Cambodia,Brazil ink deal to boost cooperation on diplomacy,trade ,investment

PHNOM PENH, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Brazil on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), aiming at boosting bilateral cooperation on politics, trade and investment.
The MoU was inked between Ouch Borith, Cambodia's secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Maria Edileuza Fontenelle Reis, undersecretary- general for Asia of the Brazilian External Relations Ministry.
Speaking to reporters after the signing ceremony, Ouch Borith said that the MoU was to promote bilateral cooperation in all fields, especially in politics, agriculture, trade and investment.
He said that in terms of politics, Brazil said it would support Cambodia's candidacy for the non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in a vote in October this year.
For the economic and trade relations, Brazil will arrange visits of its businesspeople to Cambodia in the near future.
Meanwhile, Maria promised to encourage Brazilian investors to Cambodia in the fields of automobile industry, bio-ethanol industry and agriculture.
Trade between Cambodia and Brazil is relatively small, and on the investment side, so far, there is no Brazilian investors put their ventures in Cambodia, according to the record of the Council for the Development of Cambodia.

Indonesia's FM to visit Cambodia next week to boost ties

PHNOM PENH, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa will make a one-day visit to Cambodia on Mar. 5 to boost bilateral ties and cooperation in the framework of ASEAN, Ouch Borith, a secretary of state at Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Friday.
During the visit, Marty will hold a bilateral talk with Cambodia's deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Ouch Borith said he was not sure whether the two ministers will talk about the deployment of Indonesian observers to the provisional demilitarized zone (PDZ) on the disputed border between Cambodia and Thailand near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple in order to comply with the order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Cambodia and Thailand have had sporadic border conflict over territorial dispute near Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple since the UNESCO listed the temple as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008 and witnessed fierce clashes in February and April 2011 during Thailand's Democrat Party rule.
On April 28, 2011, Cambodia submitted a request to the ICJ for interpretation of its judgment on June 15, 1962 in the case concerning the ancient temple. It was accompanied by an urgent request for provisional measures in which Cambodia demands Thailand immediately and unconditionally withdraw troops from area surrounding the ruins.
During the interval of waiting for the verdict interpretation, the ICJ ordered Cambodia and Thailand on July 18, 2011 to immediately withdraw their military personnel from the PDZ and allow ASEAN observers (Indonesians) to access to the PDZ to monitor ceasefire.
However, so far neither Cambodia nor Thailand has withdrawn its troops from the area.

Bavet city governor suspected of shooting protesting Cambodian garment workers: Interior Minister

PHNOM PENH, March 1 (Xinhua) -- The Governor of Bavet city Chhouk Bundit is suspected of opening gunfire at Cambodian garment workers in a mass protest for salary increase on Feb. 20 and injured three female workers at that time, the Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said Thursday. 
"The police have already known the identity of the suspect--the governor of Bavet city Chhouk Bundit is the suspect in the shooting," he told reporters after a Southeast Asia Regional Workshop on Child Protection.
The Feb. 20's shooting happened at the Manhattan Special Economic Zone (SEZ) situated in Svay Rieng province's Bavet city when some 3,000 workers from three factories, namely Kingmaker Footwear, Kaoway Sports, and Sheico, were protesting for salary increase.
The three victims in the shooting are Buot Chenda, 21, who was shot on her chest and exited her back, and the two others are Keo Nea and Nuth Sakhorn, who were shot slightly injured.
The shooter with a pistol approached the protesting workers by a car and fired to them before he escaped into the nearby Acacia forest.
On Wednesday, the Interior Ministry sent the results of an investigation in the case of shooting protesting garment workers to the Svay Rieng provincial court and is awaiting an arrest warrant from the court. "The perpetrator will be arrested within a week after the court' s issuance of arrest warrant," said Sar Kheng.
Svay Rieng is located some 167 kilometers Southeast of Phnom Penh and bordered by Vietnam.
Garment industry is the country's largest income maker. The sector earned total revenues of 4.24 billion U.S. dollars last year, representing 87 percent of the country's total exports. The whole industry consisted of more than 300 factories, employing more than 300,000 people, mostly women from rural areas.
Low wages and poor working conditions have led to frequent strikes in this Southeast Asian nation. The minimum monthly wage for a worker is 66 U.S. dollars.

Japanese entrepreneurs eye investment in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, March 1 (Xinhua) -- A group of 25 young Japanese entrepreneurs are in Cambodia to explore business opportunities.
The entrepreneurs are involved in businesses in the fields of education, consultancy, real-estate, telecommunication, banking and finance.
The group led by Hideo Okubo, Chairman and CEO of Forval Corporation, met with Cambodian officials led by the minister of commerce Cham Prasidh on Thursday.
Hideo Okubo said it was the first time the delegation came to Cambodia to seek business opportunities after they were aware that the country is politically stable and has a lot of potential for investment.
Cham Prasidh also said the country enjoys political stability, macro-economic stability and preferential law and regulations for investors.
Moreover, he said, this Southeast Asian nation has a lot of potential in the sectors of industry, agriculture, tourism, mining, oil and gas, energy, transportation and telecommunication.
"Except land ownership, foreign investors can invest up to 100 percent of their stake in Cambodia -- they have no need to partner with local investors," he said.
"Investing here, you can get duty free on the exports of your products to European countries, the United States, China, India and even Japan," he said.
Japan is one of Cambodia's key donors, however, the country's investment in Cambodia is still relatively insignificant. According to the figure of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, from 1994 to the end of 2011, Cambodia received only 154 million U.S. dollars investment from Japan.

11 Cambodian pupils injured in warhead explosion

PHNOM PENH, March 1 (Xinhua) -- A warhead of a 60-mm shell exploded on Thursday morning, injuring 11 pupils in Cambodia's Preah Vihear province, some 500 km northwest of Phnom Penh, police chief said.
The incident occurred at 07:40 a.m. local time at Koh Ke Primary School in Preah Vihear's Kulen district when a group of pupils had picked up an unexploded 60-mm shell from the rice field nearby the school and brought it to play in the classroom, said Mao Pov, police chief of Preah Vihear province.
"In the class, they played with it by throwing the shell from one to another and the shell erupted when it hit the table as a pupil failed to receive it," he told Xinhua.
He said that the 11 pupils, including six females, were injured in the accident. Of them, 3 are in serious condition. Cambodia is one of the world's worst countries suffered from mines as the results of nearly three decades of war and internal conflicts from the mid 1960s until the end of 1998.
The country's five most mine-laid provinces are Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Oddar Meanchey, Pailin and Preah Vihear.
According to the record, since 1979 to the end of 2011, there had been a total of 64,017 landmine casualties. Of the total casualties, 19,619 people were killed, 35,522 were injured and 8, 876 were amputated.

U.K.-Southeast Asian officials meet in Cambodia for child protection efforts

PHNOM PENH, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Some 80 representatives from law enforcement agencies, Non-governmental Organizations and United National agencies from the United Kingdom (U.K.) and four Southeast Asian countries gathered here on Thursday to strengthen cooperation and exchange experience on child protection.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 3rd annual U.K.- Southeast Asian regional child protection workshop, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng, who is also Minister of Interior, said that Cambodia has been taking a firm stance to combat all forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation.
"We're committed to fighting all types of inhuman acts on children and to bringing perpetrators for severe punishment according to the laws," he said.
He added that under the cooperation between the United Kingdom and the four Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, the suppression on pedophiles in Southeast Asian countries will be more effective.
The two-day workshop, run by specialist trainers from the U.K.' s Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre, aimed to provide a better understanding of child sexual exploitation issues, share best practice, strengthen the regional network of multi- agency contacts and explore how to better collaborate with other stakeholders.
British Ambassador to Cambodia Mark Gooding said that child rights were an important area of work for the British Embassy, adding that the workshop would further strengthen national capacities and regional networks to keep children safe.
During the workshop, there was also the launching of a short animation in Khmer called "The Tales of Mai and Tam: Mai and Tam Take Control".
The film tells the story of brother and sister, Mai and Tam, and conveys messages on some issues around child trafficking, as well as sexual abuse committed by someone outside of the family. The aim of the film is to empower children and their carers to be able to better protect themselves from child sexual offenders who may groom children, as well as those who seek to exploit them for child trafficking.

Cambodia's Securities Exchange to start trading in April with one listed firm

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- The state-owned Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) will be the first firm to list on Cambodia's Security Exchange (CSX) on April 18, officials said Wednesday.
In the first IPOs (Initial Public Offerings), the PPWSA will sell 13 million shares, or 15 percent of the company's whole shares, Dong Hyuk Yoon, head of Investment Bank Tong Yang Securities-Hong Kong, which is the preparer of the IPOs for the PPWSA, said during a presentation to about 300 prospective investors.
He said the offering price per share is between 1-1.57 U.S. dollars and the share subscription will begin from March 29 to April 4. The listing on the CSX will be on April 18.
The CSX, a joint venture between the government of Cambodia (55 percent) and the Korean Exchange (45 percent), was inaugurated last July, but no trading has come online since then due to lack of listing company.
The PPWSA is one of the three state-owned enterprises that the government ordered to prepare IPOs to list on the CSX. The other two are Sihanoukville Autonomous Port and Telecom Cambodia.
Ek Sonn Chan, PPWSA's director general, said that buying the shares of the PPWSA would be a good chance for investors to make a return earning as the company has seen stable revenues in recent years.
He said that according to the financial statement, the PPWSA earned a total revenue of 28.4 million U.S. dollars last year. After being cleared with all operational expenses, the firm made a profit before interest and tax of 10.7 million U.S. dollars last year.