A least 50 cows have died at a Vietnamese plantation in Ratanakkiri over the past several weeks, with some officials blaming food poisoning.

The cattle came from Vietnam and belonged to Hoang Anh Andong Meas, a subsidiary of Vietnamese agricultural firm Hoang Anh Gia Lai.

Authorities, experts and locals had different estimates of the death toll. Provincial agriculture director Soy Sona said that only 50 had died, while Phan Bel, a nearby village chief said that at least 80 had died. Local villagers put the number above 300.

“The animals ate palm oil food and they died from poisoning. We don’t know whether the palm oil was sprayed with [chemical] substances,” said Sona, adding that the cows had been burned.

However, a villager speaking on condition of anonymity said he witnessed the carcasses brought out of the company to be sold.

“I saw them transporting dead cows but we were unable to stop it,” confirmed Sre Angkrang commune chief Chhim Sokhim. Traders bought some of the carcasses, he said.

Some local villagers’ cows died during this period as well, from food and water shortages stemming from the drought. But villagers said the plantation had plenty of feed and water.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai director Nguyen Van Thu could not be reached for comment. His assistant said that he was unaware of the deaths.

Storms and lightning strikes have killed more people in the first five months of this year than in the same period in 2015, an official said yesterday.

National Committee of Disaster Management spokesman Keo Vy said the uptick did not include three people killed during lightning storms on Wednesday, which injured 12 people and damaged 620 houses in Stung Treng, Kampong Speu and Battambang provinces.

Vy said from January to the first week of May, 85 storms hit the capital and 20 provinces, killing seven people and injuring 71. At the same time, 2,433 houses were damaged, included 473 severely.

During the five months, lightning has killed 15 people, injured 16 and left a dozen cattle dead.

“The number of deaths caused by storms has increase four-fold, while the death toll caused by lightning slightly increased,” Vy said.

Separately, since January, some 362 fires have killed 13 people and injured eight, according to the Interior Ministry’s fire department director, Net Vutha.

Vutha said 43 per cent of the fires – which damaged 601 houses and 1,220 market stalls – were caused by electrical faults, 36 per cent by careless power usage, and 20 per cent by other factors.

Two months after revelations that the majority of new fans to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook account were coming from outside Cambodia, the page has experienced an abrupt drop in foreign “likes”.

Beginning early this year, the page of the self-proclaimed “e-premier” saw a boost in “likes”from countries such as India, Myanmar and Brazil, gaining hundreds or thousands of followers per day from each.

But on May 7, the flow of new “likes” arriving from those countries plummeted, according to data from social media analytics site SocialBakers.

The influx of new likes from abroad has fallen to a fraction of the prior rate, while likes from within Cambodia have remained steady.

On some days, certain countries have registered negative growth. For example, the size of the prime minister’s Indian fanbase decreased slightly on May 8, 10 and 11, when a week prior it had been increasing by 2,000 to 3,000 likes per day.

In March, technology and social media experts told the Post that the flood of new followers from abroad could be evidence that the page was boosting its numbers by purchasing likes from so-called “click farms”.

Prime Minister Hun Sen and other officials have denied this suggestion, instead attributing the rapid growth to the premier’s popularity abroad.

But the sudden halt seemingly gave those theories credence. “This is probably the best indication that the allegations were true,” said an anonymous IT expert based in the capital. “These things don’t just happen by accident.”

Government spokesman Phay Siphan yesterday said he “did not know” about fake “likes” but reiterated the premier’s Facebook page was intended as a tool to hear the views Cambodians. “It is not a competition,” he said.

The new minister of public works and transportation yesterday threatened to introduce tough new measures, including fines, for officials who turn a blind eye to overloaded vehicles, which he claimed caused $100 million in road damage every year.

Minister Sun Chanthol yesterday said in a meeting that fines would be introduced for scale station officials who conspired with transport companies to allow overloaded trucks to travel, but he did not stipulate the cost of the fines or elaborate on potential “administrative discipline”.

“We have to have our measures, and we cannot let them collude with one another and allow the [overloaded] vehicles to run on the road and damage 100 kilometres of road; we have to fine our officials. We will prevent this at the root,” he said.

Also in the minister’s sights were almost 2,000 repair garages that had not yet registered with the government to ensure vehicles were kept at regulation standards.

San Chey, network fellow for Cambodia Affiliated Network for Social Accountability–EastAsia Pacific, said he welcomed the reinforcement but said the issue was “nothing new”.

Twenty six men armed with plastic jugs and three hoses drawing water from the Sangke River are all that stand between what’s left of the Prek Toal bird sanctuary, and a fire that has already destroyed more than 5,000 hectares of flooded forest.

Prek Toal forms the “core area” of the Tonle Sap biosphere, an area some experts have called the single most important breeding ground for water fowl in Southeast Asia.

“In 16 years of patrolling, I have never seen a fire like this,” said one Environment Ministry ranger who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the press. The men, who have been divided into three teams, are trying to contain a fast-moving fire on difficult terrain.

Suspected negligence started the fire in early April and it has since spread across the wetlands thanks to exceptionally dry conditions related to the El Niño-induced drought, climate change and yet-to-be-understood changes of the Tonle Sap flood cycle.

For the past 10 days, the conflagration has come within hundreds of metres of Prek Toal village, and on Wednesday, a column of smoke loomed over the floating settlement.

Variable winds that changed direction by the hour meant the group of rangers and volunteer villagers, none of whom had protective clothing, were constantly outmanoeuvred.

Read: Scenes from a drought

“It is very difficult to fight this fire because it burns the peat underground,” the ranger continued, explaining that the very surface they stood on was fuelling the conflagration. The burned ground now presented an added obstacle, as it was liable to give way. The amateur fire fighters could only tread on ground that had been dampened and tested first.

“We cannot run fast,” he said.

Still-smouldering patches dotted the charred earth, while about a hundred metres away, flames consumed trees that during the wet season would be half submerged. The men hurried across the hot ash to dump water wherever smoke rose from the ground, as the burning peat could potentially kindle fires in new directions.

At one point, a connection in the hose came apart. For a few minutes, the team was in disarray as one man equipped with a screwdriver and circular clamps sprang into action, binding the tubing back together.

A man carries a container of water toward a fire in Battambang’s Prek Toal village earlier this week in a desperate effort to control the blaze. Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon

Meanwhile, Prek Toal core area director Long Kheng was in Phnom Penh on Wednesday reporting to officials the situation on the ground and collecting salaries for the rangers and the villagers who volunteered to fight the fires.

“A lot of forest was burned outside the core area,” Kheng said in a phone interview, adding that there was no estimate yet available on how much fire damage the Tonle Sap biosphere suffered as a whole.

“Inside the core area, at least 25 per cent of the flooded forest area’s total area [21,342 hectares] was burned,” he claimed. Kheng said that he was also appealing to UNESCO for support.

“We will have to plan to assess the impact of the fire, and we have to have a forest fire response management plan for the Tonle Sap [area], which is different from the uplands,” he said.

“The forest fire affects the local community’s livelihoods; it’s the habitat of the water birds and other wildlife, but it’s also important for the fish, and if there’s no flooded forest . . . the fishermen will not find food, you know? Their livelihood will also be impacted.

“Prek Toal is the heart of the Tonle Sap; it supports the fish stock in the Tonle Sap lake. If there’s no forest, the fish stock will decline,” Kheng continued. The UNFAO predicts a 17 per cent drop in fish production this year due to El Niño.

“The international community and the Cambodian government should pay more attention,” Kheng said.

Independent researcher Veerachai Tanpipat, in an email late last month, said findings “showed that fire activities in the region are still going on, which is not normal, as forest fire season usually should be over by now”.

Meanwhile, experts from ASEAN nations are set to discuss the region’s fire concerns later this month at a meeting organised by the Thai Royal Forestry Department and the Korean Forest Service.

“We hope, we will talk more about how to find ways to work together in order to get forest fires in this region under control again,” Tanpipat said on Tuesday.

Back in Prek Toal, the forest ranger’s short-term assessment was grim.

“We can’t control the fire”.

A vulnerable Irrawaddy dolphin was found dead in Kratie’s Sambor district on Tuesday after being caught in fishermen’s illegal gill nets, authorities and environmental watchdogs said.

‘‘I think this dolphin may have been dead for three or four days – its body was swollen and rotten, and its tail was tangled in nets,’’ said Seang Sokhim, a guard for the Koh Pdav natural dolphin pool.

Emma Fry, a communication assistant with the World Wildlife Fund, said the female dolphin was 183 centimetres long and weighed 80 kilograms.

This is the first time that locals saw a dolphin succumb to illegal fishing equipment, according to Sokhim.

However, communities in Stung Treng and Kratie have been aware of gill nets’ threat to dolphin populations for a long time, according to experts from WWF and environmental group MLUP Baitong.

Dolphins entangled in the nets usually die because they can’t come up for air, they said

WWF country director Chhith Sam Ath said yesterday last year’s survey found only 80 dolphins in Kratie and Stung Treng. Nine dolphins died over the course of 2015. So far, two have died this year.

Despite the Foreign Ministry declaring that United Nations staffer Soen Sally has diplomatic immunity, police will still arrest the human rights worker on sight because the Interior Ministry has not been told otherwise, an official said yesterday.

On Monday, the Post reported the Foreign Affairs Ministry had requested that the “competent authorities” stop legal action against Sally after determining he was protected under international law.

The request was forwarded to court officials two weeks ago, Foreign Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry told local media yesterday.

But speaking via phone yesterday, Interior Ministry spokesman General Khieu Sopheak said the court was yet to strike out Sally’s warrant, meaning his officers remained duty-bound to arrest the UN official, “immunity or no immunity”.

“For us to cease pursuing his arrest there needs to be a request from the court to cancel the arrest warrant . . . When the court cancels it, it will be finished,” Sopheak said.

Sopheak likened Sally’s case to that of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange – who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for years – saying Sally could “live his whole life in [a UN compound], it is possible, but when he comes out police will arrest him”.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court president Taing Sunlay yesterday said the court had not received the missive, and declined to comment further.

Sally, an official from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), ischarged alongside six other individuals for allegedly conspiring to bribe the purported mistress of CNRP leader Kem Sokha in a case widely considered politically motivated.

Reached yesterday, Justice Ministry spokesman Chin Malin also said the Foreign Ministry had yet to follow up on its request – which was communicated to the UN last Thursday – with the necessary paperwork.

“I cannot comment on the immunity because so far we have not got any formal information or notice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yet,” Malin said. “So far we have got the information from the news.”

Sounry, of the Foreign Ministry, yesterday hung up on a reporter, and subsequent attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.

Since Sally was summonsed over the case last month, his whereabouts have been closely guarded by the UN, which on Sunday said they believed the Foreign Affair’s statement would resolve the matter.

Via email, OHCHR country director Wan-Hea Lee said the situation remained unchanged.

“Our staff have immunity under the Convention. Exchanges with the Royal Govt (sic) have taken place on the matter.”

A shipment of 113 new fire trucks arrived from China via the Sihanoukville port yesterday, and will be distributed across the country.

Neth Vantha, the deputy municipal fire chief at the Ministry of Interior, said 99 trucks will go to the provinces while the rest will be kept at the ministry. He declined to say how much the trucks cost.

"Provinces . . . are still lacking fire trucks to use in faraway areas," he said. "We will deliver [these trucks] to those areas for effective intervention."

In 2017, the ministry will order more trucks, he added.

There were 590 fires in Cambodia in 2015, an increase of 14.7 per cent from the previous year. They killed 35 people and consumed almost 600 homes.

Cambodia’s foreign officials remained on the defensive yesterday in the face of allegationsin a Fairfax Media report that diplomats in Australia abused their alcohol and tobacco diplomatic concessions, while analysts said the government will need to act if more diplomatic faux pas emerge.

Cambodian Ambassador to Australia Koy Kuong told Khmer language media that the matter involving the Cambodian embassy’s provider – Unique International Duty Free in Melbourne – was investigated by the Australian Border Force and resolved in late 2015, but was not linked to his embassy.

Kuong, who on Tuesday told the Post the embassy “had done nothing wrong,” hung up on reporters seeking clarification about the new revelations.

According to media reports, individual diplomats are entitled to import 120 litres of spirits, 500 litres of alcohol and 10,000 cigarettes tax-free every six months for their personal use (and double that for the embassy itself).

But Australia’s high tax threshold on those items means illegally selling them on could turn a hefty profit at the expense of Australian tax-payers – an amount estimated at A$200,000 (about US$147,000).

Foreign Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry, who served as ambassador to Australia before Kuong took over the reins in June last year, rebuffed the suggestion he might also be investigated for the alleged tax fraud.

“You want to ask me if I am under investigation? You need to wait for the official response from the embassy,” he said.

Duty free, 50 cigarettes would cost about US$11, but at retail, they could cost up to US$44; a litre of vodka priced at US$42 in a local store would only cost US$22 duty-free.

Carl Thayer, Southeast Asia expert and emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales, said he was not surprised “rogue diplomats could be tempted” by “making double in profit”, but stressed that it was likely only one or two embassy officials were embroiled in the scheme, not the entire embassy.

“The ambassador is expected to be in control of his embassy. But he can’t root out all the corruption, he can only react when it happens,” Thayer said.

However, he said, if a third or fourth diplomat caused foreign headaches for the government – coming after South Korea envoy Suth Dina’s expulsion on corruption charges and this latest case – the government would need to act swiftly to save face internationally.

Cambodia’s ambassador to Australia yesterday swiftly denied allegations of corruption amid reports the embassy is under investigation for links to an alleged alcohol and tobacco black market that took in roughly $200,000.

According to Fairfax Media, the Australian Border Force is investigating the Royal Embassy of Cambodia in the Australian capital of Canberra because of alleged abuses of diplomatic “duty-free” privileges, which were used to make a profit.

It is the second corruption scandal to rock Cambodia’s foreign office in the past month, with the Kingdom’s ambassador to South Korea, Suth Dina, arrested and charged with unlawful exploitation and abuse of power in early April after an Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) probe turned up 12.7 kilograms of gold and US$7.2 million cash in his possession.

The Australian Border Force would not confirm the investigation, responding to the Post’s requests for clarification only to say that “the ABF does not comment on any investigations”.

Fairfax reported yesterday that large amounts of tobacco and alcohol were suspected to have been ordered by embassy officials through Unique International Duty Free, based in Melbourne, but the goods were never delivered, and were instead sold off the shelves at retail price in an estimated A$200,000 scheme.

While diplomats are able to import up to 10,000 cigarettes, 500 litres of beer and 120 litres of spirits every six months for personal use (and embassies can import twice that amount), it is illegal to sell on the highly taxed goods without paying taxes to the Australian government.

But Cambodian Ambassador to Australia Koy Kuong stressed that there had been no wrongdoing on his watch. “Our embassy and staff have not done anything wrong or illegal in Australia,” he wrote in an email.

“We always follow strictly the rules and laws of the land.”

Kuong, however, has only been in his post since last year, when he replaced outgoing ambassador Chum Sounry.

Now the spokesman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sounry yesterday professed ignorance of the investigation.

“I have no information,” he said.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan also said he was unaware of the probe.

The owner of Unique International Duty Free, Seng Taing, yesterday told the Post he did provide goods for the Cambodian Embassy, but claimed the transactions were all above board.

Taing, who was born in Cambodia but moved in 1980 to Australia, where he is now a citizen, rebuffed the suggestion he had skimmed some A$200,000 from selling on the goods. “No, I do the right thing,” he said. “It is nothing to do with me . . . the Australian government allows [the Cambodian diplomats] to buy to the limit.”

“My store is duty free; the government allows me to sell tax free,” he added, declining to comment further.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Amid a devastating drought, the need to dig more, and deeper, wells is threatening to overwhelm the government’s relief budget, according to government and relief agency officials.

The cost of wells rises exponentially with depth. And as groundwater continues to drop, itself exacerbated by the digging of more and more wells, deeper is the only place to go.

“In the past, we made normal wells, but now the simple well does not work,” said Pum Channy, secretary-general of the Cambodian Red Cross.

Men Neary Sopheak, deputy-general of the Red Cross, said that the CRC is working with provincial authorities to dig between 20 and 200 wells in affected villages or communes.

Private wells are often up to 30 metres deep, according to Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology Secretary of State Bun Hean, while government-made wells are up to 60 metres. Sopheak said government wells can be as deep as 80 metres in the mountains.

Both agree that many of the 30-40 metre wells around the country have run dry and the same has begun happening to the 60-metre versions.

“In Kampong Thom, provincial authorities requested for wells to be at least 100 metres deep,” because shallower wells will be ineffective, Sopheak said yesterday.

This is much costlier. Wells of 30-40 metres can cost up to $500. Wells deeper than 70 metres can cost $2,000 and wells of 100 metres can cost $7,000 or more, according to both Hean and Sopheak.

Hean said that this will likely exceed the government’s relief budget, leaving Cambodia at the mercy of international donors.

The need to dig deeper stems mostly from the worst water shortage in half a century. However, according to a February study by Stanford University researchers, a long-term trend of overreliance on groundwater has also led to depleting reserves.

That study found that groundwater use is rising 10 per cent each year. More wells can depressurise underground aquifers, preventing the water from being pushed up, according to a Mekong River Commission water expert who asked to remain anonymous.

About 2.5 million people are affected by the drought, with 500,000 yet to receive assistance according to the National Committee for Disaster Management.

Regularly scheduled direct flights between Cambodia and Russia proposed by Prime Minister Hun Sen last week in Moscow might land in the coastal town of Sihanoukville, an official said yesterday.

Cambodia has already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for direct flights in 2015, and last week’s talks were hoped to speed up implementation, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said.

“In the meeting [last week], the Russian prime minister pushed for a direct flight from Russia to Sihanoukville,” he said, adding that Dmitry Medvedev expressed that a seaside destination would be the most popular option.

Khon added that participants of the meeting also worked on finalising a travel visa sub-decree that would allow Russians to enter for one to three years.

While the visit lacked concrete results, Khon hopes the deals will be finalised soon, especially as Russia tourist arrivals fell by 17.6 per cent during the first quarter of this year.

The numbers fell from 24,000 to 19,842 compared to the same time last year. However, Russians are still ranked as Sihanoukville’s second highest visitor, following the Chinese.

Ngoun Meng Tech, director of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, said that the primary mission of the visit was to establish trust and confidence in order to spark an inflow of Russian investment.

“We signed a MoU with the Russian Chamber of Commerce and I believe that further business projects will come from Russia,” he said.

Russia is looking to expand its crude oil exports to ASEAN countries – including Cambodia – despite the Kingdom being years away from having refinery capabilities.

The announcement made by the Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak during last week’sRussian-ASEAN summit, comes at a time when Western-backed sanctions and a global fall in oil prices have caused the oil and natural gas giant to seek out new markets.

According to the minister, Russia is looking to create an oil swap scheme with numerous untouched markets.

“Today deliveries are being made as part of swap operations to Malaysia and Singapore. In a perspective, we are also considering deliveries to Thailand, the Philippines and Cambodia,” he said, according to Russian media.

The oil swap schemes could be developed in both long-term and short-term contracts.

“We don’t have reasons for waiving supplies in case there is demand and commercial benefit. We’re ready to supply to the countries that need oil and oil products, this direction is interesting to us,” he said.

Hann Kheing, managing director of the Cambodia Petrochemical Company (CPC), which is building Cambodia’s $2.3 billion landmark oil refinery in Kampot province, said it was unlikely that the company would look towards Russian crude when the facility is completed in 2018.

“Our capacity of 5 million tonnes annually will be very little for the Russian market. And even if the crude remains cheap, long distance shipments are not economical. I don’t think we will take Russian oil because the logistics costs are very high,” he said.

He added that smaller shipments from the Middle East or potentially Northern Europe would make more economic sense.

Chea Socheat, director general of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, said CPC needs to carefully study any agreements for crude oil supply.

“It depends on the company’s decision, but they should consider importing crude from global suppliers very carefully to make sure the transportation costs and the quality of the crude is the most economical for the refinery,” he said.

The Cambodian government plans to reduce electricity costs by 2020, a goal that has bred a lot of partnerships with both local and foreign energy companies. Dararith Lim, country leader and director of market development at General Electric, sat down with the Post’s Cheng Sokhorng to talk about its investment in Cambodia’s energy sector.

How important is the development of Cambodia’s electricity sector in increasing industry investment and competition?

As we know, energy plays an important role in Cambodia and is a point of focus for the government when it comes to attracting foreign investment to Cambodia. The price of electricity is also very important as the electricity cost in neighbouring countries has become increasingly more competitive.

The government is investing in, and encouraging, the private sector to develop and build hydropower and coal-fired plants to provide access to all the industries that need power. I hope that all electricity prices will soon lower as a result. I understand that the government is improving electricity infrastructure as well.

GE signed a $1 million agreement with EDC in December 2014 to improve Cambodia’s electricity grid. What did this deal entail and how has it been implemented?

In December 2014, there was a GE consultant team who signed a contract for a grid study with the EDC, the state-owned electricity power company in Cambodia. They are the main utility that provides the national grid and that supports grid resolution across the country.

In the $1 million agreement, we provided software and hardware to EDC for the national grid and EMS (energy management system) for five years. We also looked at the wiring of their grid system to see how reliable it was as well as the security of the system. We provided them with information on what they had done right and what they can improve on moving forward.

Also, as part of the $1 million contract, we agreed to offer EDC software maintenance for five additional years and to provide them with skills training and access to the software for the national centre that controls the energy management system.

What problems have you identified with the national grid and how can they be remedied?

There were no problems in the actual grid infrastructure, only ways in which the government could improve electricity access. For me, I did not see many big challenges. I see opportunity since our economic growth rate is around 7 per cent. The fast growth in the economy within a very small yet dynamic population helps the government make fast decisions; which is why GE brings technology to support the government’s energy, aviation, health care, water, and oil and gas sectors too.

How much has GE invested in Cambodia since arriving in 2007 and where has it invested?

GE is a huge company that made $150 billion in revenue with 400,000 employees last year. It’s hard to figure out how much revenue was made from Cambodia out of the $2 billion made from ASEAN countries.

But we invested $14 million in Cambodia between 2008 and 2015, provided technological equipment to help patients in 31 hospitals across the country, a biomedical training school and a clean water project. GE does not make a huge profit here, but helps the government by promoting human resources.

Cambodia allows 100 per cent foreign ownership. How does its investment climate compare to other markets that GE is invested in?

It is one of the fastest growing ASEAN economies and has a very young dynamic labour force, so it will need a lot of infrastructure and investment. Cambodia plays an important role in ASEAN because the government is able to implement things much faster. GE has a lot of opportunities in the Cambodian market.

Have there been any new developments in GE’s other fields in Cambodia?

ALSTOM Energy is now part of GE since last year; in a partnership we call GE-ALSTOM Power and Grid, providing us with a focus on sustainable and renewable energy. GE has experts and technology that engages with coal and hydropower technology in Cambodia as well as with oil and gas.

So GE is looking at how to work with local investors on how to build human resource capacity. GE is looking to provide service for key industries in any energy sector.

Turkish Airlines, a member of the Star Alliance network, has become the newest player to enter into Cambodia’s air freight business after launching operations last Saturday.

The new route will see an Airbus 330, with a capacity to hold 60 tonnes, fly between Phnom Penh and Istanbul every Saturday, explained Buthay Outdom, manager of GSA-One World Aviation Co Ltd – the air freight forwarding company that has partnered with Turkish Airlines.

Turkish Airlines is the fourth airline to offer a direct cargo flight out of Phnom Penh International Airport and carried 55 tonnes inbound and 52 tonnes outbound during its first flight, he said.

While the flights are only focused on ferrying goods, Outdom believes that it could set the stage for passenger operations.

“We will first focus on freight for now and will consider having a passenger flight within the next year,” he said.

The utilisation of air freight has recently taken off, and two additional operators, K Mile and Air-Bridge Cargo, are expected to start operations in July.

Sinn Chanresey Vutha, spokesman for State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, said the Turkish Airlines agreement dates back to 2014, and that cargo was primarily bound for the Middle East marketplace.

“The freighters carry primarily luxury goods between Cambodia and the Middle East,” he said.

According to data provided from Cambodia Airports, during the first quarter of 2016, Phnom Penh International Airport alone received more than 863,000 passengers and handled up to 8,500 domestic and international flight movements, while total cargo tonnage grew by 17.3 per cent year-on-year, reaching 10,477 tonnes.

Bilateral trade between Thailand and Cambodia decreased by 13 per cent in the first three months of this year compared to the same period in 2015, according to statistics provided by the Royal Thai Embassy.

The value of Cambodian exports to Thailand reached $290 million by the end of March, an 11.02 per cent increase compared to the same time last year.

However, imports, valued at $1 billion, decreased by 17.8 per cent by the end of March.

Overall bilateral trade stood at $1.3 billion, a 13.2 per cent decrease, which allowed the trade imbalance between the two countries to drop by a considerable 20 per cent.

Soeng Sophary, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, said that while there has always been a trade imbalance between the two countries, a 20 per cent decline was a good sign that the gap would continue to narrow.

“Since most of Cambodia’s market depends on other countries markets,” she said, these numbers will “always fluctuate”.

But, she added that it could show that Cambodian products were gaining a competitive advantage, especially in light of the ASEAN Economic Community which is aimed at reducing trade barriers.

Mey Kalyan, senior adviser to the supreme national economic council, said it was too early to determine if this was a developing trend.

“It is hard to analyse since we are now within a more free market,” he said.

He added that an influx of Chinese imports as well as a rise of domestic products could explain the drop in bilateral trade between Cambodia and Thailand.

While he welcomed the news that Cambodian exports had increased, he added that the country should continue to strive to process its own products rather than relying on raw material exports to make up for the majority of exports.

“If Cambodia only relies on exporting raw materials, we lose out on potential profits from our resources,” he said.

Total trade between Cambodian and Thailand grew to $5.5 billion last year, up from $5.1 billion in 2014.

On May 30, Phnom Penh SEZ Plc, which operates a 347-hectare industrial park just outside the capital, is set to become the fourth publicly listed company on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX).

The company successfully subscribed 11.5 million shares of its initial public offering (IPO), setting an issue price at 2,860 riel ($0.71) per share.

The company expects to raise $8.2 million for the development of a 53-hectare SEZ on the Thai border near Poipet.

Thai-listed renewable energy company, Inter Far East Corporation Public Company Limited (IFEC), which is constructing a 20-megawatt solar power plant for industrial applications in Kampong Speu province, aims to be up and running by the second quarter of this year, a company spokesperson said yesterday.

Commercial operations will take place in the province to the west of Phnom Penh where 2-megawatts of its renewable energy project have already been completed, explained Vimonrut MJ, secretary to IFEC Cambodia President.

“We are planning to sell the electricity to the factories around there,” she said. “I hope it will be completed sometime this year.”

She explained that although the plant design is capable of producing and distributing 20-megawatts of solar power, the energy company is currently only licensed by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) to distribute 10-megawatts. The lack of distribution licensing permits may delay completion of the project, she added.

IFEC originally entered into the Cambodian energy market in 2014 when the company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with city hall to conduct a one-year feasibility study for a waste disposal biomass plant.

While that project never took off, the company has invested $1 million into the Kingdom, according to the company’s 2015 annual financial report. The project was originally slated to be completed in September of last year, but was delayed due to the rainy season.

The company currently operates nearly a dozen small-scale solar power operations and two renewable waste plants in Thailand totalling 30 megawatts of power annually, and accumulated a net profit of approximately $9.3 million last year. According to the financial report, the company has sent out bids for an additional 11 energy schemes.

Tun Lean, spokesman for the Ministry of Mines and Energy, confirmed the IFEC’s project proposal is estimated at over $1.2 million per 5 megawatts of energy produced. And that the company has recently entered into a contract deal to supply the yet to be constructed Byers factory, a US-based telecommunications supply company.

“This project will only supply factories and the people nearby under a REE [Rural Electricity Enterprise] licence,” he said. “This project will not supply power to EDC [Electricity Company of Cambodia] or sell power to the public, so its production capacity depends on demand from the factories following the contracts they sign.”

Jim Gramberg, CEO of Solar Partners Asia (Cambodia) Ltd, is skeptical about Thai investment in Cambodia’s green energy sector, especially if it is waiting for factory supply deals.

“There are many Thai companies trying to get into Cambodia to do these things. They make all sorts of promises and then when they actually come here, they find out it’s not as easy as they thought it was and keep customers on hold and waiting,” he said.

He added that although Cambodia has the capacity to generate about 600 megawatts of renewable energy in the next few years, the government’s policy goal of significantly lowering the price of electricity by 2020 through solar should be regarded lightly.

“I think that the intention of the government is not really relevant at this stage because they are just starting up with renewable energy in the form of solar and as time is passing, demand is rising,” he said, adding that the government currently lacks the knowledge to undertake large-scale green energy projects.

Cambodia and Russia have officially inked agreements to promote bilateral trade and investment until 2020, although concrete details about how that will be accomplished have yet to be released.

During the ASEAN-Russia Commemorative Summit this week, Prime Minister Hun Sen led a delegation of high ranking officials and members of the business community to discuss ways of boosting economic relations.

In total, Cambodia signed eight agreements with their Russian counterparts. Such business agreements include a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Russian Ministry of Communications and Mass Media and the Cambodian Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications to cooperate on information technology.

Pan Sorasak, the newly-appointed Minister of Commerce, signed a joint statement with Alexei Likhachyov, the Russian first deputy Minister of Economic Development, on a list of project proposals aimed at increasing trade and investment up to 2020.

The signing of the agreements were presided over by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Hun Sen.

“We have signed a list of bilateral projects to be implemented by 2020. It will provide the basis for developing investment cooperation and trade and for addressing a number of other issues,” said Medvedev, according to a transcript from the signing ceremony.

“Although bilateral trade grew by about 40 per cent at the beginning of the year, it is well below our potential in absolute terms,” he said.

Medvedev added that Russia has good prospects for investing in the construction of energy facilities, supplying cargo lifting equipment, and drilling and mining tools. He also highlighted that there was room to develop the agriculture and telecommunications sectors.

Hun Sen welcomed the agreements and said the respective governments would continue to work to strengthen political and economic partnerships.

“We signed six agreements during the prime minister’s visit in November last year, and today we have signed another eight agreements. This is evidence of our trust in each other,” he said, adding that Russia should continue to pursue opening up direct flights between Moscow and Phnom Penh to boost tourism.

Since Medvedev’s first state visit last November, the two countries have been trying to hammer out a bilateral trade deal.

While specific details have yet to emerge on the framework of the agreement, numerous Russian businesses have conducted investment tours throughout the Kingdom.

In March, 16 Russian firms alone visited Cambodia, including the state-run firm JSC Russian Railways, and Inter Rao – an energy holding company.

However, Stephen Higgins, managing partner of investment firm Mekong Strategic Partners, said it would be difficult for Cambodia and Russia to develop a strong trade or investment relationship because each country’s economic advantages do not overlap.

“Russia’s advantage is very much centred on cheap fossil fuels, but that isn’t really going to help Cambodia as we look forward [in the next] five to ten years,” he said.

Trade volume between Russia and Cambodia fell by 16 per cent in 2015, totalling $110.7 million.

With the Cambodian Rice Federation (CRF) ready to adopt “Angkor Malis” in June as the official brand name for the Kingdom’s premium varieties of jasmine rice, exporters said that inconsistent English to Khmer translations need to be corrected.

While the logo registers the product as Angkor in English, the word used in Khmer translates to jasmine, making it indistinguishable from other products, according to Song Saran, CEO of Amru Rice.

He prefers the English packaging over the Khmer, but regardless of which name is used, it should be identical, he said.

“I welcome a brand name for our fragrant rice, but the meaning of the logo and name are different,” he said.

Moul Sarith, acting secretary-general for CRF, said the name Angkor Malis was selected after more than a year of close examination and numerous rounds of controlled impact studies.

“We decided that in English we would use Angkor because it was linked to our World Heritage site,” he said.

“Our market research experts concluded that Angkor scored much higher [than other names].”

He added that once the brand name receives trademark protection from the Ministry of Commerce, rice exporters will only be given licensing rights after they legally qualify.

“We have set up strict criteria for the usage of this brand name to make sure that the trademark is protected,” he said.

Eang Sophallet, spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, said the brand name should reflect the achievements Cambodian rice has won on the world circuit.

“We have won the rice award three years in a row, the brand name should show this because that is how we built our reputation,” he said.

Other concerns raised by exporters included the fact that CRF had yet to allocate a dedicated budget for marketing the new brand name.

“In order to promote Angkor Malis, we need money for marketing. Most of our clients know that Cambodia’s best rice is jasmine rice, but they have never heard of this new brand,” said Kann Kunthy, chief executive of Battambang rice miller Brico.

“If we can promote Angkor Malis the right way, our exports will increase,” he said, adding that the government of Thailand spent vast amounts of money on promotion to earn its place.

A government official lambasted the slow application rate for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that operate as microfinance lenders, urging them to register with the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC).

Interior Minister Sar Kheng made the statement at a recent workshop about the Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organisations (LANGO), AKP reported.

According to the data the minister presented, only 155 of 620 NGOs registered with the Ministry of Interior have fulfilled the application requirements for the NBC to allow them to continue microfinance lending.

A registration crackdown began in February of last year, after the NBC and the Ministry of Economy and Finance issued a warning against the rise of unlicensed lenders, associations and NGOs. The announcement called for all lending operations to register or run the risk of a legal consequences.

Chea Serey, director-general of the NBC, told the Post that since the joint statement was issued, unlicensed and informal lenders have flocked to the central bank to apply for registration.

“[About] 300 informal lenders have applied to NBC to be registered following the joint statement,” she said, adding that 90 of them had received approval.

“We are currently looking into these applications and may decide to register, license or require the NGO to stop doing credit activities all together if they do not meet the criteria,” she said. For the criteria requirements, she referred the central bank’s prakas.

According to the prakas, Cambodian law only requires NGO lenders that have a loan portfolio of $25,000 or more, with $250 in deposits, to obtain formal recognition from the NBC. Those that have a loan portfolio of $250,000 or more, or $25,000 in deposits, must obtain a MFI license.

Hout Ieng Tong, president of the Cambodian Microfinance Association (CMA), encouraged NGOs lenders to register with the NBC.

“The MFI registration policy by the NBC plays an important role in lending operations,” he said, adding that once registered, lenders are protected by the law.

He added that current regulations require all credit operations – regardless of their size – to register.