Bilateral development assistance
Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members
EU, SIDA offer €33.1M grant for budget reform
The European Union and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency have agreed to provide a grant of €33.1 million to support the third phase of Cambodia’s Public Financial Management Reform Program, state news agency AKP announced on 24 June. Keep reading ...
Irrigation agricultural technology project boosts farmers' knowledge
Farmers have improved their methods of irrigation management and technique of rice products after the completion of a joint Japanese and Lao basic irrigation agricultural technology dissemination project recently. The project’s assessment meeting was held in Vientiane last week and was attended by the Irrigation ...
Proposal for training to enhance factory skills

Cambodia has appealed to Germany – a country renowned for its skilled technicians and engineers – to provide vocational training to support the Kingdom’s growing industrial sector, a Commerce Ministry official said on 24 June. In a meeting earlier this week, Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak ...
Businesses prefer Vietnam-EU FTA over TPP

When comparing Vietnam’s commitments within the Vietnam-EU free trade agreement and the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, businesses see bigger benefits in EVFTA, especially in government procurement. Tran Quoc Khanh, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, said it was not the initial intention of Vietnam to apply ...
PM challenges EU to follow through on threat to cut aid
Prime Minister Hun Sen on 13 June blithely brushed aside a recent threat from the European Parliament to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Cambodia over human rights abuses, challenging the body to follow through.“I am never afraid of China because Cambodia has ...
EU to start ASEAN aviation talks

The European Commission is planning to start negotiations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on an aviation agreement soon, having received a mandate from EU transport ministers earlier this week. The EU is hoping to create new airline routes and new business opportunities for European ...
EC, NLA unnerved by referendum-law challenge

The chiefs of the Election Commission and the National Legislative Assembly showed confidence on 9 June the draft charter referendum remained on course despite the latest decision by the Constitutional Court. The controversial words are “violent, aggressive, rude,” which the petitioners find vague and subjective and open ...
Amid turmoil, EU calls for review of aid to Cambodia

The European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution accusing the Cambodian government of laying politically motivated charges against the opposition and calling for aid cuts if its respect for human rights fails to improve—a loud echo of a resolution it passed just six months ago. “Today, ...
Tender planned for $2b Yangon-Mandalay railway upgrade
A Tender for private companies to work on a US$2.2 billion upgrade of the railway linking Myanmar’s two largest cities will be called at the end of this year, an official said on 23 May. Work on the Yangon-Mandalay railway, led by the Japan International Cooperation ...
Fishery groups step up bid to avoid EU action

Isara Vongkusolkit, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber was gravely concerned about the IUU issue and had tried its best to promote cooperation with private counterparts in the fishing industry to create a traceability system for products. Mr Poj insisted that, whatever ...