News
Cambodia improves human development index
Cambodia’s improvements on human development are the biggest in the region, but standards of living still lag behind neighboring nations, United Nations Development Program figures have shown. The UNDP’s Human Development Index in 2015, which was published on March 21, showed Cambodians’ health, education and ...
Vietnamese migrants facing deportation
Immigration police on March 21 arrested 15 Vietnamese who had crossed the border illegally as part of an operation to check on foreigners living and working in Cambodia. Major General Ouk Heisela, the director of inspection at the Interior Ministry’s general department of immigration, said his ...
Families call for return of land
A group of 20 people representing 554 families locked in a 10-year land dispute yesterday submitted a petition asking the government to end the lengthy conflict. The families, from Samroang town in Oddar Meanchey province, want help from officials at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry ...
Land and buildings tax draft gets nod
The cabinet on March 21 approved the draft bill for the long-awaited land and buildings tax, intended to narrow economic disparity, after a review by the Council of State. Nathporn Chatusripitak, an adviser to Prime Minister’s Office Minister Suvit Maesincee, said the draft bill amended by ...
Cabinet backs credit boost for SMEs in Bt15 bn package
The cabinet on March 21 gave the nod to the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand to extend up to Bt15 billion in loans to small and medium-sized enterprises. The cabinet also approved plans for a major industrial estate development project in Sa Kaeo. “About ...
New ToR for double-track rail projects expected in two weeks
New terms of reference for the multibillion-baht double-track railway project will be finished within two weeks, according to Anon Luangboriboon, acting State Railway of Thailand governor. Meanwhile, share prices of construction have suffered declines, attributed to the junta’s delay on the railway projects. After the original ToR ...
Despite gains, development lags
Between the years of 1990 and 2015, Cambodia saw the region’s highest rate of improvement in the UN’s Human Development Index, a metric that tracks wellbeing, though the country’s overall score remains well below the average for countries in East Asia and the Pacific, a ...
Dropout rates dropped in ’16, Education Ministry says
Significantly fewer upper secondary students dropped out of school in 2016 compared to the previous year, but Cambodian education authorities say they still want to halve the rate to improve graduation rates and students’ chances of success in life. Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron reported ...
Villagers issue new calls to solve old land dispute
Villagers from Oddar Meanchey used a news conference on March 21 to appeal for government action to return land at the centre of a years-old dispute with sugar companies. The conflict erupted in 2008, when villagers were forcibly evicted from their land to allow Angkor Sugar, ...
Alternative to TPP shows no sign of activity: analysts
While Prime Minister Hun Sen has publicly expressed his distaste for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was dealt a critical blow by US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the agreement, economists say there has been little visible progress in cementing a ...