Aid and development
World Bank funds environmental protection projects
The Environment Protection Fund and the World Bank recently provided funding for the second phase of four environmental and social protection sub-projects in Laos at a cost of more than US$4 million. The first sub-project named Capacity Building for Pollution Control, Waste and Hazardous Chemicals Management ...
Govt, World Bank Group discuss disaster risk management
The Department of Waterways under the Ministry of Public Works and Transport is concentrating on the implementation of the South East Asia Disaster Risk Management Project in Laos. The project development objective of the proposed South East Asia Disaster Risk Management Project shall be funded by ...
USAID backs MFIs with $10m guarantee
USAID kicked off a seven-year program to guarantee over US$10 million in microfinance loans to the agricultural sector on September 20, as part of a new US effort to offer greater economic support to the country. The US development agency has signed a multi-bank loan portfolio ...
Banking with a positive spin
A banking sector initiative launched on September 19 aims to advise Cambodia’s financial sector on best practices for sustainable lending while capitalising on the growing pool of international funds that could flow into green and socially responsible projects. The Sustainable Finance Initiative will conduct two years of ...
PM weighs in on rice lending
Rice millers said on September 18 they welcomed the prime minister’s announcement that the government would make over $20 million in funds available shortly to support cash-strapped millers and prop up falling paddy prices.“We’ve been waiting for these loans for a long time like fish waiting ...
Climate change adaptation project launched to sustain wetlands
A project valued at US$4.7 million was launched on September 12 in Vientiane, aiming to help communities in and around the Xe Champhone, and Beung Khiat Ngong wetlands to adapt to the impacts of climate change. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s Department of Environmental Quality ...
China agrees to double rice import quota: PM
China has agreed to double its rice import quota, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced at the opening of the first Chinese-Cambodia investment forum in Nanning, China on September 12, offering a much-needed boost to Cambodia’s beleaguered rice sector. The prime minister said China’s government had officially ...
North Korea flooding kills 133, displaces 107,000 - UN
Flooding from heavy rain in North Korea has killed 133 people in its northeast while 395 are missing, with many homes and critical infrastructure destroyed, a U.N. agency said on September 12. News of the natural disaster came as North Korea looked even more isolated from ...
Agricultural products exported to EU must meet health standards
Farms, market gardens, packaging units and companies that export plants and other agricultural products to the EU are required to register with the relevant authorities. This will enable them to obtain certification from district agriculture and forestry offices, according to a recent announcement by the Ministry ...
Recycled waste-to-fertilizer plants left idle, investors flee
A series of plants making fertilizer from domestic waste have been built in recent years with ODA capital. And a lot of them, capitalized at tens or hundreds of billions of dong have been left idle. In late 2012, the Hai Duong fertilizer plant was put ...