaysia
The mother of a domestic maid allegedly stranded in Malaysia has become the latest Cambodian claimant to file an official complaint to the Ministry of Interior over labor abuse in the country. Em Sokhum said her 24-year-old daughter Chher Sophorn left to pursue work in Malaysia more than ...
Collective approach to 'help poor'
The collective power of agricultural co-operatives could bring huge benefits to poor, small-scale farmers, a Phnom Penh conference for international World Food Day heard on Friday. The sentiments were shared by the director of Cambodia’s General Directorate of Agriculture, So Khan Rithy Kun, who said farming ...
Land deals? Leave the Red Cross out of it: PM
Prime Minister Hun Sen publicly castigated the Kampong Thom provincial governor in a speech on Saturday for allegedly claiming a large portion of land and saying it was needed for the local office of the Cambodian Red Cross, an agency lead by Hun Sen’s wife, Bun ...
Disasters present big risks for small GDPs
Cambodia’s small economy leaves it especially vulnerable to devastation in the face of large-scale natural disasters, United Nations agencies and Cambodian officials warned last week. “The relative size of an economy adds to the vulnerability as seen particularly in the case of the Lao Peoples’ ...
By Khouth Sophak Chakrya, P. 4
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102959444/National-news/disasters-present-big-risks-for-small-gdps.html
H&M slammed over wages
Criticism has mounted against Swedish multinational clothing company H&M in its home country following a documentary released last week that sheds light on wages in its source factories in Cambodia. The episode of Swedish network TV4’s Kalla Fakta, or Cold Facts, focuses mainly on Cambodian garment ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102959442/National-news/ham-slammed-over-wages.html
PM pledges pay boost
The government on Friday pledged a 20 per cent increase to the base salary of civil servants year-on-year in a move one government official insisted was based on economics, not politics. The announcement was made in a statement released over the weekend outlining government spending for ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102959455/National-news/government-pledges-pay-boost.html