ASICS Wants Monitoring Of Cambodian Sub-Contractors After Accident
May 17th, 2013, The Nation, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Economics, Garment Industry, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Labor, Social Concerns
The Japanese athletics brand ASICS said Friday that it would push its four Cambodian sub-contractors to join a programme that monitors conditions in garment and shoe factories. …
“We will strongly request to our sub-contractors in Cambodia to sign up to this programme,” Katsumi Funakoshi, ASICS spokesman, said by email. …
The Better Factories Cambodia programme, which is voluntary, was set up in 2001 and is run by the International Labour Organization. It monitors factories making clothing and shoes for export to ensure they comply with a range of issues, such as fire safety, working conditions and prompt payment of wages.
Thursday’s accident showed the programme should also monitor factory construction, its chief technical adviser, Jill Tucker, said. …
She called on the hundreds of buyers from other countries that source from Cambodia, including Japan, to take responsibility for the factories where their products were made and join the initiative. …
The Nation Staff
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/ASICS-wants-monitoring-of-Cambodian-sub-contractor-30206398.html
Egat wants coal plants in Cambodia, Myanmar, Krabi
May 13th, 2013, The Nation, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Foreign Investment, Hydroelectricity, Industry, Infrastructure, International Relations, Natural Gas
Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal has given the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) the green light to proceed with a plan to build coal-powered plants in Myanmar and Cambodia – providing Thailand with 10,000 megawatts of electricity. Egat has also been instructed to negotiate the purchase of nuclear power from China in order to bring down the cost of electricity. …
In addition, the Energy Ministry has also been discussing the possibility of investing in a coal-powered plant in Cambodia to produce 4,000MW of electricity. Thailand hopes that buying power from Cambodia will keep the domestic cost of electricity from exceeding Bt6 per unit. Egat also plans to go ahead with its coal-powered project in Krabi once it has reached an “understanding” with residents and businesses protesting against the deal. …
In addition to investing in coal-operated power plants from neighbouring countries, Egat is also looking at investing in hydro-electric power projects within the region. …
Watcharapong Thongrung
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Egat-wants-coal-plants-in-Cambodia-Myanmar-Krabi-30205968.html
Thailand and Cambodia to forge closer trade talks
April 29th, 2013, The Nation, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Exports, Farming, Imports, Rice, Trade
After the fourth Joint Trade Commission (JTC) recently, Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said that Thailand and Cambodia had the potential to drive two-way trade up by 30 per cent, due to strong growth in 2012.
Last year, bilateral trade grew by 40.5 per cent year on year, from US$2.86 billion (Bt84 billion) in 2011 to $4.03 billion in 2012. To drive growth, the two countries will also strengthen cooperation on trade and investment in other sectors, ready for the opening of the Asean Economic Community in 2015. …
Moreover, under an initiative called the Greater mekong Sub-region Cross-Border Transport Agreement, the two nations will provide public transport between the border town of Aranyaprathet and Cambodia’s Poipet. It is hoped the move will lead to a growth in logistics and trade between the two countries and improve immigration procedures for travellers, including an electronic passport identification system.
Petchanet Pratruangkrai
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Thailand-and-Cambodia-to-forge-closer-trade-talks-30204979.html
Group Lease boosts Singapore unit to fund Cambodia operation
April 25th, 2013, The Nation, Business & Commercial Development, Foreign Investment, International Relations
Group Lease has decided to raise the capital of its wholly owned Singaporean subsidiary Group Lease Holdings to serve as the main funding source for its Cambodian motorcycle leasing operations after six months of satisfactory trial operations there. …
Cambodia, which is managed by Group Lease’s wholly owned subsidiary GL Finance, will increase its accounts to 1,000 next month and 2,000 next quarter as planned. …
To ensure that the financial resources for the Cambodian operations are adequate and to comply with the National Bank of Cambodia’s regulations on capital sufficiency, the registered capital of the Singapore unit will be raised from 3 million Singapore dollars (Bt69.75 million) to S$4.6 million, while paid-up capital will increase from S$757.500 to the full S$4.6 million, according to a filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand. …
The Nation Staff
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Group-Lease-boosts-Singapore-unit-to-fund-Cambodia-30204735.html
Stronger ties with Cambodia sought ahead of rice-trading zone
April 19th, 2013, The Nation, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Corn, Exports, Farming, Industry, International Relations, Production, Rice, Trade
Thailand will forge closer ties with Cambodia and other neighbouring countries to increase competency in rice trading and boost the bargaining power of Asean countries by setting up a rice-trading zone soon.
Also, Thailand will expand crop cooperation to cassava to raise farm incomes in the region. …
Thailand will help Cambodia promote its cassava under the same concept of rice trading. It will help encourage more trading of cereals, such as cassava and maize, by promoting contract farming to ensure stable incomes for farmers.
The JTC will discuss a strategy to promote bilateral trade with an emphasis on cross-border shipments, which account for 65 per cent of two-way trade value. …
Last year, two-way trade was valued at US$4.03 billion (Bt116 billion), or 0.84 per cent of Thailand’s total trade. Exports to Cambodia were worth $3.78 billion against only $249.5 million for imports from that country. …
Petchanet Pratruangkrai
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Stronger-ties-with-Cambodia-sought-ahead-of-rice-t-30204273.html
CPF subsidiaries investing Bt250m in Laos, Cambodia
March 4th, 2013, The Nation, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Construction, Corn, Exports, Farming, Foreign Investment, Imports, Infrastructure, International Relations, Production, Trade
CP Laos and CP Cambodia are investing a combined Bt250 million to set up a new silo for maize in Cambodia and a new feed-meal plant in Laos to strengthen CPF’s integrated agricultural-industrial business as the Asean Economic Community (AEC) approaches. …
Most recently, the company has invested in developing a silo and drying plant for maize in Pailin province, western Cambodia. The investment is to ensure high-quality raw material to serve its feed production for both the domestic market and export.
Since 1995, CP has invested a total of Bt3 billion in Cambodia, including feed production, livestock farming and food processing such as sausage-making and slaughterhouses.
Sakol said the plant in Pailin province would ensure the company’s distribution in western Cambodia, an important area for agricultural production. Having a plant there will reduce logistics costs. Initially, capacity is set at 10,000 tonnes per month.
The company is also considering investing in aquaculture in Cambodia in the near future. …
The Nation Staff
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/CPF-subsidiaries-investing-Bt250m-in-Laos-Cambodia-30201178.html
Mekong nations urged to protect migrant workers
March 1st, 2013, The Nation, International Relations, Labor, News Source
The Mekong Migration Network yesterday ended a three-day symposium by urging countries in the Mekong basin to provide migrant workers with sufficient legal protections and to improve their working and living conditions.
The network brought together 72 representatives of governments, academic institutions, INGOs, NGOs and migrant groups from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan province of China, to share perspectives on how migrants and host communities can live together. …
Current living and working conditions – particularly a lack of enforcement of labour protections; dangerous working conditions; and exclusion from social services – are creating barriers between migrants and host communities. …
The Nation
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/Mekong-nations-urged-to-protect-migrant-workers-30200972.html
Cambodian poor pushed out of their homes by developers
February 26th, 2013, The Nation, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Land Tenure, News Source, Social Concerns
A mother of four, with the youngest on her hip, said she was not impressed by the palatial government buildings where Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Council of Ministers have their offices.
Her own home is a wood-and-tin shack now partially buried under the Mekong River sand that is being piped in to fill up the Boeung Kak Lake in the capital to make way for a brand-new city of offices, condos, hotels and parks. These will be far out of the financial reach of the families who have been living round the lake since the early 1990s.
According to local rights groups, more than 400,000 Cambodians have been evicted from their homes since 2003. There have been two types of evictions – from the capital, to make way for development; and from the countryside, to make way for commercial plantations and industries, invariably by well-connected business interests. …
The Straits Times
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/Cambodian-poor-pushed-out-of-their-homes-by-develo-30200729.html
Plantation manager aims to be top oud oil producer
February 13th, 2013, The Nation, Agriculture & Agri-business, Business & Commercial Development, Farming, Foreign Investment, News Source
Asia Forestry Management, an integrated plantation-management company with a focus on cultivating Aquilaria crassna, aims to become Thailand’s biggest producer of oud oil this year and Southeast Asia’s in five years. …
The company’s plant in Trat province will be expanded to produce 280 kilograms of oud oil per annum by the end of this year from 150kg at present. It will look for more areas to grow its trees in Cambodia, Myanmar and Malaysia to supply the factory, through either management contracts or investment by the company, Andrew Steel, chief executive officer of the Treedom Group, the parent of Asia Forestry Management, said yesterday. …
Bamrung Amnatcharoenrit
www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Plantation-manager-aims-to-be-top-oud-oil-producer-30199911.html
Minh: Connectivity is key to Asean’s tourism plans
January 25th, 2013, The Nation, Construction, Economics, Infrastructure, International Relations, News Source
Connectivity is crucial to the process of building the Asean Community, and ties in with the effort to market the region as a single tourist destination, the grouping’s chief said.
“Asean is in the process of building the Asean Community, and in the process of building this community, connectivity is very crucial,” Asean Secretary General Le Luong Minh stressed. Minh was speaking at a press conference in Vientiane on the sidelines of the Asean Tourism Forum, which ended yesterday. …
“We have sections to be completed to link Thailand and Cambodia, and the sections within Cambodia and the section to link Cambodia and Vietnam.” For its part, Laos has decided to proceed with the construction of a US$7 billion (about Bt210 billion) high-speed railway linking Vientiane to the Laos-China border, which will be a key section of the future trans-Asean railway network. …
Vientiane Times
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/Minh-Connectivity-is-key-to-Aseans-tourism-plans-30198610.html
Groups slam ministers’ failure to discuss Xayaburi Dam
January 17th, 2013, The Nation, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Foreign Aid, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, News Source, Technical Assistance, Water
Regional conservationists criticised the Mekong River Commission (MRC) yesterday for leaving the controversial Xayaburi Dam off its agenda at this week’s annual ministerial meeting in Luang Prabang, Laos.
Laotian authorities said they would confirm their decision to go ahead with the hydropower project in the mainstream Mekong River if there were any special request to discuss the matter at the meeting. …
“By failing to address the Xayaburi Dam at the Council Meeting, the Mekong River Commission governments are evading their responsibilities,” said Niwat Roykaew of the Chiang Khong Conservation Group. …
Downstream countries Cambodia and Vietnam have urged Laos to reconsider its decision. The MRC also agreed earlier on a prior-consultation process to take any negative impacts of the dam into consideration. A committee advised Vientiane to delay construction until necessary studies were carried out. …
Supalak Ganjanakhundee
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/Groups-slam-ministers-failure-to-discuss-Xayaburi--30198036.html
Thaicom’s Mfone files for insolvency
January 11th, 2013, The Nation, Business & Commercial Development, Industry, International Relations, Telecommunications
Cambodia-based telecommunication operator Mfone, part of the Thaicom group, on Wednesday petitioned for insolvency proceedings in Phnom Penh after facing difficulties in an intensely competitive market and after failing to complete the sale of its shares to INT Management Service Company.
“Mfone has been through a very difficult time over the past two years,” said Thaicom chief executive officer Suphajee Suthumpun. “We were informed by Shenington Investments [Mfone parent] that despite all efforts to rescue and continue the business, the latest setback had required it to make the extremely difficult decision to file a petition to enter an insolvency proceeding.
“In discussions with Shenington and Mfone, we have been informed that Mfone will continue to operate and provide services to its customers while the court is considering Mfone’s petition, and before the court announces a decision. At the same time, Mfone will continue to uphold its responsibilities towards its employees in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Kingdom of Cambodia.” …
Sirivish Toomgum
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Thaicoms-Mfone-files-for-insolvency-30197687.html
Wage hike forces Thai firms hire Cambodians
January 6th, 2013, The Nation, International Relations, Labor, News Source
Thai factories have opted to hire Cambodian workers under a memorandum of understanding between Cambodia and Thailand after the Bt300 minimum wage policy came into effect for Thai workers across the country.
A total of 154 Cambodians – 118 men and 36 women – with work permit documents crossed the border in Sa Kaew’s Aranyaprathet district on Monday. …
The Nation
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Firms-hire-Cambodian-workers-under-MoU-30197348.html
CEOs see auto, ICT, finance sectors as top growth picks
January 2nd, 2013, The Nation, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Foreign Investment, News Source
Thai CEOs are confident that the country’s 2013 economic growth will be at least as good as last year’s level and that the automobile, information and communications technology, and financial sectors will be the star performers. …
The CEOs estimate that their companies’ profits this year will grow by 4 per cent on average.
They also said medium-sized and large companies were ready to expand into countries with high potential, namely Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and China. …
Thai-Cambodian single visa to commence Thursday
December 26th, 2012, The Nation, Industry, International Relations, Tourism
Starting Thursday, tourists from 35 countries could enter Thailand and Cambodia with single visa as foreign ministers of the two countries agreed on Wednesday.
Under the Acmecs single visa, tourists from Australia up to United States could apply entry visa at Thai or Cambodian embassies or consulate offices for two destinations. …
The Nation Staff
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Thai-Cambodian-single-visa-to-commence-Thursday-30196840.html
6.7% growth forecast for Cambodia
December 25th, 2012, The Nation, Economics, News Source
Cambodia is projected to have the second fastest-growing economy in Southeast Asia over the next two years, the World Bank said in a regional economic update last week.
Gross domestic product is forecast to expand 6.7 per cent next year and 7 percent in 2014. That compares with an estimated 6.6 percent this year.
“The country’s future prospect is seen to remain healthy with forecasted medium-term growth averaging about 7 per cent per annum over the next five years,” the bank said. …
The Cambodian Herald
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/6-7%C2%A0rowth-forecast-for-Cambodia-30196729.html
Single visa with Cambodia to be discussed
December 21st, 2012, The Nation, Industry, International Relations, News Source, Tourism
Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong will co-chair the meeting in Bangkok on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss several issues, including the single-visa initiative.
The idea of a joint visa for visitors to both Thailand and Cambodia has been mooted as a way to boost tourism. …
Nuntida Puangthong
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Single-visa-with-Cambodia-to-be-discussed-30196550.html
AEC will ‘Cut impact of US, EU woes’
December 10th, 2012, The Nation, Business & Commercial Development, Economics, Foreign Investment, News Source
Malaysia is optimistic Asean is ready to be integrated into a single economic block by December 2015 despite uncertainties over growth in the euro zone and the US.
International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said the 10 member countries would be able to cushion the negative impact from the two regions when the Asean Economic Community (AEC) forms. …
Mustapa said Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam had recorded economic growth of 7 per cent yearly, which was higher than the average growth in other Asean countries.
Investors and companies from Malaysia and Singapore were investing in these countries to further support their growth. …
The Nation
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/AEC-will-Cut-impact-of-US-EU-woes-30195833.html
CTH mulls EPL sub-licensing
November 30th, 2012, The Nation, Business & Commercial Development, Industry, International Relations, Telecommunications
Cable Thai Holdings (CTH) says it is in talks with leading cable-TV operators and private broadcasters in Cambodia and Laos to grant sub-licence rights to broadcast the English Premier League for three seasons beginning in 2013-14.
CTH is a group of more than 300 cable-TV operators and provides fibre-optic transmission and Internet broadband. The company recently acquired live audio-visual broadcast rights for the EPL in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos for the 2013-14 to 2015-16 seasons. …
Watchiranont Thongtep
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/CTH-mulls-EPL-sub-licensing-30195300.html
Thailand to host meeting on Mekong development
November 21st, 2012, The Nation, Construction, Disasters & Disaster Management, Economics, Electricity, Energy, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Hydroelectricity, Infrastructure, International Relations, Lakes/Rivers, News Source, Water
Thailand will host the International Conference on Sustainable Development in the Lancang-Mekong Sub-Region next year to push for natural-disaster management, development and security in the Mekong River and its basin, a government official said yesterday.
Foreign ministers from the other five countries in the basin, namely China, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, will be attending the meeting, deputy government spokesman Pakdiharn Himathongkham said. The event will be held in Chiang Mai on January 13 and 14, he added. …