News

Cambodian and Thai military officials met yesterday morning to discuss the implementation of the International Court of Justice’s ruling on Preah Vihear, with both sides pledging to keep the peace and the Thais agreeing to withdraw to the new line of demarcation. Monday’s judgment declared that ...

Lawmakers from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party yesterday unanimously voted to pass legislation which will create three new government ministries. Sixty-six CPP representatives voted to create a Ministry of Public Function, which will oversee the affairs of civil servants. The MPs also followed through on a floated ...

Sixty-six National Assembly members of the ruling CPP on Tuesday unanimously approved Cambodia’s $3.56 billion draft budget for 2014 without debate and without even the hint of an opposition, whose 55 lawmakers-elect are boycotting parliament in protest over July’s still-disputed national election result. The ruling party ...

UK retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) is trialling a new campaign aimed at helping 14,000 garment workers in Cambodia deal with common health issues, as part of its Plan A ethical programme. The company, which aims to become the world’s most sustainable major retailer by 2015, ...

Cambodia’s export has seen a 30 percent rise in the first 10 months of 2013 thanks to the surges in the exports of garment, milled rice, and rubber, trade data showed Wednesday. The Southeast Asian nation has exported goods in a total value of 5.87 billion ...

Cambodia is benefiting from a steadily growing service sector, but it needs to clear a number of obstacles to harness the sector’s potential, said a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report released on Tuesday. The report, entitled Developing the Service Sector as an Engine of Growth ...

Cambodia’s insurance industry recorded a total premium of 31 million U.S. dollars in the first nine months of the year, up 20 percent compared with the same period last year, figures showed Tuesday. It said during January-September period this year, the total amount of claims paid ...

Laos is pushing ahead with construction of a second dam on the Mekong River despite objections from environmental and civil society groups. Work on the main part of the Don Sahong hydropower dam near the Cambodian border in southern Laos will begin by the end of ...

An Eco-tourism initiative in Mondulkiri province will remain open for daytime visits only for the time being, after authorities heard from officials at the Elephant Valley Project (EVP) and locals who complain the NGO siphons tourism money. EVP officials met with people who filed complaints with ...

The government will spend a total of $13.7 million in the next three years to build new appeal courts outside of Phnom Penh along with free accommodation for judges and prosecutors across the country, according to the draft budget law for 2014, which is scheduled ...

Not even the imminent threat of war could quell tourists’ appetite for historical sites – at least at Cambodia’s Preah Vihear temple, which was the subject of a highly contentious ruling at the International Court of Justice yesterday. While government figures show that local tourism to ...

The assets of bankrupt mobile operator Mfone, which owes creditors more than $160 million, have been sold to a single buyer for the bargain price of $10 million, a lawyer involved with the case said Monday. Khan Sereyvuthy, a legal adviser to the government-appointed administrator handling ...

The Council of Ministers has approved a draft law aimed at protecting the patent rights of traditional Cambodian products, which if violated could be met with a fine of up to $5,000 and a five-year jail term. The law on geographical indication (G.I.), a status given ...

The government affirmed its commitment to bilingual education for ethnic minority children in Cambodia’s northern provinces at a UNESCO conference in Bangkok last week. Speaking at the fourth International Conference on Language and Education: Multilingual Education for all in Asia and the Pacific, Ton Sa Im, ...

An environmental group has hit out at the Lao government for organising a tour of the proposed Don Sahong hydropower dam site, saying it should not be trying to “sell” a project that has not been regionally approved. Other NGOs have also warned of the ...

The International Court of Justice yesterday unanimously declared that its 1962 judgment awarding the Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia also gave the Kingdom sovereignty over the promontory that the temple sits on. But while the announcement was initially greeted as a resounding victory by some in ...

Three males attempting to smuggle luxury wood on Saturday evening were thwarted by authorities in Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima district, provincial forestry officials confirmed yesterday. The suspects now being detained at the provincial police station are Vor Vanser, 16, Le Fy, 16, and Cheurng Vanseurn, 18. ...

ACLEDA officially launched its first credit card on Friday as Cambodia’s largest bank eyes the country’s rising middle income bracket, president and CEO In Channy said yesterday. “This is the right time for us to start this Visa credit card product. By 2020, Cambodia will change ...

A new local airline is applying to fly in Cambodia, according to aviation officials, at a time when the market is monopolised by national flag carrier Cambodia Angkor Air and a handful of carriers offering chartered routes. Royal Spirit Airlines last Friday met with the State ...

Fifty people have died from dengue fever in the first 10 months of this year, a decrease of 72 percent on the same period last year when 176 deaths were recorded, the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control said Monday. Continuing a month-on-month trend, ...

Only 3.7 percent of Cambodia’s 14 million people have bank accounts with a financial institution, while less than 1 percent of those with an account are actually using them to save money, according to a World Bank report released Tuesday. Though the World Bank’s Global Financial ...

Malaysian financial services group Hwang-DBS Bhd is selling its eponymous bank in Cambodia for $40 million, the company has announced on the Bursa Malaysia. The sale is to Phillip MFIs Pte Ltd, a member of the Singapore-based PhillipCapital Group. PhillipCapital has an existing presence in ...

Mangrove forests along Cambodia’s coast in Kampot support more than 100,000 families and create a diverse ecosystem that is home to hundreds of unique species. But coastal development projects, coupled with locals’ reliance on the forest for their livelihoods, threaten to decimate more than 1,000 hectares ...

California-based winery E. & J. Gallo has entered Cambodia and is offering four of its more economically priced brands in an effort to introduce locals to wine without breaking their budget, company representatives said Monday. “Cambodia, as well as other markets in Asia, is perfect for ...