The Phnom Penh Post
Surrogacy ban lacks force of law
Anti-surrogacy advocates have welcomed the government’s recent stance to ban surrogacy in Cambodia, though legal experts have warned that the shady practice could still continue if the prohibition is not enshrined in law. In a ministry directive, or prakas, signed October 24, Health Minister Mam ...
Better aim for online marketing
Engaging online content and more targeted social media outreach are major keys for commercial success in Cambodia, whose youthful population has been identified as the world’s most receptive to social media advertising and content, a market researcher said on November 3. Eelco Dijkhuizen, general manager ...
KrisEnergy ups stake to unclog offshore Block A oil
Singapore-listed KrisEnergy Ltd has upped its stake in the Block A offshore oil field to 95 percent, acquiring the shares of two minority stakeholders who had opposed the Cambodian government’s attempts to renegotiate a revenue-sharing model, the company revealed in its third-quarter filings. The document, ...
Spectrum licences up for grabs
The government announced on November 2 that it will hold its first public auction for 4G spectrum frequencies, with two licences up for bid on frequencies reassigned after their original licence-holders failed to utilise them. The two licences cover the 800 MHz and 2600 MHz band ...
Emerald hopes to draw first gold by end of 2018
Australian mining firm Emerald Resources expects to complete a definitive feasibility study for its Okvau gold project in Mondulkiri province by early next year, with gold production to commence by the end of 2018, according to an investor presentation released on November 2.Keep reading ...
Bancassurance has room to grow
The bancassurance model, while still relatively undeveloped in Cambodia, has huge potential to drive the growth of the insurance sector, financial industry specialists said during a conference in Phnom Penh on November 2. Robert Elliott, CEO of Manulife, said during a panel discussion that rising ...
New guidelines on impact assessments almost ready
Civil society groups are getting closer to unveiling a new set of guidelines that will change how the impact of big development projects is assessed across the Mekong region, NGOs said on November 1, following the end of a two-month public consultation period. Activists, however, ...
Tobacco turns over a new leaf
Agriculture officials and struggling smallholder tobacco farmers are cautiously hopeful that tariff exemptions granted under a new trade agreement with Vietnam will lift sagging demand for their crops. Khann Samban, director of industrial crops at the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the market for tobacco ...
Prized spice has its fans, and imitators
Given the wild success of Kampot pepper, which can fetch up to three times the amount per kilo as Cambodian pepper produced without its prized label, it is hardly surprising that the product has its share of imitators. In an effort to address the risk ...
Cambodia at ‘high’ risk of Zika outbreak in 2017
Amid reports of the emergence of the Zika virus in Myanmar and the discovery of the first birth defect believed linked to the virus in Vietnam, two researchers with Phnom Penh’s Pasteur Institute have concluded that Cambodia is at high risk of its own Zika ...