News
Integration of Southeast Asian Stock Exchanges Hits Snag
Just months before stock exchanges in Southeast Asia plan to link up their trading, key players remain divided, with one top bourse official saying the region may be going through a “reality check” on the many hurdles facing further economic integration. The plan for cross-border trading ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203961204577270760343324718.html
Brands Urge Gov't to Act on SEZ Shooting
Some of the world’s largest international clothing brands, along with foreign labor protection groups, have called on the Cambodian government to intensify its investigation of last month’s triple shooting of spectators at a Svay Rieng special economic zone. Signed by several of the biggest customers ...
Leave Minimum Wage Be, Manufacturers Say
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) has said that there should be no discussions on raising the minimum wage until 2014, in response to a request from three garment industry unions for talks on a living wage for workers. The response, sent on Wednesday ...
Free Lunch Comes at a Cost for City Soup Kitchen Founder
Since its first day of operation in early December, the non-profit kitchen “Buckhunger” has provided nearly 22,00 lunchtime meals to hundreds of needy children and adults for free. There is no record of who comes and goes, and no condition to being fed. If you ...
Cambodia grants mine exploratory licenses to 24 firms in 2011: gov't report
Cambodia’s Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy had issued mineral resource exploratory licenses to 24 local and foreign companies in the past year. According to the annual report of the ministry’s mineral resources department released on Friday, the firms are mostly Cambodian-owned ones and those from ...
Xinhua
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90777/7753471.html
Shooting suspect a governor no more
Triple-shooting suspect Chhouk Bandith has been sacked as Bavet town governor to prevent him from interfering in court proceedings, the Svay Rieng deputy provincial governor said yesterday. The high-profile suspect is accused of shooting three garment factory workers at a protest outside the Kaoway Sports Ltd ...
Koh Kong intervention sought
The provincial office of rights group Licadho has called on Koh Kong provincial politicians to help more than 1,000 families being forcibly evicted to make way for a sprawling gambling resort and other development, representative said yesterday. More than 130 families, from three villages in Kiri ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030954950/National-news/koh-kong-intervention-sought.html
Anco report flawed: auditor
The auditor who submitted a report used to convict a husband and wife of embezzling tens of millions of dollars from a company owned by the wife of a tycoon senator admitted yesterday that the quality of his audit was “poor”. The report was used ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030954952/National-news/anco-report-flawed-auditor.html
Hun Sen Defends Pardon for Fisheries Crimes
During a speech lasting more than three hours, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday sought to clarify his recent blanket amnesty of fisheries crimes, and called on fisheries officials to reform the law that criminalizes certain means of fishing. In his speech, Mr. Hun Sen provided ...
Protesters successful; water prices decrease
Authorities in Prey Veng province yesterday agreed to cut the price of water from 1,800 riel to 1,200 riel a cubic metre after more than 1,000 people blocked National Road 11 for the fourth consecutive day. Acting provincial police chief Dim Yarum said yesterday an ...
Two More Set Schools Could Close
Eight SET international (SI) schools have closed nationwide over the past two months because of financial problems, and the remaining two schools in Phnom Penh and Kompong Chhnang provinces also appear poised to shut their doors soon, a Ministry of Education official said. The abrupt closings ...
Cashew Prices Down 40% as Demand sinks
New limitations on Vietnamese exports of processed cashews and slowing demand on the international markets is expected to decrease the price of raw cashews by roughly 40 percent this year, sparking concerns among Cambodian farmers, who are now midway through the harvest season, traders and ...
US-Asean Delegation to visit Cambodia this month
A US-Asean Business Council delegation will visit Phnom Penh on March 19 and 20 to meet with government officials about current or potential investments in the country, American Cambodian Business Council President Bretton Sciaroni said. The meeting comes after a delegation of 11 Fortune 500 ...
Spate of abuses continues
Nearly two dozen fishermen were repatriated to the Kingdom yesterday after being trafficked aboard Thai fishing boats where they endured forced labour and rampant abuse. The 11 men bring to 30 the number of fishermen repatriated from Malaysia and Indonesia this year. They were visibly shaken ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030954949/National-news/spate-of-abuses-continues.html
Investment in mining operations falls sharply
Guangxi Nonferrous Metal Group invested $21.95 million in the construction of a steel processing plant, the data shows. The Chinese company planned to invest as much as $500 million in Preah Vihear province, China’s state-owned Xinhua news agency reported in November. China’s Xing Yuan Kang Yeak ...
Japan Asks for Tax Breaks, Better Regulations
The Japanese Embassy in Phnom Penh appealed to the Cambodian government Tuesday to help encourage Japanese investment here by providing corporate tax holidays and reducing notoriously high customs tariffs by adopting more transparent and efficient practices. According to a set of requests prepared by the ...
Revision for Reuters
Yesterday a Reuters news story, “Insight: China gambles on Cambodia’s shrinking forests,” which also ran in today’s Phnom Penh Post and Cambodia Daily, mentioned Open Development Cambodia, and suggested that we are partnering with a local advocacy group to track concessions. This is not accurate. Like ...
Tycoon free after striking deal
A tycoon arrested on Tuesday by military police on fraud charges yesterday walked free after striking a deal with the man he defrauded, court officials said. Meas Chanpiseth, deputy prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said that 52-year-old tycoon Peang Kosal, executive director of the ...
The Kingdom’s first IPO
The long awaited first security listing on the Cambodian Securities Exchange became a reality on February 23 with the Security Exchange Commission of Cambodia’s “in principle” approval of Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority’s (PPWSA) “disclosure document for public issuance of equity securities”. This is effectively a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030854926/Business/the-kingdoms-first-ipo.html
Workers Faint Daily in Sihanoukville, NGO says
The Cambodian Legal Education Center (CLEC) is “extremely concerned” after an investigation following a mass fainting last month at Nanguo garment factory in Preah Sihanouk province last month found that at least one to two workers are fainting daily in eight factories in the province. ...
Release of ‘Small Fish’ Continues Amid Fishing Lots Cancellation
Days after Prime Minister Hun Sen announced a blanket pardon for all suspects and convicts jailed for small-time fisheries crimes, the premier yesterday signed into effect an expected sub-decree canceling fishing lots across the country. Last month, Mr. Hun Sen announced that he would cancel ...
Six Months on, No Response to Experts’ Sesan Dam Letter
More than two dozen fisheries experts from across the world have sent a letter of concern to the prime minister and Council of Ministers warning that if construction of the Lower Sesan 2 dam goes ahead as planned, it would negatively impact hundreds of thousands ...
Motorcycles, Money Offered to SEZ Victims
Bavet city officials ordered a deputy village chief to offer two victims of the Feb. 20 shooting in Svay Rieng province cash or a motorcycle in return for them not filing a court complaint against the man who shot them inside a special economic zone. ...
Graduates not up to scratch: report
Cambodia’s tertiary system is not producing enough of the right type of graduates to meet the economy’s demands, says a report launched by the World Bank last week. The 222-page report, titled “Putting Higher Education to Work”, states that “quantity gaps are particularly strong in ...