News

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index 2011-2012 ranked the Philippines 75th out of 142 economies, up from 85th out of 139 in the 2010-2011 report. Last year’s placing marked a reversal of 2009’s slide to 87th in a list of 133, from 71st ...

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 ...

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 ...

In 2009, the Democrat-led government and the People’s Alliance for Democracy accused ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra of holding secret talks with Cambodia about exploiting oil and gas reserves in the Gulf of Thailand. The government threatened to revoke a memorandum of understanding on overlapping ...

Thailand’s former Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban has denied Cambodia’s recent claim that he initiated secret bilateral talks over coveted oil reserves in disputed Gulf of Thailand waters, Thai news service MCOT reported Saturday. In a statement last week, the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority said ...

Cambodian outbound tourist departures rose 29 per cent year-on-year through July, with the bulk of the travellers going to Vietnam and Thailand, according to Ministry of Tourism statistics. Nearly 358,000 Cambodian tourists left the Kingdom in the first seven months of 2011, up from about ...

Eighty-five percent of U.S. companies in Southeast Asia plan to expand their business as the region will become more important in the next two years, the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Singapore said on Monday. “ASEAN continues to grow in importance for businesses in the ...

PHNOM PENH — Eight out of Cambodia’s 19 special economic zones (SEZ) are being operational across the country, while the rest are still waiting for both local and foreign investors, the data from Council for Development of Cambodia (CDC) showed on Saturday. The statistics showed that ...

Cambodia’s and Thailand’s governments will likely resume negotiations on offshore drilling for oil and gas which will bring mutual benefits of the area of overlapping maritime claims after Cambodia gave the green light for issues before the visit of new Thai foreign minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul ...

Thailand–Consumers face prospect of high prices, low quality rice from Burma, Cambodia: TDRI. While consumers and taxpayers will suffer from the government’s controversial rice policy, Vietnam will substantially gain, the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has warned. Ammar Siamwalla, a prominent economist, yesterday asked the ...

Manila–Incoming bird and poultry shipments from countries affected by the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) will be seized and destroyed given concerns of a resurgence, the government said. The Agriculture department last Friday announce heightened surveillance at all ports of entry as well as the ...

Democrat MP for Surat Thani Suthep Thaugsuban denies he held secret talks with Cambodian officials about oil and gas interests in the overlapping marine area during the tenure of the Democrat-led government. Mr Suthep, a former deputy prime minister, conceded yesterday he met Cambodian Deputy Prime ...

Phnom Penh–Kong Song’s farmland was his family’s livelihood for three decades until the bulldozers moved in and tore down his home in rural Cambodia to make way for a multimillion dollar foreign-led business. His family was one of 253 forcibly evicted five years ago in southern ...

Tensions with Thailand led to a 10-percent decline in imports from ASEAN members during the first six months of 2011, though Cambodia’s exports to the bloc nearly doubled, according to officials. Cambodia imported US$810.9 million during the six-month period compared to $904.9 million during the period ...

Secret meetings between high-ranking Thai and Cambodian officials to solve the demarcation of disputed offshore petroleum resources took place during the administration of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority revealed yesterday.  In a statement some commentators described as “coordinated attack” by ...

Bangkok–Secretary General to the Foreign Minister Mr. Nawin Boonsert said the negotiation over the overlapping sea area between Thailand and Cambodia would be clarified once the Cabinet was clear on its agenda. Following Cambodia’s Petroleum Organization expressing intention to clarify the demarcation points in the sea ...

Cambodia’s petroleum authority yesterday announced that it would like to renew discussion with Thailand in order to find a solution over disputed waters in the Gulf of Thailand widely believed to hold large quantities of oil and gas. Negotiations over how to split revenue from ...

The postponed 2nd Thailand Trade Exhibition 2011 will not be reorganised this year due to budget restrictions, according to Jiranan Wongmongkol, commercial counsellor based at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh. The trade fair was originally scheduled for May 19 to 22 at Phnom Penh’s ...

Tourists are still wary about travelling to Preah Vihear temple following border clashes in the area earlier this year, according to provincial officials. Visitor numbers had declined 15.5 per cent during the first seven months compared year on year, but had slowly begun rising in ...

Cambodia Angkor Air will launch a regular flight service between Siem Reap and Sihanoukville by the end of the year, an official at the Council of Ministers said yesterday. There are currently no flights to Sihanoukville, the country’s premier coastal resort, even though the airport ...

Setting a minimum price for paddy is one of the campaign promises that the Pheu Thai party made to its supporters during the recent election campaign in Thailand before it was elected to power. Now it’s a matter of waiting to find out whether this ...

The US Export-Import Bank (EXIM) and the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce signed an agreement on Monday that will guarantee loans offered for the purchase of US goods and services. The memorandum of understanding was signed as part of the US-Asean Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement, ...

The China National Food Industry (Group) and Cambodia’s Le Ye Rubber on August 13th signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a cooperation agreement to acquire one million cassava product exports from Cambodia to China Cai Yong Feng [President of China National Food Industry Group] said: ...

Energy planners are pushing the revival of talks with Cambodia on the oil-rich overlapping claims area (OCA) between the two countries to ensure energy security. They also urge all parties not to turn it into a political issue so that the talks stand a chance ...