News

Transport Ministers of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to accelerate road transport cooperation. It will facilitate the transportation of goods and passengers among the three countries, including via sea ports, and boost socio-economic development in each country, especially the ...

After pounding on her chest and demanding a pig’s head, fruits and flowers to be offered to the angry spirit that she believed had taken over her body, garment worker Srey Mom collapsed on the floor of the Global Factory in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol ...

Looking to compete with Chinese influence in the region, the U.S. government is making plans to help American companies win large-scale infrastructure projects in Cambodia, U.S. officials said yesterday in Phnom Penh. The plans, which come as part of a strategic and economic embracing of Asia ...

Laos yesterday defended its decision to begin building the Xayaburi dam amid criticism from Cambodia on a lively final day of the Mekong River Commission’s annual council meeting in Luang Prabang, Laos. According to separate sources who attended, Cambodia spoke out against Laos for “misinterpreting” the ...

A prolonged court case between two French investors in Siem Reap’s landmark Victoria Angkor hotel is at a standstill after auditors ordered by the Supreme Court to examine the hotel’s finances were denied access to the books this week. In a dispute that goes back to ...

Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sentenced 28 people – including several government officials – to between two and five years in jail on charges of clearing state-protected flooded mangrove forest in Kampong Thom province in July of 2012. Presiding Judge Keo Mony said that Cheath Sivutha, ...

One hot day in June, 2009, Ven Samin, a member of the ethnic Suoy minority in Kampong Speu province, grabbed her digital camera and headed out of the house. The 44-year-old arrived at a collection of damaged rice paddies in Oral district and began taking photos. ...

Mesco Gold, an associated company of India-based Mesco Steel, will sign an agreement with Angkor Gold to mine the Phum Syrang prospect on one of its economic land concessions in Ratanakkiri province. “We’ve been exploring the area since 2006. We’ve been drilling holes and there’s ...

Two protesters and three factory officials were injured in a clash at a garment factory in Kampong Speu province yesterday as a report revealed that more than 60 unionists and workers were injured in such incidents in 2012. Vann Bun, a Free Trade Union activist, said ...

Phnom Penh’s anti eviction protesters yesterday staged a 100 strong demonstration outside the CPP Headquarters on Norodom Boulevard, calling for the ruling party to release a jailed community activist and help families acquire land titles. They also requested that the government include 61 families left ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday signed up to provide 230 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia for six development projects, aiming at promoting inclusive growth and reducing poverty in Cambodia, according to the bank’s media statement. The financing agreements were inked between Eric Sidgwick, country ...

Regional conservationists criticised the Mekong River Commission (MRC) yesterday for leaving the controversial Xayaburi Dam off its agenda at this week’s annual ministerial meeting in Luang Prabang, Laos. Laotian authorities said they would confirm their decision to go ahead with the hydropower project in the mainstream ...

Cambodia exported more than 200,000 tons of milled rice in 2012, the greatest yield on record, though well short of the government target to export 1 million tons by 2015. Speaking at the Ministry of Agriculture’s annual meeting in Phnom Penh, Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun said ...

An Australian businessman who once fronted a telecommunications firm in Cambodia has been sent to Prey Sar prison on fraud charges in a case one of his associates said was triggered by a disgruntled partner in a failed business venture. Frank May, 63, the former chief ...

The convicted ringleader of a so-called secessionist movement in May in Kratie province, who is currently in self-imposed exile to avoid a 30-year prison sentence, has said that he will soon return to Cambodia to organize a large-scale demonstration against the government. Bun Ratha—who was sentenced ...

Representatives of a dozen large Japanese companies arrived in Phnom Penh on Tuesday looking for business opportunities in the kingdom. Hidetoshi Nishimura, executive director of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, led the delegation, whose members represent firms in industries such as technology, ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday announced that the government would begin levying a tax on agricultural land transfers that are valued at more than $25,000. “The government has decide to tax 4 percent on land that cost more than 100 million riel [about $25,000],” Mr. ...

Cambodia’s largest bank is ready to launch its first micro-finance institution (MFI) in Myanmar, but one final barrier remains: an operating licence from Myanmar’s government. Acleda Bank’s chief executive, In Channy, expects the licence to be granted by the end of this month. Once that is done, ...

Police in Phnom Penh yesterday raided nine DVD shops at Tuol Tom Poung market in Chamkar Mon district, confiscating hundreds of illegally reproduced movies at the joint request of the Ministry of Culture and local movie distributor Westec Media Limited. Sao Bunthoeurn, deputy director of ...

Office rental growth in Phnom Penh increased 10 to 15 per cent by the end of 2012, said an official of the Cambodian Valuers and Estate Agents Association, as the number of local and international companies have risen significantly. Chrek Soknim, deputy director of VTrust property ...

About 80 families travelling to Phnom Penh from Kampong Chhnang province for a land dispute-related protest yesterday were blocked on their way to the capital and told to resolve the matter locally. The villagers are locked in an unusual land feud with an agricultural firm, ...

Noise from a loudspeaker yesterday cut through the usual peace on street 282 in Phnom Penh’s Beoung Keng Kang 1 neighbourhood, as five former massage workers at upscale spa Aziadee protested the sudden termination of their contracts. Waving posters in front of the shop ...

China has become Cambodia’s biggest investor, putting some $8.8 billion into the country over nearly two decades, according to online data from the government’s lead investment agency. Those investment numbers, from the Council for the Development of Cambodia, from 1994 to 2011, do not take into ...

Cambodia’s economy is expected to grow by 6.7 percent in 2013 thanks to anticipating increases in agriculture, foreign direct investment (FDI) and tourism, the World Bank said in its latest outlook Wednesday. “The growth is based on achieving the dividends from focus on higher rice ...