The Phnom Penh Post
Petition timed to Hu’s visit stymied by police
Two villagers from Koh Kong province involved in a land dispute with a Chinese company were detained for questioning on Saturday afternoon, halting their plans to file a petition with the Chinese embassy during President Hu Jintao’s visit. Thirty-three other villagers who had planned to deliver ...
China reaps concession windfalls
About half of the land concessions granted since 1994 are in the hands of Chinese companies, according to data released yesterday by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. Ouch Leng, CCHR land reform project coordinator, said that from 1994 to 2012, the Cambodian government granted 4,615,745 ...
Thais will sit out NGO meet
Civil society groups from Thailand will boycott a meeting between NGOs and regional government representatives at this week’s ASEAN summit because their country’s delegate “does not represent Thai civil society”, a spokeswoman said yesterday. Premrudee Daoroung, a representative of Thai civil society groups, said her country’s ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012040255373/National-news/thais-will-sit-out-ngo-meet.html
ASEAN infrastructure fund on track for May
The region’s finance ministers on Friday set a May launch date for the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund (AIF), a financing project expected to lend as much as US$4 billion to member countries through 2020. Speaking at the opening the ministers’ meeting, Prime Minister Hun Sen called ...
Kingdom, Indonesia said close to rice deal
Cambodia is close to a deal that would ship as much as 20,000 tonnes of milled rice to Indonesia, according to sources familiar with the matter. Thon Virak, director of state-owned rice exporter Green Trade and chairman of Federation of Milled Rice Exporters Association, said Green ...
Tonle Sap water project to help Siem Reap town
The Japanese government sealed the deal yesterday on an agreement to provide Cambodia with a US$86 million loan for a project that will supply Siem Reap town residents with water from the Tonle Sap lake and alleviate their need for water drawn from wells. The 40-year ...
Equal rights sought for disabled
Rights groups pushed for increased employment of disabled Cambodians and the ratification of a UN convention on their rights at the launch of the ASEAN Disability Forum yesterday. Ngin Saorath, executive director of the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organisation, said groups will draft a declaration over the ...
Cambodia, Vietnam to fight financial crimes
The National Bank of Cambodia this week signed a Memorandum of Under-standing with the State Bank of Vietnam that would allow for the exchange of information to fight money laundering and terrorism financing. The MoU, signed by NBC Governor Chea Chanto and SBV Governor Nguyen Van ...
Kingdom, Indonesia said close to rice deal
Cambodia is close to a deal that would ship as much as 20,000 tonnes of milled rice to Indonesia, according to sources familiar with the matter. Thon Virak, director of state-owned rice exporter Green Trade and chairman of Federation of Milled Rice Exporters Association, said Green ...
Myanmar’s economic promise no threat to investment here: experts
Myanmar’s moves toward economic and political reform would not subtract from Cambodia’s regular stream of foreign investment, experts and insiders said – at least not in the short run. Word of an investor-friendly Myanmar has spread quickly with the US’s partial waiver on trade sanctions in ...
Companies given right to develop wildlife land
The Cambodian government has reclassified 12,000 hectares of wildlife sanctuary to make way for agro-industry concessions for three companies, according to the royal book issued on March 19. The land has been cut from the Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary, the largest protected area in Cambodia, which ...
Koh Kong power to go to Thais
Cambodian tycoon Ly Yong Phat has signed a US$3 billion joint-venture agreement with Thai energy firm Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Plc on what would be the Kingdom’s largest power station. Just under 90 per cent of the power, however, would be sold to Thailand. The 1,800 megawatt ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032955308/Business/koh-kong-power-to-go-to-thais.html
Police deny baton beatdown
The Phnom Penh municipal police chief yesterday denied claims his officers had beaten three female garment factory workers with batons and shields during a protest in which a 21-year-old’s nose was allegedly broken on Tuesday. Police chief Touch Naruth called the Post yesterday claiming no weapons ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032955319/National-news/police-deny-baton-beatdown.html
Voices divided pre-ASEAN
Protecting human rights, especially those of Cambodian migrant workers traversing borders to countries such as Malaysia, dominated discussions at yesterday’s ASEAN Peoples’ Forum, one of two competing pre-summit forums that claim to be giving a voice to Cambodians. Speaking at yesterday’s forum, Seng Sakda, director-general ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032955323/National-news/voices-divided-pre-asean.html
Canadia subsidiary buys 15% stake in CVI
Diamond Island Development Co Ltd, owned by Canadia Bank, yesterday bought a 15 per cent stake in Investment and Development Company of Cambodia (IDCC)’s Cambodia-Vietnam Insurance Plc. The companies declined to give the value of the stake. Ngay Mengly, sales officer at Cambodia-Vietnam Insurance Plc, said ...
Svay Rieng shooting victims get their say
The three young women wounded in last month’s factory shooting in Svay Rieng province will meet with provincial prosecutor Hing Bunchea today to give their account of the February 20 incident that has yet to produce an arrest warrant. Bun Chinda, 21, Nuth Sokhorn, 23, and ...
Villagers take sawmill to task
Kampong Thom province Villagers patrolling Prey Lang forest claimed yesterday that about 600 resin trees they found inside a sawmill in the Kampong Thom province had been cut down illegally – an allegation government officials quickly denied. After resistance from police and soldiers monitoring their actions this ...
ASEAN aims to dodge crisis in West
ASEAN finance officials and the heads of regional central banks yesterday homed in on the possibility of economic crisis as well as potential means of averting contagion in fledgling Southeast Asian economies. The officials have also agreed “in principle” to doubling a regional currency fund to ...
No word on Philippines rice deal, exporter says
Green Trade, a state-owned, milled-rice exporter, had not been updated on a government-to-government rice deal with the Philippines despite recent media reports that claimed a deal was near. ...
PPWSA edges closer to IPO
As expected, the book-building phase for Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority’s initial public offering was significantly oversubscribed, the estimate being 17 times. Interested investors had the opportunity to bid at a price no lower than 4,050 riel a share, and at a maximum of 6,350 riel ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032855274/Business/ppwsa-edges-closer-to-ipo.html
Activists arm with fire, photos
Kampong Thom province Villagers patrolling Prey Lang forest on motorbikes yesterday defended their decision to burn more than 360 cubic metres of timber, tear down 10 huts used by “illegal loggers” and confiscate a chainsaw, a villager representative said. “All the villagers who provide evidence about ...
Banners versus batons
Police are accused of breaking a 21-year-old woman’s nose and injuring two other women as about 900 workers marched from the Win Shing-tex Cambodia garment factory in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district yesterday. San Sopha said, adding he would file a complaint against the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032855291/National-news/banners-versus-batons.html
A ‘good neighbour’ policy
Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr chose Cambodia as his first official overseas trip since his March 2 appointment to the top foreign policy job. The Australian Labor Party politician, former journalist and longtime premier of New South Wales sat down on Monday evening with the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032855289/National-news/a-good-neighbour-policy.html
Thai agro-processing plant nears completion
BETAGRO Group, one of Thailand’s largest integrated agro-industry businesses, announced this week that its US$16.3 million animal feed plant in Cambodia is 95 percent complete. The plant, 12 kilometers from Phnom Penh, will initially produce 12,000 tonnes of animal feed per year, but that number ...