Vietnamese to poise Cambodian children forgeting its Crocodile jaws

Cambodian children are the civilization of Ankor, for century, Ankorcivilization had never forgotten the past experience with Vietnamese (the nation with full of hatred toward Cambodian people). The history of bitter relationship, massacre and destroying Cambodia.

And now Vietnam is trying to lure Cambodian children into a sweet relationship which is not nowaday. Every Cambodian knew what Yuons are, Yuon should stop pretending that they are innocent friendship; it is a waste of time, Hun Sen government is wasting money for Cambodian Youth organization to go along with Yuon youth organization.

Party leader backs greater Vietnam-Cambodia youth ties

Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh said that Vietnam would fully back efforts and programmes that bring the Vietnamese and Cambodian public and in particular youth closer together.

The statement came in the form of a letter sent by the Party leader to participants at the Vietnam-Cambodia Youth Friendship Meeting, which runs from June 16-22 in Vietnam.

Vietnam will always “support and create conditions for Vietnam and Cambodia’s young generations to increase their mutual co-operation, understanding and assistance for the benefit of all,” the party leader said.

He spoke highly of the initiative to organise the meeting on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Cambodia, an event that holds great significance for the relationship framework of the two nations.

President of the Cambodian People’s Party Samdec Chea Sim also sent a letter to the meeting, describing the event a reflection of the development of ties between the two countries. (VNA) Read more!

Cambodia clears up voter list for general election in 2008

The Cambodian National Election Committee (NEC) has started to clear up the 2007 voters' list for the general election in 2008, local media reported Thursday.

The clearing-up of the voters' list aimed at checking up the real figure of Cambodian voters in the 2008 election, Khon Koemono, vice president of the NEC's public information unit, was quoted by the Raksmey Kampuchea Daily as saying.

"We have to check voters' list and voters' registration from now to August 2007," he said.

The NEC also would like to appeal all political parties and NGOs to observe the process of the clearing-up of voters in order to have clear and fair figures, he added.

According to a NEC press release about the commune councils election on April 1, only around 70 percent of the over 7 million Cambodian voters went to vote.

Cambodia is expected to hold the next general election on July 27, 2008, it said.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

CAMBODIA: Human cost in development relocations

Cambodia's international donors have pledged $US690 million in aid to the impoverished nation over the next year. The pledge came after the Prime Minister, Hun Sen, told the meeting he would get 'in touch' with the fight against corruption and land disputes. But his commitment has not impressed the human rights organisations that work with Cambodia's poorest populations, who say donors should demand actions and not words.

Presenter/Interviewer: Bill Bainbridge
Speakers: Kong Nai, Cha Pei master and evictee; Naly Pilorge, director, Licadho; Ou Virak, director, Cambodian Centre for Human Rights

BAINBRIDGE: Human rights organisation, Licadho, filmed Nai's story. Their director, Naly Pilorge, says land grabbing in Cambodia has exploded in recent years.

PILORGE: It's often done with very little notice, no participation from the communities, and often very violently with the use of weapons and machinery and often the people that are doing the evictions are company guards usually with the authorities, whether the village chief or riot police.

BAINBRIDGE: Cambodia's economy is booming. According to the International Monetary Fund it grew at 10.4 per cent last year and should grow at around nine per cent this year and land values have tripled in the past two years. That's led developers to try to lock up valuable parcels of land.

PILORGE: These evictions are done for development puposes, however, what we see is often there's no development. Fences are constructed but there's no development for years and years.

BAINBRIDGE: The Cambodian government typically provides land on the outskirts of town as compensation for those who are moved. But Cambodian Centre for Human Rights director, Ou Virak, says that land is totally inadequate.

VIRAK: For the people who have been relocated a while back for the community it's usually non-existent. They don't stay in the relocation site, these people are being pushed to a place where they cannot help their families or make a living. This is one of the reasons we think it's such a disaster.

BAINBRIDGE: In one case more than a thousand people were forced out of their homes to a relocation site a year ago. The government said they were squatters and the land was needed for development. But 12 months on the land has not been developed and Ou Virak says the site is virtually uninhabited. Ou Virak says the coveted real estate usually ends up in the hands of Cambodia's political elite.

VIRAK: In all of these land deals pretty much if you dig down deep enough you'll notice there's a link not just to any government but to a very, very few high ranking officials in the top level of the government and particularly the Prime Minister.

BAINBRIDGE: Under current Cambodian law anyone who has occupied land peaceably for five years has ownership rights over it but NGOs worry a new sub-decree the government is developing with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank will legitimise the land theft. Ou Virak says Cambodia's international donors are sending the wrong signal by increasing the amount of aid they provide the country.

VIRAK: You know I think there must be more pressure and I think that the donor community who are supposedly involved in promoting democratic principles should follow the democratic principles themselves and really should involve the Cambodian public in the whole process and not keep it from the Cambodian public. Read more!

Cambodia donors pledge $690 mln in 2007 aid

PHNOM PENH, June 20 (Reuters) - Cambodia's international donors pledged $690 million in aid for 2007 on Wednesday, a 15 percent increase on the previous year that reflected recognition of government and economic reforms, a Cambodian official said.

"We received more than we expected. This is a reward for Cambodia's good performance over the last year," senior Finance Ministry official Hang Choun Naron said after a donor conference in Phnom Penh.

A breakdown revealed that much of the increase was accounted for by $91 million from China, which has shunned the collective donor process in previous years, preferring to offer bilateral assistance instead.

Japan remained the biggest contributor, with $112 million.

Twenty percent of the aid was in the form of loans and the rest in grants. Historically, Phnom Penh has relied on foreign aid for more than 60 percent of government spending.

The assistance should provide another boost to the war-scarred southeast Asian nation's economy, which is enjoying near double-digit growth due to relative political stability and booms in the tourism, clothing and construction sectors.

"We are going to spend this money on education, health care, improving infrastructure, rural development and agriculture," Hang Choun Naron said.

The economy grew 10.4 percent last year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which expects growth of 9 percent in 2007 and 7.5-8 percent in 2008, making it one of the world's fastest-growing economies, albeit worth only $7 billion.

In a big push to banish the legacy of Pol Pot's "Year Zero" revolution and its estimated 1.7 million victims, Phnom Penh has obtained a B+ credit rating from Standard and Poor's and a B2 from Moodys this year.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge soldier who has been in charge for more than 20 years, announced plans for a stock market in 2009, another sign of the accelerating recovery from the horrors of the "Killing Fields".

Despite this, donors also called for greater commitment to reform of a notoriously corrupt and political judiciary, and swift enactment of draft anti-graft laws that have been gathering dust on the shelves of parliament for years.

Hun Sen's critics accuse him of being an autocrat who has brought stability at the expense of human rights and openness.

Eight Westerners were arrested outside the meeting on Tuesday for campaigning for the release of two men whom rights groups say were framed for the 2004 murder of a prominent union leader.

Phnom Penh police chief Touch Naruth said the group -- three Americans, two Canadians, one New Zealander, one Briton and one Dane -- had been arrested for "protesting illegally".

They were released after signing an agreement not to do so again, police said. Read more!

Vietnam joins Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand to boost rice exports

Vietnam will collaborate with Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand to raise the profile and quality of the region's rice exports.
A cooperation agreement to this effect was being considered by the five countries which belong to the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Co-operation Strategy (ACMECS), the Vietnamese trade ministry said.

The agreement would cover transfer of farming techniques and sharing of global market information to strengthen the region’s competitiveness.

Vietnam has already signed a similar agreement with Thailand, and the two countries plan to meet in Hanoi next month to discuss implementation of the accord.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, rice exports topped 1.8 million tons in the first five months fetching US$580 million, a year-on-year decline of 21 per cent and 8 per cent.

The ministry said the decline had been caused by logistical challenges, including difficulty in leasing ships, increase in freight charges, and bad weather which hindered the loading of rice bags onto ships for export.

This year Vietnam expects to export around 5 million tons, Thailand 8 million tons, Cambodia about 300,000 tons, and Myanmar around 100,000 tons.

The Philippines recently bought 280,000 tons of 25-per-cent broken rice from Vietnam at of $328.96-348.99 per ton to be delivered between June and August.

Source: VNA Read more!

Cambodia detains foreigners over protest at donor meeting

Phnom Penh - Cambodian police said Tuesday they had detained at least five foreigners for distributing leaflets urging the release of two men convicted of the murder of a trade union leader during an annual donor meeting.

Daun Penh district police chief Phorn Pheng said at least five people he believed to hold foreign passports had been 'invited' to the Phnom Penh municipal police foreigner office but said he could not give details.

'We did invite five people go to the foreigner police office ... They were distributing leaflets outside a meeting while (Cambodian Prime Minister) Hun Sen spoke inside,' Pheng said.

He said he could not confirm local media reports which said that as many as eight foreigners were detained, including Americans, Canadians, a New Zealander, a Briton and a Scandinavian, but added that they were not expected to face serious charges.

'I don't know any more information, because they have been transferred from my department now, but I hope and would expect they will be free to go soon,' he said.

The two-day annual meeting of most of the aid dependent country's key donors is scheduled to conclude Wednesday, with donors tipped to meet or surpass the 601 million dollars pledged to Cambodia last year.

The foreigners were allegedly distributing leaflets demanding the release of two men convicted of the January 2004 murder of union leader Chea Vichea.

Under criticism by a number of donors, the 2005 convictions for the murder of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun have been blasted by human rights groups including Amnesty International as a cover-up. There have been widespread demands for the men's case to be reopened.

The annual donor meeting comes in the wake of the government's recent banning of a negative logging report by London-based environmental group Global Witness and a highly critical report in Geneva last week by Yash Ghai, UN human rights envoy to the Cambodia.

On Saturday, New York-based Human Rights Watch demanded donors make Cambodia more accountable for how it uses aid, claiming human rights abuses and endemic corruption were still rampant despite billions in aid being poured into the country in the past decade.

The meeting comprises key bilateral donors to Cambodia including the US, Germany, Japan and South Korea, and the Asian Development Bank, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank. Read more!

Cambodia pleases donor countries with anti-corruption oaths

Cambodia here on Tuesday opened its annual donor countries' meeting, with its prime minister Hun Sen repeatedly vowing to fight corruption at any cost to safeguard these donors' confidence in his government.

"We have always fight corruption with concrete measures and the government is determined to adopt anti-corruption laws as soon as possible," he told more than 100 representatives of donor countries and NGOs and top governmental officials at the two-day First Cambodian Development Cooperation Forum (CDCF).

In addition, Hun Sen even promised to hand over his personal properties to the new government, if his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) fails to win the next general election, apparently in effort to counter the wide-spread allegations that the current CPP government is too corrupt to stay in power in 2008.

"CPP has already appointed me as premier candidate for the general election in 2008, and if CPP fails, I will sign to hand over the properties (of mine) and all the official documents to the new government," he said.

Hun Sen made these remarks at the forum for the Cambodian government, its development cooperation partners and the civil society to dialogue on public policy issues and the associated financing framework on medium term, namely the annual meeting for the donor countries to help the government offset its budget.

While official figures showed that the donors pledged 601 million U.S. dollars in aid for Cambodia in 2006, almost half of its government budget, the kingdom still cherished much higher expectation this year due to its confirmation of rich reserves of oil and natural gas.

However, in recent days, NGOs have verbally attacked the government for corruption, in order to provide tools for the deputies of 18 donor countries and five NGOs at CDCF to press for anti-corruption efforts and contain donations.

At Tuesday's forum, to appease the donors, Hun Sen described corruption as "cancer of the society" and vowed to fight it with real actions.

"Even we don't have anti-corruption law yet, we take strict actions to fight corrupt officials," he said, adding that the government has already established its committee to handle the work.

Recently, he said, seven government officials were punished over illegal logging, two arrested and put into jail for seizing private properties, one accused of conspiracy in state land grabbing and destroying forestry, one another accused of destroying natural resources and ruining the environment, and 11 others jailed over cutting forestry illegally in Ratanakiri province.

Meanwhile, the premier told the representatives that his party is set to win the next election, obviously trying to fuel their confidence in CPP and its continued governance.

According to the law, any political party who wins 50 percent of the votes at the National Assembly plus one more vote can establish the government, he said.

"Now Cambodia has about 60 political parties. If CPP wins the next general election, I will continue to lead the country as premier," he said.

The 50 percent plus one rule can guarantee that no more political deadlock will occur in Cambodia, he added.

Hun Sen has been country leader since 1985 and transformed Cambodia from a war-torn land into a kingdom with macro economic stability for over 10 years.

According to the government's report, between 1994 and 2006, the average annual economic growth rate of Cambodia was 9.8 percent. In 2005 and 2006, the rates respectively stood at 13.4 percent and 10.4 percent.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Cambodian PM returns after visit to Japan

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen returned Saturday from a visit to Japan, which was aimed to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.

At the Phnom Penh international airport upon the arrival of Hun Sen, Secretary of State of Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Long Visalo told reporters that it was the first official visit for Hun Sen to Japan, which was from June 13 to 16.

Long Visalo said that during the visit, Cambodia and Japan signed an agreement to protect Japanese investors in Cambodia, adding that groups of Japanese entrepreneurs, investors and government officials will visit Cambodia next month in order to find chances for investment.

So far, the loans and grants from Japan to Cambodia are worth about 1,177 million U.S. dollars, he said.

Japan will also provide scholarships for 1,000 Cambodian students in the next 5 years, he added.

Hun Sen also requested the Japanese government to help Cambodia with several projects, including the National Road No.2 from Phnom Penh to Takeo province, the water irrigation system for Vay Ko river which will benefit the people in Kompong Cham, Prey Veng and Svay Rieng provinces, the expanding of Sihanoukville sea port, the creation of special economic zone in Sihanoukville, the electricity network from Phnom Penh to Kompong Cham and Kratie province, the water clean system in Siem Reap province and the Neak Loung bridge, Long Visalo said.

Japanese experts will come to study and construct these projects soon, he added.

Japan has been Cambodia's largest donor country for years, but lags behind other countries in the fields of investment and trade.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Cambodia asks foreign donors for more aid

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: The Cambodian government opened a meeting with foreign donors Tuesday to ask for more aid, amid a barrage of criticism that it has reneged on promises to control rampant corruption.

Despite economic growth averaging 11.4 percent for the last three years, Cambodia remains one of the world's poorest countries and heavily reliant on foreign aid. Donors pledged US$601 million (€448 million) to the government last year.

It is not yet clear how much Cambodia will ask for during the two-day meeting that started Tuesday.

Human rights and environmental groups said the government keeps breaking its promises of reform, and that donors must get tougher with the government to ensure it meets its pledges.

"If their mission is to help Cambodia's long-suffering population, rather than just cozying up to its kleptocratic government, donors must start insisting on tangible actions to combat corruption and impunity," Simon Taylor, director of the Britain-based environmental group Global Witness, said in a statement Monday.

Early this month, his group issued a stinging report alleging tycoons, some senior officials and relatives of Prime Minister Hun Sen were running illegal logging businesses. The government denied the allegations.

Yash Ghai, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative for human rights in Cambodia, in a report this month, also blasted the government's land concessions.

He said many rural Cambodians were losing out on land which was being given to those with government connections, including for logging purposes.

U.S. Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli has praised the government for realizing strong economic growth and "solid progress" in some health and legal areas.

But progress in other important areas, such as land-grabbing, the environment and good governance "is hampered by the systemic corruption we see in Cambodia today," he said Saturday.

Yet, the donors "are being taken for a ride" by the government, Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch's Asia director, said Saturday.

"Hun Sen continues to run circles around the donors, making the same empty promises every year and laughing all the way to the bank," he said. Read more!

JSM plans Vietnam, Cambodia IPO

JSM Indochina Ltd, a company set up to invest in Vietnamese and Cambodian real estate, said on Tuesday it planned an initial public offering in London to raise between US$400 million and $600 million.

JSM, which is based in the Cayman Islands and focuses on the development and management of retail and serviced apartment assets, plans to sell up to 600 million shares at $1 each, targeting admission by the end of June, it said in a statement.

"JSM Indochina will give investors access to one of South East Asia´s fastest-growing economies and a developing property market," Chief Executive Craig Jones said in a statement.

"We believe that Vietnamese and Cambodian real estate fundamentals now offer extremely attractive opportunities for investors."

The offering comes as real estate firms in Europe face slowing property price rises and higher interest rates.

Last week, British hotel owner Vector Hospitality pulled a potentially record-breaking $4 billion IPO, and Spain´s Realia was forced to slash its offering price.

Jones, who plans to sell land in Vietnam and Cambodia worth around $35 million to JSM in exchange for shares, shrugged off concerns over potential lukewarm investor demand for property stocks.

"Investor demand for access to markets in Vietnam is quite strong ... We feel very comfortable with our $US400 to $US600 million raise. We think that is a result of strong investor demand globally," Jones said.

"There are very few international retailers there with exceptional (retail) parks... We see a number of retailers wanting to enter the market and we want to be there providing them with facilities."

The company, which will focus on HCM City and Hanoi areas, was in talks with retailers such as Parkson Retail Group for letting, Jones said.

Lehman Brothers is acting as bookrunner to the issue, and Evolution Securities is acting as nominated adviser.

The company will give Lehman Brothers an over-allotment option over ordinary shares of up to a maximum of 15%. Read more!

Cambodia gets grant for hydro expansion in Mekong power trade

The World Bank has announced the award of a US$18.5M grant to Cambodia to help develop power trade projects in the Greater Mekong, which will involve a hydro project and a transmission line to import surplus hydroelectricity.

In approving the grant, which is being issued via the International Development Association (IDA), the bank noted that the projects aim to expand power trade in the region and also bring more affordable grid-based electricity to selected provinces in Cambodia.

The key hydro related features of the projects approved by the bank are:

* Component C-5: A detailed feasibility study for a hydro power plant that is selected jointly by IDA and Cambodia’ Ministry of Industries, Mines and energy (MIME). Potential projects, capacities and timelines were not disclosed.

* Component C-2: a 115kV transmission system from south Lao PDR to Stung Treng province, Cambodia, to allow for the import of surplus hydroelectricity.

However, the bank also noted that a separate 115kV line approved under the grant, to run from Tai Ninh in Veitnam to Kampong Cham, Cambodia, may in future allow for the export of hydro from Cambodia to Vietnam.

The total cost of the power trade projects is US$20M with US$1.5M contributed by Cambodia.

The power trade studies will be implemented on behalf of the government by Electricite de Cambodge (EDC). Read more!

Cambodia textbook details horrific past

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- Cambodia offers plenty of Khmer Rouge "killing fields" attractions. There is a grisly genocide museum complete with torture instruments and former mass graves that draw camera-toting tourists.

But for the country's school children, the Khmer Rouge remain off the curriculum, leaving students virtually clueless about how the now-defunct communist group became a killing machine in late 1970s.

Now that knowledge gap may at least be partially filled through the newly released "A History of Democratic Kampuchea," a textbook about the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule by Khamboly Dy, a Cambodian genocide researcher.

It's a start in Cambodia's painful journey to seek healing, said Khamboly Dy, a 26-year-old staffer at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group collecting evidence of the Khmer Rouge atrocities.

"Nothing can compensate for the Cambodian people's sufferings during the Khmer Rouge," he said, adding that learning about the regime's history "is the best compensation for them."

The book comes at the right time, as Cambodia may finally put surviving Khmer Rouge leaders before an internationally-backed tribunal for genocide and crimes against humanity, Khamboly Dy said.

Still, the 100-page textbook isn't slated for general classroom use. Khamboly Dy said 3,000 copies in the Cambodian language will be given to libraries, students and teachers for free, and more will be printed once additional funds can be raised.

David Chandler, an American scholar and author of several books on Cambodia, says a straightforward account is long overdue since the government "seems unwilling to produce such a text, or at least does not share a sense of urgency about exposing this period of he past."

Some ex-Khmer Rouge continue to hold senior positions in the regime.

Most books about the Khmer Rouge era, when some 1.7 million perished through hunger, disease and executions, have to date been either written by foreigners or overseas Cambodians. Very few of these have been translated into the Cambodian language, and none are cheaply available.

Khmer Rouge history was briefly featured in a high school social study textbook in 2002 before the entire book was yanked off the curriculum because it provoked political tension between Prime Minister Hun Sen and his former ally, Prince Norodom Ranariddh.

The book had only highlighted the victory of Hun Sen's ruling party in the 1998 national election and failed to mention Ranariddh's defeat of Hun Sen in the 1993 polls. Despite his party's defeat then, Hun Sen maneuvered to become a co-prime minister along with Ranariddh before toppling him to grab full power through a coup in 1997.

As a result of Ranariddh-Hun Sen rivalry, the entire modern history of Cambodia from the French colonial period to the present was expunged from schools, Khamboly Dy said.

In the new book, Khamboly Dy said he had to carefully select words to explain certain past events, including the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge by Vietnamese troops.

For Hun Sen's camp, the Vietnamese were not invaders, but to his opponents they always were.

So Khamboly Dy wrote the Vietnamese "fought their way into Cambodia" alongside Cambodian resistance forces including Hun Sen. "This is the fact. Whether they invaded or liberated (Cambodia) is only political interpretation," he said.

Before defecting, the prime minister earlier served as a military commander with the Khmer Rouge while ex-King Norodom Sihanouk forged an alliance with them against the U.S.-backed government of the early 1970s.

Researchers say there is no evidence linking Hun Sen and Sihanouk to the Khmer Rouge atrocities despite their past alliance with the now-defunct communist movement, making it unlikely for either of them to be indicted by the U.N.-backed genocide tribunal. Sihanouk himself was under house arrest, and many of his royal family members perished during the Khmer Rouge period.

The government has endorsed the book only as core reference material for writing future history textbooks, but not for use in general education, said Sorn Samnang, president of the government-run Royal Academy, who sat on a committee which scrutinized Khamboly Dy's book.

Although it contained useful information, he said the book could affect the many still living people involved with the Khmer Rouge mentioned in the work. He did not elaborate.

Such an attitude only "suggests that any excuse, however shameless, will be seized upon if it helps the Cambodian authorities avoid raking over the past," said Philip Short, who wrote "Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare," a political biography of the late Khmer Rouge leader.

He said the book is an accurate and objective account of a very complex period, and therefore "deserves to be not merely an approved textbook for Cambodian schools, but a compulsory text, which all Cambodian schoolchildren should be required to study."

Chey Vann Virak, an 11th grade student in Phnom Penh, said his history teacher would randomly mention "a little bit" about the killings under the Khmer Rouge.

At home, the 17-year-old said his parents occasionally recalled for him and his three siblings the sufferings they went through and say, "All of you are just lucky to have been born and grown up in this era."

That is all he knows about the Khmer Rouge. Read more!

Soccer-Malaysia beat Cambodia 6-0 in Asian Cup warm-up

KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 (Reuters) - Malaysia began their preparations for next month's Asian Cup with a 6-0 victory over Cambodia on Monday.

Though Cambodia are 20 places below Malaysia at 169 in the world rankings, the home side were after a confidence-boost ahead of friendly fixtures against a much stronger United Arab Emirates on Thursday and Jamaica on June 28.

Former national captain Rosdi Talib celebrated his return to the team after a three-year absence by opening the scoring in the 23rd minute with a 30-yard strike.

The home side missed several chances to increase their advantage and had to wait until soon after the break for their second goal, with Mohd Ivan Yusoff scoring from close range.

Hairuddin Omar made it 3-0 in the 58th minute before Eddy Helmi added two more. Aidil Zafuan finished off the Cambodians with a goal in the final seconds.

"It is important that we get off on the right note in the first game of the final phase -- now we have to be better in the second match (against UAE)," Malaysia head coach Norizan Bakar told journalists.

Malaysia face China, Iran and Uzbekistan in Group C of the Asian Cup from July 7-29. They are co-hosting the tournament with Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Read more!

Vietnam, Cambodia youths get closer

Vietnamese youths welcomed Saturday a delegation of Cambodian counterparts for a friendship get-together in Ho Chi Minh City.

The opening ceremony of the gathering was held at the Student Cultural House and attended by the secretary of the Vietnam Youth Union, Nguyen Van Thuong, and central committee member of the Cambodian People’s Party and president of the Cambodia Youth Association, Men Kuon, besides the head of the HCMC people’s committee and 120 members from the two nations.

Addressing the ceremony, Thuong expressed happiness at the expansion of relations between the Youth Union in the two countries.

“Vietnamese youths will do their best to further consolidate and enhance this friendship,” he promised on behalf of his organization. He also presented souvenirs to the visitors.

The get-together, to run until Friday, will also feature seminars on youth meetings, a visit to the Hoa Binh Children’s Village, exchanges with local youths, and trips to several historic sites.

Read more!

VN, Laos, Cambodia map out border zones in HCMC

HCM CITY — Experts from Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia have identified the exact location where the three countries’ borders meet during a conference this week in HCM City.

The position will now be marked with a border post as agreed to by each party.

Nguyen Hong Thao, head of the Department for the Western Border under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Border Commission, led the Vietnamese delegation.

Thao said delegates embraced feelings of solidarity, friendship and mutual understanding and all sides agreed on principles and basis for the demarcation.

They also discussed how to implement and co-ordinate plans in the future to complete marking this border point by the middle of 2008.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this effort was significant in further completing border demarcation programmes among the three countries and also contributed to the Programme for the Development Triangle Cambodia-Laos-Viet Nam initiated by the three countries’ Prime Ministers last August. — VNS Read more!

Ex-journalist's mission: educate Cambodia

Retired American journalist Bernie Krisher, a Holocaust survivor, has enlisted the aid of Hawaii's movers and shakers and retirees to join him in building schools for Cambodia children, who still live in the shadow of the Killing Fields.

In the years after infamous communist leader Pol Pot killed 2 million Khmer people in the 1975-79 genocide, Cambodia has struggled to rebuild without the aid of all of the trainers, educators, artists and entertainers who were among the first to be executed. Last year, only one out of every two Cambodia children completed primary school, but Krisher hopes to change that with the 355 Khmer schools that he has built largely with U.S. and Japanese aid.

During his most recent visit to the islands, Krisher networked with Gov. Linda Lingle as well as Hawaii's business and community leaders and secured funding for six more schools.

Last year, only one out of two children in Cambodia completed primary school.

Trying to change that statistic in a post-Holocaust nation is much like trying to grow a garden in a kudzu patch -- often small seedlings emerge only to be choked by the unrelenting vines.

The United Nations Development Program estimates that 90 percent of Cambodians live in rural areas, more than a third live below the poverty line and many are dying of preventable diseases. Each year, about 30,000 Khmer children die -- that's one of the highest childhood mortality rates in Southeast Asia.

In the years after infamous communist leader Pol Pot killed 2 million Khmer people in the 1975-79 genocide, ignorance is the vine that ate Cambodia. Luckily, retired American journalist Bernie Krisher, himself a survivor of another Holocaust, knows something about gardening in adverse circumstances.

Krisher believes the Khmer children, who live in the shadow of the Killing Fields, are the seedlings that one day will make Cambodia's economy and community bloom. That's why he's come out of his retirement as the former Newsweek bureau chief for Asia to help build 355 schools for Khmer children. He's getting by with a little help from business leaders, high-ranking friends who include among them the likes of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, and folks from Hawaii and around the globe.

Earlier this month, Krisher stopped in Hawaii during a five-week fundraising tour in the United States. During his most recent visit to the islands, Kri-sher met with Gov. Linda Lingle, Hawaii business leaders and other movers and shakers, securing funding for six more schools.

"The people in Hawaii are very generous," Krisher said. "There are many retired people here who have had a good life like me. If you are enjoying the fruits of what you gained in terms of prestige and finance, you are looking for ways to give something back."

Krisher, who was on his third visit to Hawaii and has worked with more than 50 donors from the islands, described kamaaina as among "the most hospitable people" that he's ever had the fortune to meet.

"Where else in the world do you land and they put a lei around your neck?" he said.
But, more importantly, Hawaii people opened their hearts and their checkbooks to Krisher's primary cause, shoring up the health, education and, eventually, economic prospects of Khmer children so that the emerging country can meet its development goals. On this trip, donors -- many from Hawaii's business community -- pledged roughly $78,000 to bring the total of Hawaii-funded schools in Cambodia to 16.

Krisher's business partnership with Hawaii started three years ago when he met Jerry and Vanny Clay, who were touched by the plight of the children they saw while on a trip to Vanny's home country. Vanny, who now teaches French at Punahou School, was one of the lucky Khmer nationals who were studying in France when the Khmer Rouge began terrorizing Cambodia.

"I wanted to show my husband Angkor Wat," said Vanny. "While we were looking at the beautiful sights, we noticed that there were children wandering around. When I asked why they didn't go to school, they said there were no schools."

That's been the status quo in the wake of Pol Pot's quest for a completely agrarian society, said Douglas Gardner, the UNDP resident representative and UN resident coordinator for Cambodia, during an interview last October in Phnom Penh.

"The country lost many of its trainers -- the school teachers, the professors, the artists, the entertainers -- and that continues to strike at the development of young Cambodians," he said.

While searching for a way to help the children of her homeland, Vanny learned of Krisher and his efforts to empower Cambodia through its children. A dialogue eventually led to Kri-sher's first Hawaii donor trip.

"We invited other couples to a reception at my husband's law firm and they were all convinced that this was the way to help children," Vanny said. "We don't push people -- it's from their heart if they want to help."

The Clays and other prominent Hawaii business people and citizens, like Andrew and Marty Roach, who first met Kri-sher in the 1960s in Asia, have not only become school donors but also his unofficial ambassadors in the islands. Others, like Rose Marie and Richard Pritts, who formed a network of sponsor donors to fund a school, have even made or are planning to make trips to Cambodia to extend the connection and cement business partnerships.

For many business leaders in Hawaii, it's also been a way for them to follow Krisher's example and enhance their retirement.

"Cambodia is kind of an orphan nation and it arouses a lot of sympathy," said Dr. Bill Cody, a retired psychiatrist who along with Heather Cattell, a psychologist, donated a school garden that feeds 370 school children.

The need to help was more personal for the Roach family, who built Krisher's No. 266 school and named it the Monique Brousseau School after their adopted Khmer granddaughter.

"Because of my granddaughter, I'm really trying to help as much as I can," said Marty Roach. "When I look at her, I think here is this bright child from a Cambodian village and there must be lots of children just like her."

Krisher's seemingly boundless energy, which provided the genesis for his creation of two nonprofit organizations, the American Assistance for Cambodia and Japan Relief for Cambodia, has produced results beyond his rural schools project. Krisher's organizations also have resulted in a free hospital, a free press, empowerment programs to help girls stay in school and a special academic program for Cambodia's brightest students.

"Helping Cambodia find the power center and get things accomplished has satisfied my ego as journalist," he said. "Being a journalist taught me to find the points where you can get something accomplished. I know how to identify the people to go to and how to get things done."

While some are amazed that Krisher has accomplished so much in his retirement, his powers of persuasion are the stuff of legends. One of Kri-sher's schools bears the Kissinger name because it was donated by Walter Kissinger, Krisher's longtime friend -- who also happens to be the brother of Henry Kissinger, who as former President Nixon's secretary of state and national security adviser played a key role in the United States' decision to bomb Cambodia in the 1970s.

"They were worried about the reaction Cambodian people would have to a school with the Kissinger name," Krisher said. "I told them that it would be OK. The people would love it and they did."

Krisher also pulled a minor coup of his own when he managed to convince J.K. Rowling's' publisher to translate a copy of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" into Khmer.

"I discovered that Cambodians stopped reading after Pol Pot," Krisher said. "Kids want to learn English and computer skills, but they've never heard Shakespeare or Dickens. I thought that I would like to publish one book that would get kids to read."

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" fit the bill because of its universal appeal for all ages, he said.

"It has ghosts, and Cambodians believe in ghosts, and it has a kid who triumphs over evil, and so far the Cambodians have not triumphed over evil," he said.

Krisher understands old ghosts, and the role that hope can play in rebuilding a life.

"I think he's driven because of his background," Roach said. "You know he was a Holocaust survivor. He was on the last train out of France and escaped to the United States where he got a good education. Now, he's trying to do the same for others."

In this stage of Krisher's life, it's more about supplying the missing link, he said. It's about what comes after you've managed to triumph over evil and reach your dreams. It's about realizing that life, even in rural Cambodia, has its own complexities.

"There's a missing link when the United Nations Development Program or the World Bank talks about poverty reduction," Krisher said. "Earning $2 a day instead of $1 a day might feed a family or put a roof on a house. It might help them manage their life a little better, but it won't help them reach their potential -- for that they need to go to school."

Read more!

Observers say potential impediments await Cambodia's genocide tribunal

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Efforts to prosecute Khmer Rouge leaders over the deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians during the 1970s could face further obstacles despite judges approving rules for the U.N.-backed genocide trials, observers said Thursday.

«The hardest part has yet to come, and that is who and how many (suspects) should be or should not be» indicted, said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group collecting evidence of the Khmer Rouge atrocities, said.

After repeated failures over the past six months, Cambodian and foreign judges announced the rules Wednesday that pave the way for the tribunal to begin investigating Khmer Rouge leaders for the mass killings during their 1975-79 communist rule.

The rules were one of the judges' last major tasks before they could begin working on the cases, but it was unlikely the trials would start anytime soon. That is a growing concern as there is a chance the aging defendants could all die before they are brought to justice.

The top Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998. Ta Mok, the Khmer Rouge army chief, died last July while in detention pending trial by the special tribunal. He was believed to be 80.

The only defendant now in custody is Kaing Khek Iev, also known as Duch, who headed the notorious S-21 torture center in the capital, Phnom Penh.

Their senior-level colleagues, Nuon Chea, the movement's chief ideologue; Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister; and Khieu Samphan, the former head of state, live freely in Cambodia but are in declining health.

Cambodia and the United Nations created the genocide tribunal last year under an agreement they reached in 2003. The 17 Cambodian and 12 foreign judges and prosecutors have spent the last six months in sometimes rancorous disagreement on guidelines for the trials.

The tribunal is an unprecedented hybrid. It will operate under the Cambodian judicial system often criticized as weak, corrupt and susceptible to political manipulation. Decisions require support from a majority of the Cambodian judges, backed by at least one U.N.-appointed judge.

On Wednesday, neither the Cambodian nor the foreign judicial officials would give details about their cases or reveal names and the number of potential suspects.

Kek Galabru, president of the non-governmental human rights group Licadho, warned that while the rules were approved the hearings likely faced more hurdles and delays.
She said the Cambodian and foreign co-prosecutors could fail to reach a consensus on which suspects should be indicted.

If the prosecutors fail to reach a consensus, they will have to refer their disagreement to the tribunal's pretrial chamber, she said. The chamber, made up of three Cambodian and two foreign judges, would need to obtain a majority vote plus one to decide whether to allow an indictment to go ahead.

«You can find obstacles at any moment that can delay it by one month, two months, three months,» Galabru said.

Only on «the day I see the accused convicted I will be relieved and satisfied,» she said. Read more!

Vietnam-Cambodia plant one more border marker

The site of planting a new marker on both side of the borders, nobody know the exact point or a little deep into Cambodian land except the pro-Vietnamese government.

Vietnam and Cambodia installed Friday a marker to demarcate their common border at Xa Xia in southern Kien Giang province and Cambodia's Kampot province.

It is the second marker installed along the border in southern Vietnam. The first was erected at Moc Bai in Tay Ninh province.

Following the event the two countries are set to begin talks on planting a third marker at Giang Thanh in Kien Giang province along with other minor markers.

Source: VNA

Read more!

12-year-old French-language newspaper closed down in Cambodia

Major French-language newspaper in Cambodia, the 12-year-old Cambodge Soir, has been closed down permanently after a two-day strike, local media on Thursday quoted a statement as saying.

The daily newspaper's parent company Societe des Editions du Mekong claimed to be bankrupt, but the truth stood behind an article on the Global Witness report with a theme widely judged too critical towards the government, English-language newspaper the Cambodian Daily quoted the staff's statement and senior editor as saying.

The reporter writing the article was fired and then led to the strike by the staff members on Monday, said the statement.

"On Tuesday night, the director verbally announced the administrative council's decision to close down the Societe des Editions du Mekong, which publishes the Cambodge Soir," it added.

The Societe des Editions du Mekong hasn't given any public comments yet.

The Cambodge Soir used to boast an educated readership who could understand French and enjoy a fixed group of advertisers such as French restaurants and leisure spots.

The Global Witness report alleged that some senior government officials of Cambodia were connected with each other to steal national properties like forestry and land. The government has banned the report and started investigations to locate the people behind it.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Cambodia PM welcomes 'Killing Fields' tribunal pact

TOKYO, June 14 (Reuters) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday welcomed an agreement by Cambodian and international judges to open the long-awaited "Killing Fields" tribunal.

Cambodian and international judges agreed the basic rules on Wednesday for operating a special court to try Pol Pot's top surviving henchmen, allowing the tribunal to proceed in earnest.

"Cambodia will not have a bright future unless the problem is resolved and the trial is held and they are punished," Sen told reporters in Tokyo, where he is on a four-day visit.

Canadian co-prosecutor Robert Petit, who has been compiling preliminary cases against the top Khmer Rouge leaders, told reporters on Wednesday that he would lodge his first formal accusations with the court "within a few weeks".

"This is undoubtedly what all of the people of Cambodia have been hoping for," Sen said through a translator. "I really hope the trial will begin as soon as possible."

Around 1.7 million people are thought to have died during Pol Pot's four-year reign of terror, which was brought to an end in 1979 by a Vietnamese invasion.

Most of the victims of his "Year Zero" revolution were executed, or died of torture, disease, overwork or starvation.

"All the people of Cambodia are very much interested in how the international community will have the Khmer Rouge leaders take responsibility for having inflicted huge damage and how it will hold them responsible to the people for the atrocities," Sen said.

"I believe the Cambodian people have the right to press for that," he added.

Pol Pot himself died in the jungle in 1998 in one of the Khmer Rouge's final redoubts along the border with Thailand. Neither the self-styled "Brother Number One" nor any of his comrades were tried.

The $53 million United Nations-backed court has been plagued by delays and arguments between local and international legal officials, although the approval of the court's internal rules removes the last formal obstacle to its work.

However, no suspect will be appearing in court for at least six months.

The most likely defendants are "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, former President Khieu Samphan, and Duch, head of the Tuol Sleng interrogation and torture centre in Phnom Penh.

Japan is the major financial backer of the court, which is expected to reveal the full extent of China's involvement with the Khmer Rouge. Read more!

Cambodia investment pact inked

By REIJI YOSHIDA
Staff writer

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Phnom Penh counterpart, Hun Sen, signed a pact Thursday to promote investments by Japanese firms in Cambodia.

Under the pact, signed at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japanese firms will be treated equally in terms of regulation and taxation as Cambodian firms when they invest in the country.
The pact would bar Cambodian companies from requiring investing Japanese firms to transfer technology or procure products in the Southeast Asian nation, because such demands may discourage investments from Japan.

Japan is the top donor to Phnom Penh, but the world's No. 2 economy accounts for a mere 2 percent of Cambodia's overall trade, according to Japanese official data.

Donors are meeting in Cambodia next week, but many have expressed deep frustration over the lack of reform in the corruption-rife nation.

Hun Sen, who arrived on a four-day visit Wednesday, met Japanese business leaders at a luncheon and met with Abe earlier the day.

During the meeting, Abe expressed his intention to provide Cambodia with 3 billion yen in official development assistance over the next three years, even amid recent ODA cutbacks due to the government's austere fiscal policy.

Hun Sen, visiting Japan for the 15th time, welcomed the economic assistance.

In accordance with the pact inked Thursday, a business mission consisting of government and private-sector leaders will be sent in July to promote Japanese investments in Cambodia, Abe told Hun Sen during the meeting. Abe also stressed Tokyo's intention to back up a project to build a second major bridge over the Mekong River, the official said.

Read more!

Mini Charity Marathon for Kids in Cambodia

Runners gearing up to race to raise money

If you haven't witnessed it yourself then you would have heard the story of a child with his or hands stretched out begging for money, pleading for help, longing for a bit of hope.

A common sight for tourists traveling in Asia and around the world.

The plight of children in poor countries is not something everyone has witnessed first hand. But for those who have, it's something they never forget.

In Cambodia, where half of the population is under 15, the story is no different.

Child prostitution, homelessness, poverty, a paedophile's playground, human trafficking are just some of the horrors faced everyday.

And something two well traveled women saw for themselves and never forgot.

Andrea Kvasnica and Emma Stringer got the chance to help those children they had seen being exploited, neglected and forgotten during a marathon of a fundraising stint at the weekend.

What started out as being a fun 10km run between friends turned into a mini-marathon of English teachers in Daegu raising 2.4million Won ($2,700 Canadian dollars) for children of Cambodia.

Along side the river on the morning of Saturday, June 9th, with a back drop of mountains, and below the roaring traffic overhead, 75 people ran, walked, cycled and rollerbladed all with a common cause. To support children of poverty.

"It was just supposed to be a small run with 10 friends, but more people heard about it and it just escalated from there," says Emma, originally from Leicester, England.

The two pals have lived in South Korea for three years and as keen athletes, running about five times a week, they wanted to do another long distance run having completed a half marathon in April.

Andrea Kvansnica and Emma Stringer with co-worker Mr. Cho never forgot what they saw in Cambodia

"The way it works here is that as the season goes on so the distances get longer, but we only wanted to do a 10km so decided to organize our own," says Andrea, from Ottawa, Canada.

With the help and support of other friends they were able to organize the 10km and 5km mini-marathon in Daegu and from their experiences in the impoverished Southeast Asian country decided the children they had seen stuck in a plight of hopelessness would benefit from their hard work.

The two friends, who met in South Korea while working at a Hagwon in Daegu, traveled to Cambodia in October 2005 with the intention of staying for seven days.

But having experienced the plight of children and families there were forced to cut their holiday short. Something they never forgot.

"We were planning to be there for seven days, but everywhere we went it was like people were breathing devastation," recalls Andrea, 27.

Hearing stories from tuktuk drivers who had lost their family to genocide, murder and poverty and seeing first hand the immense problem of child exploitation by paeodophiles they were shocked by how it left them feeling. Were they also taking advantage of the people by being tourists? Were they feeding the corruption of the poor?

"It was really depressing and we felt really bad because we are mega rich compared to them. We were trying to have a vacation and we felt so guilty because we were rich and they weren't," adds Emma, 26.

Andrea says "To go and visit was really hard because every day you are reminded of how dire the situation is. It's in your face all the time. Any time anyone asks me where's the worst place I have been to, Cambodia always pops into my head. That was humans in their worse situation."

Since their trip the pair have learnt more about the history and politics of the country and discovered the charity Children of Cambodia Fund who they chose to donate the money from the mini marathon to. The money will be used to help rescue children living on the dumps and tips of litter and rubbish everywhere because they have no families, no homes and no money.

The organization is trying to combat the problem with child prostitution by setting up orphanages and projects to get the children off the streets.

Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in Asia with 85 percent of the population of 12.5 million people living in rural areas. There is a high infant mortality rate and the average life expectancy is 57 years old. During the notorious regime of Pol Pot in the 1970s around 1.5 million people lost their lives.

"Everywhere has poor places, we know, but it was a massive difference in Cambodia," says Emma.

Andrea adds: "The difference is that in other countries you can see there is some wealth and they can feed themselves and provide houses, but in Cambodia you just don't see it. Everyone is just suffering and the thing is there's no hope. They just don't have the means to move on. Their generation is stumped."

Since starting to organize the mini marathon six weeks ago, Andrea and Emma have realized they are not alone in their experience and know they will not be the last.

"A lot of people told us they had been or were about to go. Cambodia touches a lot of people's hearts from what they have heard or seen," adds Andrea.

The money raised far exceeded the two women's expectations and the support they say was amazing.

"We just want to say thank you to everyone who helped us and we hope it will be of some benefit to the children in Cambodia," Andrea says. Read more!

China donates 200 water pumps to Cambodia

China donated 200 units of small-size diesel-powered water pumps on Wednesday to Cambodia for agricultural use.

Sun Weiren, Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy to Cambodia, and Sam Sarith, Secretary of State of Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology of Cambodia, signed the certificates of delivery and receipt on behalf of both governments.

Sun said that the Chinese government expects the donation to help beef up the agricultural development of Cambodia.

Sarith expressed his government's appreciation for the donation and hoped to carry out more cooperation with the Chinese side in the field of agriculture, especially irrigation and water conservancy.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Cambodia's Hun Sen tells Japanese he will fight graft

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen pledged Thursday to fight corruption to lure more investors from top donor Japan as he tries to wean his government away from foreign aid.
Hun Sen, visiting Japan for his 15th time, met with business leaders and was set to sign a bilateral agreement on encouraging investment.

"By strengthening good governance, we will continue to thoroughly manage public agnecies and to eradicate corruption and reduce costs for investors," Hun Sen said at the luncheon with business leaders.

"I firmly believe that Japanese investment is essential for further development of Cambodia," Hun Sen said. "We are aiming to stabilise the political, economic and security environment so that investments can be made with confidence."

He said the investment agreement, to be signed later Thursday with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, should also improve opportunities for Japanese businesses eyeing to invest in Cambodia.

Japan is the top donor to Phnom Penh, but the world's second largest economy accounts for a mere two percent of Cambodia's overall trade, according to Japanese official data.

Donors are meeting in Cambodia next week, but many have expressed deep frustration over the lack of reform in the country including corruption.

Hun Sen earlier this month praised China, which has a growing rivalry for influence with Japan, for handing over aid without any conditions.

At the luncheon, Hun Sen said Cambodia was on a steady growth track, overcoming the regional economic crisis in the 1990s and occassional natural disasters.

Recently discovered natural resources, such as oil and natural gas, should also boost Cambodia's international standing, Hun Sen said.

"Private sector participation is essential. I am convinced that the Cambodian economy will grow further with participation from Japanese companies and investors as we continue to improve Cambodia's investment environment," he said.

"Cambodia historically had had difficulties and struggles. But we have overcome the difficulties with our strong will to develop the nation under democracy," he said.

Hun Sen voiced optimism that growth, which has surged ahead at around 9.0 percent a year since 2000, would help eliminate widespread poverty in Cambodia.

"It is my sincere hope that well thought-out social and economic development will further reduce poverty in our nation," he said.

He thanked Japan's consistant financial and other aid for his nation, adding that more assistance is needed to improve infrastructure, human resources, and business and technological know-how.

Japan pledged more than 100 million dollars at last year's donor meeting, which netted Cambodia some 600 million dollars in aid.

Hun Sen, who arrived late Wednesday and leaves Saturday, also had an audience with Emperor Akihito.

He will travel to the southern region of Fukuoka to observe a project in farm development, a top priority for Cambodia. Read more!

Cambodia PM calls for more investment from Japan

TOKYO, June 14 (Reuters) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday urged Japanese business leaders to invest more in one of the poorest Asian countries which he said could make a new start as a country build on rich natural resources.

"Development of natural gas and mineral resources provide Cambodia with great potential and this means Cambodia will make a new start as a country founded by natural resources in the international community," he told Japanese business leaders.

Japan's direct investments in Cambodia stood at $4 million for the five years from 2002.

"We will improve the environment for investments and I feel confident that investments by Japanese companies and investors will help the Cambodian economy grow stronger," Hun Sen said.

He said Japan's aid had helped Cambodia vastly improve its infrastructure in the last decade.

Japan's aid grants to Cambodia stood at $1.17 billion in the 1992-2007 period and Japan had extended yen loans totalling $137 million in the same period, Hun Sen said..
He said that the Cambodian economy had grown 13.5 percent in 2005 and 10.8 percent in 2006.

He also said Cambodia's per capita gross domestic product (GDP) had nearly doubled to $513 in 2006 from $288 in 2000, and inflation had remained below 3 percent between 2000 and 2006.

He said he would sign a bilateral investment pact with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later in the day.

"I certainly believe that this pact will serve as a source of great confidence for those who invest in Cambodia," he said.

Japan's imports from Cambodia stood at 8.6 billion yen ($70.06 million) in 2005, while Cambodia's imports from Japan were 11.5 billion yen. ($1=122.74 Yen) . Read more!

Judges Approve Rules For Cambodia Tribunal

By Ker Munthit
Associated Press
Thursday, June 14, 2007; Page A22

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, June 13 -- Cambodian and foreign judges announced rules Wednesday clearing the way for a U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal to begin long-delayed proceedings against Khmer Rouge leaders in the deaths of about 1.7 million people between 1975 and 1979.

The rules were one of the judges' last major tasks before they could begin working on the cases, but it was unlikely the trials would start any time soon: No one has yet been indicted. Many Cambodians worry that the aging defendants could all die before they are brought to justice.

The top Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998. The only defendant now in custody is Kaing Khek Iev, also known as Duch, who headed the notorious S-21 torture center in the capital, Phnom Penh.

Their senior-level colleagues, Nuon Chea, the communist movement's chief ideologue; Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister; and Khieu Samphan, the former head of state, live freely in Cambodia but are in declining health.

Cambodia and the United Nations created the genocide tribunal last year under an agreement they reached in 2003. The 17 Cambodian and 12 foreign judges and prosecutors have spent the last six months in sometimes rancorous disagreement on trial guidelines.

After two weeks of meetings, the Cambodian- and U.N.-appointed officials unanimously agreed on a set of rules Tuesday, they said at a news conference in Phnom Penh. "Now that the rules have been adopted, we can move forward," Kong Srim, a Cambodian judge with the tribunal, read from their statement.

"These rules enable us to hold fair, transparent trials before an independent and impartial court," said Robert Petit, a U.N.-appointed prosecutor from Canada, also reading from the statement.

The tribunal is an unprecedented hybrid. It will operate under the Cambodian judicial system, which is often criticized as weak, corrupt and susceptible to political manipulation. Decisions require support from a majority of the Cambodian judges, backed by at least one U.N.-appointed judge. Read more!

Shopping mall developer moves into Cambodia

An American property mogul whose Cambodian-born wife survived the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge is looking to raise up to $600 million on London's AIM market to build shopping centres and flats in Vietnam and Cambodia.

JSM Indochina is the brainchild of Craig Jones, a 41 year-old from Santa Monica, whose Californian-based JSM firm already sits on $1.5 billion worth of US shopping malls. Now Mr Jones has turned to the AIM market to pull in investors to back his plans to bring US-style malls from Pnom Penh to Ho Chi Min City and Hanoi.

JSM is already planning for Pnom Penh a 325,000 square feet mall where it has signed a pre-let to Parkson, the Malaysian department store, to become its anchor tenant taking about two thirds of the space. Land permits are also in place to add onto the site a 600 place car-park and 100 serviced appartments.

The Pnom Penh project and a handful of other early stage assets worth an esimated $35 million will seed the JSM Indochina fund. The fund intends to partner with local Vietnamese and Cambodian developers for its building projects.

Mr Jones who said he was born "at the height of the American involvement in the the Vietnam war" said: "I am so proud of what I and my wife are doing for South East Asia.We are helping with jobs and the distribution of wealth. The distribution of goods in the country is not very good as there are not many high quality retail outlets. We will help all the people. Hypermarkets are for everybody."

Mr Jones' wife and family lived under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the regime which was responsible for the death of an estimated one million of its own people under the brutal dictatorship of Pol Pot who assumed control once the Americans left. "They left Cambodia in 1982, ending up in California two years later. She lost her father and three sisters. We are really helping the country by building malls and replenishing the housing stock. This will be a multi-billion dollar company."

JSM has hired Lehman Brothers and Evolution Securities to raise new money for the Indochina fund. It is understood they already have commitments of about $300 million with 25 per cent of investors hailing from the US and UK.

Asked why he had chosen the AIM market to raise funds and not the US markets, Mr Jones said: "We have a global investor base and London is the centre of the global financial world. It would be wrong to use and American bourse."

The company told investors today in an intention to float prospectus it will "pursue a further pipeline of prospective investments in excess of $300 million over the next 12 months."

The new fund will be chaired by Mike Tanner, currently a non-executive director with Berkeley Group Holdings, London's largest housebuilder, and who spent 10 years until retirement in 2004 as managing director of George Wimpey's southern division. Read more!

UN to determine status for Cambodia's centuries-old monument

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - A U.N. committee is expected to rule on Cambodia's request for «World Heritage» status for a well-known 11th century temple during a meeting later this month, an official said Tuesday.

Cambodia began seeking the status five years ago for Preah Vihear temple from World Heritage, a committee of the U.N. cultural organization UNESCO. Such status encourages conservation and usually helps attract funds for preservation, in addition to raising the tourism profile of the site.

The committee will decide on the Cambodian bid during its meeting in New Zealand that is scheduled to start June 23, said UNESCO director in Cambodia Teruo Jinnai.
«It's now up to the committee. You have to wait,» he said.

The temple deserves to be given World Heritage status, he said, because of its unique historical and cultural value.

Preah Vihear temple is located on the top of a cliff in the Dangrek Mountains, about 245 kilometers (150 miles) north of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. It is more easily accessible from Thailand, however.

The two countries have been at loggerheads in the past over ownership of the temple, which was held by Thailand until the International Court of Justice awarded it to Cambodia in 1962.

The World Heritage list currently includes Cambodia's Angkor archaeological site, where the famed Angkor Wat temple, the country's main tourist attraction, is situated.

On the Net
World Heritage: whc.unesco.org Read more!

Cambodia sets genocide trial rules

A panel of Cambodian and international judges on Wednesday approved rules clearing the way for the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal to put suspects on trial for genocide.

The decision, which ends months of infighting, is the first concrete step toward prosecuting one of the worst genocides of the 20th century since court officials were sworn in last July.

"These rules will ensure us ... fair and transparent trials," co-prosecutor Robert Petit told reporters, adding they had been adopted unanimously.

"Now that the rules are adopted, we can move forward."

The rules are essential because they govern every aspect of the tribunal's operations, but previous agreement had been held up because of wrangling over legal fees and other procedures.

Jurists at the tribunal praised the agreement and vowed to get quickly to work.

"We are aware that the world's eyes are on these cases," Cambodian co-prosecutor Chea Leang said.

Concerns about the rights of suspects — particularly whether steep legal fees would limit their access to lawyers — were among the issues that had held up adoption of the rules.

Rules ensure a fair trial

But Richard Rogers, with the office of the defence, said the rules would ensure a fair trial for the suspects in the genocide that left up to two million dead.

"The rules include all the fundamental rights that those accused need for a fair trial. That's a very good start for the defence," he said.

The first trials of the leaders of the 1970s regime had initially been expected this year.

However, the delays mean the trials are unlikely to start before early 2008, officials say.

Cambodian and foreign prosecutors who have been building cases since last year would probably send those files to investigating judges within weeks, Petit said.

The rules dispute had dragged on since November, with international and Cambodian jurists failing three times to come to an agreement before meeting for a final session last week.

The tribunal's opening last year had already been delayed by years of protracted negotiations between the United Nations and Cambodia.

The repeated deadlocks among the Cambodian and international judges raised concerns that the long-stalled tribunal would ultimately fail.

Quick trials are the last chance for Cambodians to find justice for crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge more than 30 years ago, with rights groups and legal advocates concerned that ageing former regime leaders will die before being brought to justice.

One defendant is in custody

So far only one possible defendant is in custody — former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Khek Iev, also known as Duch — while several live freely in Cambodia.

The only other person to have been arrested for crimes committed during the regime, military commander Ta Mok, died in prison last July. Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998.

Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed during the communist regime's 1975-1979 rule.

The Khmer Rouge abolished religion, schools and currency, exiling millions onto vast collective farms with the aim of creating an agrarian utopia. Read more!

Vietnamese, Cambodian armies build up cooperation

The armies of Vietnam and Cambodia have vowed to continue exchanges of experience and visits of military delegations in the future to foster their cooperation.

The consensus was reached by Senior Lieutenant General Le Van Dung, General Director of the General Politics Department of the Viet Nam People’s Army, and visiting General Neang Phat, Secretary of State of the Ministry of National Defence of Cambodia, at their talks held in Hanoi on June 11.

General Neang Phat is head of a delegation from the General Military Services Department of Cambodia, who started their official visit to Vietnam on June 10.

The two sides informed each other of the recent development of their armed forces and agreed to continue cooperation in those areas put forward in a protocol signed between the two Defence Ministries.

They also committed to carry out joint sea patrols and increase efforts in locating and repatriating Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who had died during the wars in Cambodia.

Earlier, at a reception for the Cambodian delegation, Sen. Lt. Gen. Dung applauded their visit to Vietnam, saying that it would help to boost mutual understandings between the two countries.

On the same day, the Cambodian military officials paid a courtesy visit to Defence Minister Sen. Lt. Gen. Phung Quang Thanh. Read more!

Cambodia launches construction of Prek Kdam Bridge over Tonle sap River

The Cambodian government held ground breaking ceremony on Monday for the construction of the Prek Kdam Bridge over Tonle sap River, which is under preferential buyer's credit loan from China.

The bridge will become a transportation hub of Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen said while addressing the ceremony, adding that it will help promote the economic development of this country.

According to the project information, the Prek Kdam Bridge is 975 meters in length and 13.5 meters in width, with a designed traffic speed of 60 km per hour.

The construction period of the 28.78 million U.S. dollars project will last 50 months, it said. The contractor of the project is Shanghai Construction (Group) General Company from China.

The China Eximbank signed an agreement with the Cambodian government on Jan. 22 to offer 207 million U.S. dollars of loans to develop Cambodian infrastructure construction, including the construction of the National Road No. 8, the National Road No. 76, the Prek Tamak Bridge over Mekong River and the Prek Kdam Bridge.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Cambodia asks UN status for border temple

Phnom Penh (dpa) - The Cambodian government has renewed efforts to have Unesco classify the ancient Preah Vihear temple (Khao Phra Viharn in Thai) as a World Heritage site, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith confirmed Monday.

Kanharith confirmed reports in the Khmer-language Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper that the important 11th to 12th century temple, which lies in the far north of the country perched on the Thai border, should be recognised as a World Heritage monument to help assure its continued preservation.

"This is not the first time the government has attempted to have Preah Vihear listed as a World Heritage site, but now several people in the government understand the procedures necessary to put this case much better," Kanharith said by telephone.

He said Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Deputy Prime Minister Sok An were leading the new push for World Heritage classification. The government last attempted to have the key religious and architectural site classified in 2001.

Khao Phra Viharn was formally recognised as under Cambodian sovereignty in 1961 by the International Court of Justice after both Thailand and Cambodia had claimed jurisdiction.

Royal decrees passed by Cambodia with guidance from Unesco since 2002 have helped the Cambodidan government model ways to better manage and preserve the remote and partially ruined temple, assisting its current chances of finally being granted World Heritage listing.

However the site remains only easily accessible from the Thai side of the border despite its huge significance to Cambodians.

The Angkor Wat temple complex, 200 kilometres south of Preah Vihear near the northern city of Siem Reap, was granted World Heritage status by Unesco in 1992. Angkor Wat is the not only the country's largest tourist draw but its most important religious and cultural symbol. Read more!

Thailand, seemed ichy for more Muslim trouble, monkies around neighbour Muslim

Phnom Penh (dpa) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday angrily dismissed reported comments by a top Thai aide that Cambodian Muslims had been involved in terrorist activities, ordering his Foreign Ministry to carpet the Thai ambassador over the claims.

In a speech broadcast on national media, Hun Sen assured Cambodia's minority ethnic Muslim population that the government would stand firmly behind it and dismissed the claims as having no basis in fact.

His retort followed a report Saturday in the Bangkok Post quoting General Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, a close aide to Thai Prime Minister Surayad Chulanont, as saying the Cambodian Muslims had infiltrated Thailand's restive south and were involved in terrorist activities there.

The report quoted the general as linking some Cambodian Muslims to the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terrorist group. The story was widely picked up by Cambodian media.

"Please do not make your [Thai] internal problems international ones by painting this colour on Cambodian Muslims," Hun Sen said at a groundbreaking ceremony just outside the capital.

He demanded that Surayad correct his aide's allegation and said he had ordered the Cambodian Foreign Ministry to summon the Thai ambassador to explain the matter.

"The Thai military and police are weak," Hun Sen charged. "I am disappointed on behalf of Cambodia when they mistakenly accuse Cambodian Muslims of this. They are good people. Cambodian Muslims are not stupid like this to work as soldiers."

During the speech, Hun Sen pondered aloud whether Thailand "did not think it had enough trouble with its own Muslims" and perhaps wanted to add to its problems by insulting more Muslims in the region.

"All Cambodian Muslims, do not worry," he said. "The government will stay with you on behalf of all your compatriots, even though you are a different religion."

He said the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok would also request the Thai government provide evidence for the allegations and pledged to cooperate with the Thai government at all levels if it could prove there was a basis for the claims.

Wattanachai has previously made the same allegations, but backed down on similar claims last month. Thai authorities were also reported as claiming that deadly New Year's bomb attacks in Bangkok had been fuelled by materials provided from Cambodia, but those claims, too, were never proven.

Cambodia, like neighbouring Thailand, is a majority Buddhist country, with far less than 5 per cent of its population identifying itself as ethnic Cambodian Cham Muslims.

Although there have been allegations of infiltration of some Cham communities by more radical Islamic elements from overseas in the past, at present the Cham live peacefully within the Cambodian community. Read more!

Chinese firms study rail route from HCMC to Cambodia border

Two Chinese firms have submitted a feasibility study for building a rail route in Vietnam linking southern hub Ho Chi Minh City with Binh Phuoc to its northwest.
The China Railway Construction Corporation and the China Machinery Import and Export Corporation have forged a partnership for the project.

The study for the 128.5-km route to the Vietnam-Cambodia border has been submitted to Vietnam’s Transport Ministry.

It is estimated to cost US$438 million.

The track will allow passenger trains to run at up to 120 km per hour.

Construction is scheduled to start in 2010 or earlier if funding is secured.

The route will be part of the 5,500-km Trans-Asia railway beginning in Kunming in China’s Yunnan province, and traveling through Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia before terminating in Singapore.

The project, initiated by Malaysia in 1995, is expected to be completed in 2015. Read more!

Army: Casinos serving as drug storage points

The army suspects Cambodian casinos near the Thai border are laundering money and serving as a storage point for illegal drugs destined for Thailand.

Drug traffickers are thought to be using casinos as a new channel to smuggle goods to Thailand. The drugs could be sent from Burma to Laos and then Cambodia, or produced in Cambodia itself, where they are hidden in casinos, according to the army.

The gangs just wait for the right time to send the drugs into Thailand, its big trade partner.

"These casinos are threatening our national security," said deputy Burapha Task Force

commander Walit Rojanapakdi. The casinos are just opposite the border provinces of Sa Kaeo, Chanthaburi and Trat.

Nine casinos are near the Poipet-Klong Luek checkpoint in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district; one near the Ban Laem checkpoint in Chanthaburi's Pong Nam Ron district; and three near Trat's Khlong Yai district, according to the Burapha Task Force report.

Col Walit said the government had tried to warn Thais against gambling in the casinos, but they did not pay attention to the warning.

"We can do nothing more," he said. "What we're doing now is gathering information on drug smuggling [from the casinos] into Thailand," he said.

Thais are the biggest group gambling in the casinos, followed by Vietnamese, Malaysians, Taiwanese and Filipinos. About 1,000 to 3,000 Thai gamblers visit casinos at Poipet in Cambodia every day. The Chanthaburi-Trat task force suspects some casinos opposite Chanthaburi province are a favourite hideout for criminals. Read more!

Cambodia's oil bonanza muted by uncertainties

PHNOM PENH, June 10 (AFP): Two years after discovering oil off its coast, uncertainty clouds Cambodia's nascent petroleum sector, with analysts saying it is impossible to gauge the extent of the country's fuel deposits or their impact on one of the world's poorest economies.

Predictions of vast new wealth are now being reconsidered, with some international institutions already drastically scaling back previous estimates of a billion barrels of oil.

Even Prime Minister Hun Sen has tempered earlier claims that the country would begin tapping oil by 2010, saying last week that Cambodia's petroleum prospects were now "uncertain".

"Oil under the sea is still a dream," he said Wednesday.

Diplomats have reacted with caution to Cambodia's possible petroleum windfall amid rising hopes that annual revenues would dwarf the current budget and pull the country out of poverty.
"Whether Cambodia will ultimately benefit from its future oil revenue is uncertain," said US Ambassador to Cambodia Joseph Mussomeli.

Analysts agree that it is too early to tell how oil could impact Cambodia, where 35 per cent of the population lives on less than 50 US cents a day.

"The exact size of the reserves, how much is entirely recoverable, is still unknown," said International Monetary Fund advisor Jeremy Carter.

"One has to hold off from making very large-scale assumptions about what will happen," he said.
Momentum, however, is building after the US energy giant Chevron announced two years ago that it had struck oil in four of five wells dug in the waters off Cambodia's southern coast.

While Chevron confirms the presence of oil and continues drilling, the company has not released any data from Block A, one of six open to exploration in Cambodia's water in the Gulf of Thailand.

But the sheer size of estimated deposits-the government has tentatively put petroleum reserves in Block A alone at 700 million barrels-has other internationals rushing into talks for exploration and production rights.

The government has divulged very little about these negotiations.

But companies from Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Kuwait, as well as China's state energy giant CNOOC, have all bid for rights in other blocks, said Te Duong Tara, executive director of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA), at a conference in February. Read more!

Bloggers are still skeptical of Khmer Rouge after agreement

After continuous delays in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia’s (ECCC’s) tribunal proceedings, the United Nations and the Cambodian Bar Association reached an agreement last week on how much the CBA can charge volunteer tribunal attorneys. Although this is a step forward in securing transitional justice for Cambodians, international bodies and the Cambodian government are still debating over when the actual trial will begin.

Cambodian bloggers, in response, are still skeptical over promises of reconciliation.

According to Details are Sketchy, the ECCC’s endeavors will never be good enough to heal the trauma so engrained in Khmer society. The trial, likewise, should be considered purely a justice initiative, rather than a form of emotional therapy for victims.

Can a trial at this late stage ever hope to ease such venomous hatred? Probably not. For all the KRT hopes to contribute, it will never be able to completely slay the demons of Cambodia’s past. Only time can do that.

KI Media, citing Stanford Review writer Allison Rhines, notes that this agreement is merely a small step towards a grander agreement on the tribunal, and that more pressing issues sit on the table.

The registration fee dispute has been only one in a long string of many minor issues that have stalled progress toward an international trial for the last decade. Agreement on whether to organize a court to try the leaders of the Khmer Rouge was reached only in 2003, at the culmination of five years and eleven rounds of negotiations. Last summer, the UN officially allotted three years for the undertaking; almost a full year of that time has already been spent on bureaucratic hang-ups.

Rhines also observes a possible “foot-dragging” strategy on the part of the Cambodian government—perhaps a tactic for former Khmer Rouge officials currently in the government to avoid accountability for their crimes. She argues that the political rhetoric of “justice” is hindering any real push for reconciliation.

Since this latest milestone, all sides have publicly stated their commitment to justice; however, in the face of continued bureaucratic and political maneuvering, it is unclear just how genuine their commitments are.

The coming task is monumental: the ECCC’s future meetings between international and local judges entail combing a list of over 100 laws, as tribunal blogger Stan Starygin notes in a recent Voice of America article. Cambodian judge You Bunleng assured the public that future talks are merely “technical discussions,” but bloggers are still questioning the extent of these discussions.

Similar meetings have failed to reach full agreement on the rules, which are imperative for the functioning of the courts. The latest round of talks only became possible after the Cambodian Bar Association relented on high fees for the participation of foreign lawyers, which had caused the UN-appointed international jurists to cancel a meeting at the end of May.

Political opposition leader Sam Rainsy also spoke out against the continued delays—perhaps a reflection of the current government’s affiliation with the Khmer Rouge regime—when he said that the Cambodian people require large-scale justice to move forward. According to Rainsy, Cambodia’s genocidal shadow will not disappear as long as the CPP is in power.

…I have a little hope that our current Khmer leaders are willing to allow the Khmer Rouge Tribunal to proceed fairly. It means that only democrats and people who are not linked to the Khmer Rouge crimes and are not absorbed in Khmer Rouge ideologies can urge for the proceedings of the tribunal for the prosecution of the former Khmer Rouge leaders whose hands are stained with blood of Khmer citizens to move forward with transparency.

Time is running out for justice, Rainsy argues, because most older Khmer Rouge leaders will die soon. Read more!

Poor Cambodian women are hoping for the worst from their government

Women work in a garment factory in the outskirts of Phnom Penh June 9, 2007. Cambodia has approved new labour laws allowing night shift work, a move that should boost its garment industry, which accounts for two thirds of the impoverished southeast Asian nation's exports. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea.
Cambodian women who are working in garment factory will get slashed of their pay salary. they are poor and they will get more difficult and also get beat up by their society,especially from the riches and high ranking government officials.

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A woman works in a garment factory in the outskirts of Phnom Penh June 9, 2007. Cambodia has approved new labour laws allowing night shift work, a move that should boost its garment industry, which accounts for two thirds of the impoverished southeast Asian nation's exports. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA) Read more!

South Korean company donates to help Cambodia train footballers

The Korean Technology Company ( KTC) from South Korea has decided to donate 105,600 U.S. dollars each year from 2007 to 2009 to help Cambodia train its national footballers, a sports official said on Friday.

"The finance will be used for paying salary for the players and purchasing materials," said Sao Sokha, president of the Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC).

The consecutive donation will help strengthen Cambodian footballers' capacity, said Sokha, adding that the players used to have financial difficulties which led to unsatisfied match results.

In addition, he said, KTC will spend 100,000 U.S. dollars annually to hire South Korean coach to train Cambodia's national football team and qualified footballers will be sent to South Korea for further improvement.

Cambodia now has some 30 functional football clubs. It stays almost at the bottom of the International Football Federation's ( FIFA) world ranking.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Cambodia to cut pay for garment workers

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia

Cambodian lawmakers Friday approved reducing the nighttime pay rate for garment workers in a labor law amendment the government called necessary to boost jobs in the industry.

Currently dayshift garment workers earn about $50 a month, and those working the nightshift earn about $100 a month. The amendment sets pay for nightshift workers at only 30 percent more than dayshift workers, or about $65.

Eighty-two lawmakers from Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling coalition voted in favor of the amendment. Seven lawmakers from Cambodia's main opposition Sam Rainsy Party abstained from voting in protest.

"The amendment will contribute to creating more jobs for young people, whose number grows every year," Labor Minister Vong Soth said during the session of the National Assembly, Cambodia's lower house of parliament.

He said that up to 200,000 new garment factory jobs would be created by the amendment. The country currently has 300 garment factories that employ 355,000 workers.

Son Chhay, an opposition party lawmaker, said the amendment was unacceptable because, "it pleases only the factory owners and disregards difficult circumstances facing the workers."

Chea Mony, president of Cambodia's Free Trade Union which claims to have 74,000 members, condemned the amendment.

"I am very unhappy after hearing this unfortunate news ... It seems like, in approving it, those lawmakers are killing the workers by poking a knife into their throats," he said.

Workers from his union could protest at their respective factories, he said.

Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said last month only about 10 factories run night shifts because of the costs associated with high nighttime pay.

Last year's garment exports from Cambodia were worth about $2.8 billion, with 70 percent of the shipments going to retailers in the U.S. market, he said.

The amendment will come into force after it is approved by the upper house of parliament, the Senate, and signed by King Norodom Sihamoni. Read more!