The Phnom Penh Post

The number of British companies operating in the country is expected to increase in the coming years, as the British Business Association of Cambodia (BBAC) gears up to chair the Kingdom’s first Britain in Southeast Asia conference next month. The conference, which is set to draw ...

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and the United Kingdom increased more than 55% year-on-year during the first six months of 2011, according to the British Embassy in Phnom Penh. Total trade between January and June equalled US$247.2 million, up from $159.3 million during the same period in ...

The Xayaburi dam project in Northern Laos might increase the probability of earthquakes in a region already prone to seismic activity, according to a recently translated report from Vietnam. The 1260-megawatt project sits about 100 kilometres south of the Lai Chau-Dien fault line. Construction activity on the ...

A representative of Mirea Apparel Factory in the capital’s Meanchey district had promised that more than 500 “agitated” workers would receive a month’s worth of back pay tomorrow, a union official said yesterday. Free Trade Union executive officer Um Lina said that factory representatives had also ...

Construction of a US$1.6 billion satellite city on Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changvar peninsula will begin this year after officials inked a contract yesterday with local firm Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC). Dubbed “City of the Future”, the project would include a national stadium, a 60-hectare park, ...

Cambodia’s economic growth could surpass previous estimates and hit 8.7% this year, Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a speech yesterday. Earlier government forecasts estimated growth of 6% for 2011, though increasing garment exports and a strong recovery in the tourism sector have stimulated the economy ...

A rice-husk powered power plant will officially open in Kampong Speu at the end of the year, set to provide electricity to the district’s rice millers, according to officials from operator Golden Rice Cambodia. The US$2 million generator is set to supply power to all of ...

Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Cambodian National Petroleum Association Sok An has called for the resumption of talks with Thailand over the disputed overlapping claims area in the Gulf of Thailand, believed to be rich in oil and natural-gas reserves. The oil industry had ...

The Arbitration Council has ordered more than 700 workers at the Wei Xin garment factory to end a week-long strike they have staged in protest against a spate of issues they have with the company over contracts and payment. A decision handed down on Saturday by ...

The US House of Representatives has renewed a trade law experts said could have a substantial effect on Cambodia’s exports to the United States, as well as the future of the Kingdom’s manufacturing sector. The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program waived tariffs on about US$13 ...

Cambodian garment and textile exports increased nearly 20 per cent in the first eight months of 2011 compared to the same period last year, according to Ministry of Commerce figures. The Kingdom exported US$2.35 billion in garments during the period, a 19.6 per cent increase over ...

At least 24 international apparel brands have pledged to immediately investigate the mass fainting “phenomenon” that has hit the Cambodian garment factories that supply them, the International Labour Organisation says. Executives of global brands had pledged to work together “to determine the precise causes of incidences ...

The National Bank of Cambodia was pushing microfinance institutions to look to domestic banks for funding in an industry heavily reliant on foreign loans, experts said yesterday. Although the NBC is seeking to foster healthier relationships between MFIs and the Kingdom’s commercial banks, a dearth of ...

In an attempt to foster tourism on the Cambodia-Thai border, tourism officials this week visited the Cham Yeam border crossing in Koh Kong province. Warming relations with Thailand’s newly elected Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra are expected to improve cross-border tourism, which deteriorated after border clashes ...

Cambodian mobile operators added more than 1 million new subscribers between May and July, with Smart Mobile seeing the largest percentage increase for the period, according to Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications figures obtained by the Post. Marc Einstein, a Tokyo-based analyst at research and ...

A delegation of more than 30 Japanese businesspeople yesterday met with the Council for the Development of Cambodia to discuss investment opportunities in the Kingdom, after seeing what they said were vast improvements in domestic legal and tax regulations.  However, no definite decisions had yet ...

Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh yesterday called on the US to allow duty-free entry for Cambodian exports, a benefit the Kingdom already enjoyed with the European Union. The introduction of preferential tax treatment from the US would result in the Kingdom’s share of that country’s ...

The government has dropped controversial criminal penalties targeting unionists in its latest draft of the union law, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said yesterday. Addressing a meeting of representatives of international apparel brands, including Nike, Adidas and PUMA, unions, government officials and the International Labour Organisation, ...

The government yesterday lashed out at a letter sent by opposition lawmakers to the World Bank that urged the bank to increase pressure on the government to end forced evictions, land grabbing and threats against community members involved in land disputes with well-connected companies. Council ...

As prices continue to climb for freshwater lobster, farming of the crustacean in Cambodia is increasing. A kilogram of top-quality lobster sells for about US$30, up from $10 in 2005, according to lobster farmers. The government is seeking to foster new growth in Cambodia’s wild ...

The Phnom Penh Autonomous Port will transfer 75 per cent of its loading capacity to a new location at Kandal  to better handle the increased shipments passing through the capital, according to PPAP officials. The PPAP had received US$68 mill-ion in financing from the Chinese ...

Cambodian government officials have called on the US-ASEAN Business Council to help finalise implementation of the Kingdom’s first e-commerce law by year’s end. However, US-ASEAN Business Council councillor Frances Zwening said Google did not provide an “in-depth response” to the request for assistance, but added ...

During the past four years, Cambodia has seen drastic decreases in rare species of trees due to illegal logging, community research from the National Resource Protection Group indicates. If continued unabated, illegal logging threatens to wholly deplete Cambodia’s rare tree species, Chut Wutty said. Cambodia’s ...

More than 300 striking workers at Jie Wei garment factory in the capital’s Dangkor district will return to work today after successful negotiations yesterday settled a labour dispute that led to a three-day strike last week. Factory management agreed to nine of the 11 demands ...