The Phnom Penh Post

The next industrial revolution will introduce “smart factories” in which computers and robotics communicating wirelessly will handle physical processes with very little input from human operators, leaving few job opportunities for unskilled workers, executives of German industrial giants said during a briefing in Phnom Penh ...

// // // // An Immigration Department official yesterday confirmed that foreigners requesting a long-term extension of their business visas would need to produce a work permit, with implementation of the rule starting September 4.    ...

Cambodia will need to spend about $5.4 billion on public investment over the next three years to maintain its economic growth while reducing poverty, according to a draft outline of the government’s three-year programme for public investment. ...

International condemnation for the government’s continued clampdown on NGOs and independent media organisations continued to flow in over the weekend, with Human Rights Watch (HRW) calling it an “escalating campaign of politically-motivated harassment, intimidation, and legal action”. ...

Preah Sihanouk Provincial environmental officials and Military Police yesterday dismantled five homes that were built illegally in the Prey Toeksap Kbal Chhay protected area, leaving the inhabitants homeless. ...

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) launched its “Excellence Program” today with the aim to help companies develop the capacity to prepare adequate financial reports, establish proper accounting principles and learn about how the growth board can provide additional funding sources. ...

The US State Department has expressed deep concern over Cambodia’s spiralling democratic climate following the government’s diktat to shutter the USAID-funded National Democratic Institute (NDI), ostensibly for violating the highly contentious NGO Law. ...

Cambodian officials and members from the private sector have refuted international media reports that claim the price for rice exports to Bangladesh will be set at $453 a tonne as part of a government-to-government deal that hopes to see 250,000 tonnes of white rice exported ...

Preah Sihanouk’s governor yesterday attributed the slow progress in combating private encroachment into ecologically sensitive mangrove and coastal regions to a “careful” approach, after the prime minister on Tuesday chided officials for failing to tackle the issue since it was raised more than a year ...

A Khmer-Vietnamese Association representative in Ratanakkiri yesterday denied that illegally logged timber confiscated from the group’s office in Tes Anglong village on Tuesday belonged to the association. ...

Next year’s national election is unlikely to slow the rapid pace of bank lending growth but could put a temporary crimp in deposits, though the sector is expected to have sufficient liquidity to absorb the impact, according to a report released yesterday. ...

The Cambodian Foreign Ministry yesterday announced that it was halting the operations of the US State Department-funded National Democratic Institute (NDI) and expelling all its foreign staff from the Kingdom in the next week – a move that prompted the US Embassy to fire back ...

Cambodia moved a step closer to becoming an oil-producing nation yesterday after the government finalised its long-awaited production-sharing agreement with Singapore-listed KrisEnergy to develop the country’s first oil field. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen announced yesterday that the government will cut back on recruiting new employees next year to reduce its spending on civil servant salaries. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen escalated the government’s attacks on media outlets and NGOs yesterday, reiterating in a speech that the Cambodia Daily would have to “pack up their things and leave” if they failed to pay a $6.3 million tax bill, while at the same ...

A controversial universal minimum wage law will be passed this year in order to prevent a repeat of the mass protests over garment sector wages that rocked the country in 2013, Labour Minister Ith Sam Heng said yesterday, despite calls for revisions from independent unions ...

Private sector tourism operators claimed yesterday that a new government mandate that charges travelers an additional $2 fee to use ferry services to reach the islands off the coast near Sihanoukville has sparked a furious backlash from domestic tourists. ...

The Senate amended its internal rules yesterday to punish senators who miss sessions by docking their salaries, while also voting down a measure to appoint the wife of Hong Sok Hour to fill his former seat on the body’s anti-corruption committee. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has decided not to shut down a Christian anti-trafficking charity after its founder issued a “heartfelt apology” yesterday. The apology from Agape International Missions (AIM) CEO Don Brewster is the first public comment he has made since the social media fracas sparked ...

Two hundred juvenile specimens of the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish were released by the Preah Sihanouk Provincial Fisheries Administration into freshwater reservoirs on Sunday evening in an effort to help preserve the species – which can grow up to 300 kilograms. ...

Garment and footwear manufacturers have called on the government to provide facilities to help offset the higher costs on production that they will face as the result of a benefits package that Prime Minister Hun Sen pledged to garment factory workers this week. ...

The Rural Development Bank (RDB) is seeking proposals from registered Cambodian agricultural firms to develop rice storage warehouses and rice-drying facilities in Kampong Thom, Prey Veng and Takeo provinces, each with the capacity to store 50,000 tonnes of paddy rice and dry approximately 1,500 tonnes ...

National Assembly President Heng Samrin’s native village is, as map lines go, technically inside of Vietnam, the head of Cambodia’s Royal Academy said at a recent press conference. ...

The central bank announced on Friday that it has fined an unnamed microfinance institution (MFI) $100,000 for engaging in non-transparent lending practices. ...