National government

Cambodia plans to attract up to 300,000 Japanese tourists to the Kingdom by 2020, as direct flights connect Phnom Penh with Tokyo early next month, Minister of Tourism Thong Khon announced yesterday. ...

Officials at the Ministry of Commerce and Council of Ministers announced yesterday that a draft consumer protection law, which is intended to ensure that food and consumer products made domestically or imported into Cambodia are safe, was almost complete. A quarter of the almost 60 ...

The Foreign Affairs Ministry on Tuesday refuted the claims of two women who say they saw inmates at a Malaysian detention depot fatally beaten by guards earlier this year, including fellow Cambodians.   ...

The Commerce Ministry has scrubbed its website of all corporate shareholder information since last month’s release of a report damned by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s children for shedding light on the first family’s sprawling business empire. ...

There has been no impact on tourists traveling by air between Cambodia and Thailand following the multiple fatal bombings in the southern part of Thailand last week, according to government and industry officials. ...

The number of Cambodians traveling overseas as tourists increased to nearly 700,000 in the first half of the year, up 26 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Tourism. Experts in the industry welcomed this trend and pointed out ...

Banteay Meanchey provincial authorities have warned they will take legal action against those who continue to interfere in railway construction between Phsar Kandal commune and Poipet City by today’s deadline. ...

In defiance of an order by Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Khoun Sreng, more than 100 people protested outside the offices of Equitable Cambodia (EC) yesterday. They held signs denouncing the NGO, as community representatives inside submitted a letter withdrawing their consent for the group to represent ...

As many tall buildings continue to pop up in Cambodia’s 500-year-old capital, ministries are continuing to place importance on preserving the cultural heritage of important historical sites and landmarks, ranging from ancient temples and monuments to pagodas and colonial buildings. ...

The government sold off more than 10,000 cubic meters of illegally logged wood in direct negotiations with private businessmen over the past two days, according to a Finance Ministry official, after abandoning efforts to auction it off due to a lack of interest. ...

During the past five years the government approved close to $6.83 billion worth of investments in 1,183 construction projects, according to a senior official from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. ...

The Ministry of Social Affairs yesterday once again called on the Kingdom’s employers to hire the disabled, something mandated in a widely ignored 2010 sub-decree. ...

Though the rice-planting season has started and nationwide rice cultivation this month has been higher than planned, farmers are worried that adverse weather events caused by climate change will ruin their crops. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ planning and statistics department, the ...

The Cambodian government is on track to provide electricity to all villages in the Kingdom by 2020 as this year’s seven-month data, from the Ministry of Mines and Energy, indicate that 71 percent of rural areas now have regular power supply. Ith Praing, secretary of state ...

Meanchey district police and security guards yesterday clashed with about 70 Koh Kong province villagers at the capital’s Samaki Rainsy pagoda, shoving and pushing them as they tried to make their way to the Ministry of Land Management. ...

Cambodia has announced it will shutter the office of the inter-governmental Mekong River Commission in Phnom Penh, relocating its functions to neighboring Laos. ...

American software giant Microsoft announced yesterday that it would jointly implement a project with Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce to create a translation program to simplify complex English and Khmer business terminology in order to help businesses better understand commonly used jargon. ...

The Ministry of Public Works and Transportation yesterday announced that 75 fewer drivers had been fined for overloaded trucks last month compared to June, attributing the decline to recent crackdowns. ...

The NGO Forum on Cambodia yesterday demanded government funding for higher education for indigenous students to mark World Indigenous Peoples’ Day.   ...

Residents from villages in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district gathered outside the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction yesterday to ask the prime minister and government to honor their titles to land they said had been claimed by Royal Railway. ...

After an unexpectedly lengthy review, the Ministry of Environment has approved the environmental and social impact study of Indian mining firm Mesco Gold, clearing the last major hurdle for the company to receive a licence to operate the Kingdom’s first royalty-generating mine. ...

Sun Chanthol, senior minister and minister of Public Works and Transport, met with the president of Dansan Consultants on Friday to talk about the lack of safety signs on a construction site on National Road 21 that allegedly caused two deaths in a traffic accident. ...

Tourism Minister Thong Khon said on Sunday he did not believe an upcoming hike in the cost of tickets for foreigners visiting Angkor Wat will cause fewer tourists to come to Cambodia, with surveys showing most who visit the country are prepared to pay more. ...

The number of tourist arrivals from China and Thailand rose in the first six months of the year while arrivals from Vietnam, South Korea and Laos dropped, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Tourism. ...