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24-Aug-2005
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September 27, 2004 - IFC to Loan $5 Million to Cambodian Bank to Promote Home Ownership Deepak Khanna, the IFC's country manager for Cambodia, says the agreement will promote home ownership along with Cambodia's banking system. "It would help upgrade banking standards in Cambodia. We are hopeful that with the support given by IFC and USAID, Canadia can become a model institution setting the standards," he says. Mr. Khanna says Cambodia's young population, its growing literacy rate and its emerging middle class have created conditions favorable to the growth of home ownership. He says home ownership is an important indicator of economic strength and social stability. September 26, 2004 - Cambodia sends North Korean defectors to South PHNOM PENH: Cambodia, which had said it would repatriate seven North Korean refugees, sent them to South Korea instead on a public holiday to avoid publicity, officials said on Monday. They declined to explain the change of mind, although there were indications of a breakdown in negotiations with North Korea, where Cambodian King Sihanouk has often made lengthy stays due to his friendship with late leader Kim Il-sung. "We decided to send them to South Korea on a public holiday, a day journalists have off work, to keep it low profile," one official said.September 25, 2004 - Cambodia funnels drugs to Australia Cambodia is a transit point in the illicit drug trade to Australia because of its corruption and weak law enforcement, a UN drug official says. Graham Shaw, of the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime in Phnom Penh, is making the warning despite falling opium poppy cultivation and heroin output from Asia's Golden Triangle region. In 2003 the UN estimated opium production at 930 tonnes - down from almost 2,000 tonnes a decade ago - as crop substitution programmes took effect. Nonetheless, the Golden Triangle still ranks second behind Afghanistan as the world's largest producer of heroin. Additionally, it has become a major source of methamphetamines, particularly from Burma. Drugs are being shipped through Cambodia where corruption is endemic and there is a lack of technical equipment and knowledge to counter trafficking, Shaw says. The problem in Cambodia might have been exacerbated by a crackdown in neighbouring Thailand. In 2003 Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra launched a controversial war on drugs that led to more than 2,500 deaths, many of which human rights groups said were extrajudicial killings. Flow-on effect from Thailand The Thai government denied the charges and blamed the bloodshed on gang wars. More than 300,000 people sought treatment and 40,000 people linked to trafficking also surrendered during an amnesty. But the tougher line in Thailand led to drug syndicates with operations in north eastern Burma re-routing their trade in heroin and methamphetamines through Laos and Cambodia. Secretary-general of Thailand's Office of Narcotics Control Board, police General Chidchai Vanasatiday, agreed that drug syndicates were seeking new routes. "That's why we have to work with Australia, we have to work with New Zealand, we have to work with Malaysia and Singapore." Australia remains a prime destination for heroin, with over 80% of illegal imports of heroin sourced from the Golden Triangle despite falling heroin production. From Cambodia, heroin is being sent by way of shipping containers, inside products such as canned foods, or by post, Shaw says. "The indications are from the seizures that have been made is that heroin is coming from the Golden Triangle around Burma, Thailand and Laos, and into Cambodia," Shaw says. "Based on the seizures of the last few years it is being transported from Cambodia to Australia either within shipments of goods normally within containers. There was one case of heroin hidden with fish-paste that came from Cambodia," he says. © AAP September 23, 2004 - Cambodia parliament set to approve Khmer Rouge tribunal next month September 20, 2004 - Cambodia's Canadia Bank signs finance agreements with IFC, USAID September 18, 2004 - French insurance giant to join Cambodia's insurance industry PHNOM PENH, Sept. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Cambodia's small and young insurance industry will have a more competition with the joining of France's largest insurance company, Macif. Macif will join Cambodia's insurance industry with an investment of 6 million US dollars in Cambodia's financially troubled Indochine Insurance, local media reported on Saturday. "I did not think that the joining of Macif will greatly affect Cambodia's insurance market," an industry source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua on Saturday. Acknowledging that there will be a challenge, she said, "We have the confidence to maintain and develop our market share." "But what is more important is to improve our professional knowledge, skills and service level," she added. Macif, has total assets of more than 15 billion dollars, will hold about 50 percent of the Indochine Insurance company and to rename it as Macif (Cambodia) to be inaugurated in February 2005. The government has a insurance law in 2002 that requires a capital investment of 7 million US dollars for a five-year operating license and a 700,000 deposit at the National Bank of Cambodia. Indochine was ordered to close by the government about two months ago because it did not meet that minimum requirement. Cambodia has four insurers currently operated in insurance market, including Forte, Asia Insurance, Indochine and the state-run Cambodia National Insurance Company, or Caminco, which startedproviding insurance in 1992. Cambodia, with a population of about 13 million, is a less developed country in Southeast Asia with a 35 percent of its population still living under the poverty line. Enditem September 17, 2004 - Indian gift links Cambodia to cyberspace September 16, 2004 - Trade centre under construction at gateway to Cambodia An Giang (VNA) - A trade centre will be built in southern An Giang province's Long Xuyen city, a border town that welcomes 3 million domestic and foreign tourists on their way to Cambodia every year. The centre will be built at an estimated cost of 66 billion VND on 3,200 sq.m. It is designed to provide spaces for a hotel, an entertainment area, and a super market. The centre is now under the first phase of construction and scheduled to be completed in June next year. It is expected to boost the economic development of the city and the whole province.-Enditem |
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