News
EU to suspend some of Cambodia trade benefits over human rights
Cambodia’s government is preparing for the European Union to partially and temporarily remove the country’s Everything But Arms (EBA) trade privileges on Wednesday, in the wake of a 2018 political crackdown. The EU warned Cambodia last February it would withdraw the scheme unless it made more effort to improve the ...
Leonie Kijewski
Royal Group to invest $1.5 billion in 700 MWs coal fired power plant
A 700 megawatt (mW) coal-fired power plant has been approved for development in Koh Kong’s Botum Sakor district by the Cabinet. The $1.5 billion investment in the Independent Power Producer (IPP) plant is a venture by Cambodian tycoon Okhna Kith Meng’s Royal Group. A source familiar with ...
Khmer Times
Towns set for Unesco’s Creative City Network
UNESCO representatives on Friday met with Minister of Tourism Thong Khon, marking the next step in the Kingdom’s efforts to add Battambang, Kampot and Kratie towns to the Creative City Network. Unesco representative to Cambodia Sardar Umar Alam led the delegation and discussed strengthening collaboration in ...
Khorn Savi
Cambodia Gears Up for Launch of Central Bank Digital Currency
The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has announced it is preparing to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC). NBC’s director-general, Chea Serey, said the central bank was developing “the national payment gateway for Cambodia.” It would serve as a blockchain-based, peer-to-peer platform with its own specially designed cryptocurrency. According ...
Daniel Abel
Southeast Asia’s most critical river is entering uncharted waters
For months now, a single, rare Irrawaddy river dolphin, apparently entangled in a fishing net and disoriented, has been spotted in Southeast Asia’s struggling Mekong River, far from its normal habitat in northern Cambodia. Conservationists are scrambling to come up with a plan to help the ...
Stefan Lovgren
The Truth About Hun Sen and the Media in Cambodia
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen seems to have forgotten who he is. Praising journalism and defending reporters? That is not the Hun Sen of yore. Yet this month, amid a trial of two Radio Free Asia reporters on “baseless espionage charges,” according to Human Rights Watch, the ...
David Hutt
Land Dispute Victims Point To Military Police Beatings In Tuy Sros Death
Tuy Sros, 34, was one of the hundreds of people at a land protest in late December last year, in the northwestern border province of Banteay Meanchey. The dispute was similar to other land conflicts in the country; villagers had been displaced from land they ...
Sun Narin
Farmers need new skills, technology and research to become international
For Cambodia to reach its full potential in agriculture, it needs more investment, diversification in crops, access to new technology, more research and development on related products, the full mechanisation of rice cultivation and plain, old-fashioned cash. That was the view of stakeholders at an agriculture ...
Sok Chan
Losing dolphins for more hydropower
The construction of the Don Sahong hydropower dam in Laos has affected the habitats of Mekong River dolphins, causing their numbers to dwindle in Stung Treng province. The dwindling numbers are causing a decline in tourists who wish to see them, resulting in loss of ...
Pech Sotheary
Cambodia Again Ranked Most Corrupt Among Asean Countries
Cambodia continues to rank below most of Asia in Transparency International’s global corruption index, dropping one spot to No. 162 worldwide. In the NGO’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index report, whose 2019 edition was released on Thursday, Cambodia scored 20 out of 100 for tax fraud, money ...
Moeurn Voleak