Cambodian opposition-aligned trade unions postpone garment strike

PHNOM PENH, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Eight opposition-aligned trade unions on Tuesday decided to delay a stay-at-home garment strike scheduled for March 12-19, said a union leader. "We met Tuesday morning and decided to postpone our strike until after the Khmer New Year,"said Pav Sina, president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, adding that the strike was re-scheduled for April 17-22. "The postponement came after some workers feared the strike would leave them without salaries for the New Year holiday,"he said.
The unions' planned strike aims to demand a 160 U.S. dollars minimum wage for garment workers and the release of 21 detainees who were arrested in early January during violent protests.
According to Pav Sina, the eight trade unions represented over 100,000 out of the 600,000 workers in about 900 garment and shoe factories in the kingdom.
The garment industry, the kingdom's largest foreign exchange earner, generated some 5.53 billion U.S. dollars in revenues last year.
Monthly minimum wages for Cambodian garment workers currently are 100 U.S. dollars a month, up from 80 U.S. dollars last year.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said early this month that any unions that incite workers to hold strikes for higher wages must take responsibilities for any future closures of factories.
He said the current wages for Cambodian garment workers are higher than those of Laos, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Myanmar.

New research facility for infectious diseases in Asia unveiled in Cambodia

English.news.cn   2014-03-11 12:44:06

PHNOM PENH, March 11 (Xinhua) -- France's Institut Pasteur du Cambodge on Tuesday inaugurated a new facility here for a regional research platform in Asia, focusing its research on infectious diseases in the region.
Cambodian Health Minister Mam Bunheng, Vincent Deubel, director of the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, and French Nobel Prize for Medicine winner Barre-Sinoussi were present at the inauguration ceremony, which was attended by nearly 200 regional and international experts from ASEAN countries, China, China's Hong Kong, South Korea, France and the World Health Organization.
"The new premises will be used to train Cambodian and foreign researchers working on emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases such as encephalitis, dengue, chikungunya, avian influenza, or H5N1, malaria and so on," said a press statement from the French Embassy in Phnom Penh.
"The creation of the new facility at the campus of the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge gives a new opportunity for research teams from different countries to pool their expertise together and develop long-term research and training partnerships on a larger scale," the statement said.
The facility is financed by the members of the French National Alliance for Life Sciences and Health (Aviesan) under the guideline of the Cambodian Ministry of Health.
After the inauguration, all participants attended a two-day international symposium on communicable infectious diseases.

Editor: Fu Peng

Cambodia's ruling, opposition parties pin blame on each other for failing to reach agreement

English.news.cn   2014-03-11 15:00:39

PHNOM PENH, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's ruling and opposition parties have put the blame on each other after their negotiations Monday on electoral reforms failed to reach an agreement.
The ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) issued a statement Tuesday, saying that the failure to issue a joint statement after the talks Monday was because the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) wanted the role of the National Election Committee (NEC) to be defined in the constitution and the appointment of the NEC's members to be made at a two-thirds majority of the 123-seat National Assembly. "The CPP is very disappointed that the CNRP still uses this issue to be a condition which can hinder the process of forthcoming electoral reforms,"the statement said.
The CNRP said in a statement that the disagreement was due to the CPP's refusal to the proposal, a priority issue on the subject of election reform. "The CNRP is willing to continue the dialogue with the CPP only if the latter accepts its above-mentioned requests,"the statement said.
Monday's talk was made between Deputy Prime Minister Ben Chhin, CPP's negotiation team leader and CNRP's talk team leader Son Chhay.
Political row between Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling CPP and Sam Rainsy's opposition CNRP has simmered after the July election results showed that the CPP won 68 parliamentary seats against 55 seats by the CNRP.
Claiming serious ballot-rigging during the poll, the CNRP refused to accept the outcome and has boycotted parliament and held numerous protests to demand the resignation of Hun Sen and a re-election.
Hun Sen has said that he would neither step down nor call a re-vote.

Editor: Mengjie

Cambodia reports two new bird flu cases, one dies

English.news.cn   2014-03-10 11:49:46

PHNOM PENH, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Two more new human cases of avian influenza H5N1 have been confirmed in Cambodia, and one of them, an 11-year-old boy died on Friday in Phnom Penh's Kantha Bopha Children Hospital, a hospital representative confirmed Monday.
"An 11-year-old boy from Kampong Chhnang province was admitted to the hospital last week and tested positive for H5N1 virus, " Dr. Denis Laurent, deputy director of Kantha Bopha Children Hospital, the kingdom's largest pediatric hospital, told Xinhua.
"The boy's condition was very serious when he arrived at our hospital and died on Friday," he said.
Another 8-year-old boy from Kandal province has also suffered from the virus last week, but his condition is stable and he is recovering, he said.
The country recorded 8 cases of avian influenza H5N1 so far this year, and three children died.
H5N1 influenza is a flu that normally spreads between sick poultry, but it can sometimes spread from poultry to humans, according to the World Health Organization.
The virus was first identified in Cambodia ten years ago. To date, the country has reported 55 human cases of the virus, and 36 people died of it.

Editor: Mengjie

Cambodia inaugurates China-funded road in northwestern province

English.news.cn | 2014-03-10 14:33:11 | Editor: Zhu Ningzhu

BATTAMBANG, Cambodia, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday inaugurated the China-funded road No. 57B in northwestern Battambang province, saying that the road will contribute to developing economy and reducing poverty.
The inauguration ceremony, held in the province's Bovel district, was attended by Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Bu Jianguo as well as some 10,000 people including government officials, local authorities, residents and students.
The 176-km road, stretching through four districts in the province toward the border of Thailand, was built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation in the period of 3 years under a 90 million U.S. dollars soft loan from the government of China.
Speaking at the ceremony, Prime Minister Hun Sen said the road would greatly contribute to improving livelihoods of local residents and upgrading road infrastructure in northwestern part of Cambodia.
"Through Ambassador Bu Jianguo, I'd like to express my gratitude to the government of China and her people for providing both grants and concessional loans to Cambodia for social and economic development," he said. "The road is just one of the numerous achievements built in Cambodia under the good cooperation between Cambodia and China."
The premier also extended thanks to Chinese investors for coming to Cambodia, saying their presence is very important to develop Cambodian economy and reduce poverty.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Bu said China attached great importance to its traditional and friendship relations with Cambodia and would continue helping Cambodia develop economy and alleviate poverty.

Cambodia's ruling, opposition parties continue talks over electoral reform

English.news.cn   2014-03-10 16:38:54

PHNOM PENH, March 10 (Xinhua) -- The Joint-Committee on Electoral Reforms, comprising the members of the ruling and opposition parties, on Monday continued negotiations on electoral reforms toward free and fair elections.
Speaking at a joint press briefing after a three-hour talk, deputy Prime Minister Ben Chhin, negotiation team leader of the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), said the meeting had focused on two topics. One was the reform of the National Election Committee (NEC) proposed by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), and the other was the integrity and neutrality of the election-related civil society organizations initiated by the CPP.
"Today, there's no a joint statement because both sides have still disagreed on the use of some terminologies in the statement," he said.
CNRP's talk team leader Son Chhay said both sides would meet again next Monday, March 17 to further discuss the disagreed points.
The two parties formed the Joint-Committee on Electoral Reforms last month.
Last Monday, the committee agreed on two concrete measures for electoral reform. One is the review of the voter registry and the other is drafting a law on the financing of political parties.
Political row between the Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling CPP and the Sam Rainsy's opposition CNRP has persisted since the July election results showed that the CPP won 68 parliamentary seats against 55 seats for the CNRP.
Claiming serious ballot-rigging during the poll, the CNRP refused to accept the outcome and has boycotted parliament and held numerous protests to demand the resignation of Hun Sen and a re-election.
Hun Sen has said that he would neither step down nor call a re- vote.

Editor: Shen Qing

Cambodia tightens aviation security after Malaysian flight vanishes

English.news.cn   2014-03-10 19:59:18

PHNOM PENH, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia would further tighten security on passengers' identities following the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines plane with two passengers boarding with stolen passports, a senior official at the Security and Safety Department at the Civil Aviation said Monday.
"In fact, our security at all airports is very strict already. Our immigration police have checked passports very carefully, it is impossible for passengers to board a plane on stolen passports," he told Xinhua and asked not to be named because he was not in the position to speak with the press.
The Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board went missing on its way from Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur to China's Beijing early Saturday, the carrier said, adding that it lost communication and radar signal two hours into the flight over south Vietnam at 1:20 a.m. local time.
According to the airlines, a total of 154 Chinese nationals were onboard the plane.
Two passengers were found to have used stolen passports, raising concerns about the possibilities of terrorist attack.
An international search and rescue effort has already been launched to locate the missing plane, but no solid clues have been found yet.
Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director general of the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation, said so far, 34 aircraft and 40 ships from different countries including China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the United States, Thailand, Australia, the Philippines etc. are participating in the search and rescue over the suspected location of the missing plane.
Vice Admiral Tea Sokha, commander of the Cambodian Maritime Space, said Monday that Cambodia had not sent any ships or rescuers to assist the search operation since the suspected location of the missing plane was very far from Cambodia.
"It is very far from Cambodian territory and our ships are small and our capacity is limited, so we cannot help the search and rescue efforts," he told Xinhua. "However, we are deeply concerned over the safety of the passengers on board the missing plane."