Cambodia to host disabled volleyball World Cup

Cambodia will host the disabled volleyball World Cup between November 24 and December 2, according to the Cambodian National Volleyball League on Thursday.

Altogether 12 countries, including Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Canada, are expected to attend the tournament, according to the League.

Organizers hoped the match to raise global awareness of the landmine issue, as most of Cambodia's team members were landmine victims.

Cambodia's disabled volleyball team ranks No. 1 in Asia and No. 4 in the world.

Source: Xinhua

Cambodia to host its first international golf tournament

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: The impoverished nation of Cambodia will host its first international golf tournament at a course near the famed Angkor temples, the Asian Tour announced Monday.

The inaugural US$300,000 (€217,000) Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open will be played at the newly opened Phokeethra Country Club, which is also a main tournament sponsor. The event, slated to run from Nov. 29 to Dec. 2 in the northwestern province of Siem Reap, is likely to draw many of Asia's top golfers, organizers said.

Asian Tour Executive Chairman Kyi Hla Han said the tournament, which is one of seven new events on the schedule this season, proved that the game was thriving in the region.

"The game continues to prosper in Asia and with a new initiative in Cambodia, our next plan of action will be to help new golfing nations to develop the game," Han said.

"One of the best ways to attract new golfers is to expose them to international-class competitions and I believe the Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open will provide a launch pad for exciting talents to emerge from Cambodia," he said.

by the Cambodia government to boost its tourist revenues. The 18-hole, 72-par course is 23 kilometers (14 miles) outside Siem Reap town.

Cambodia now has three golf courses, including two near Phnom Penh, the capital. A fourth, also in Siem Reap, is under construction.

Tourism is a major foreign currency earner for cash-strapped Cambodia. There were 1.4 million foreign arrivals last year, with the largest number of visitors from South Korea, Japan and the United States. More than half of the tourists visited the Angkor temples.

Cambodia is one of the poorest in Asia, which is in part a legacy of the years when the communist Khmer Rouge ruled the country in the late 1970s, imposing radical communist policies that led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodian through execution, malnutrition, medical neglect and overwork.

U.S. supports Cambodia's bid to list Preah Vihear Temple as world heritage site

PHNOM PENH, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The United States has expressed support for Cambodia's bid to officially register the Preah VihearTemple as world heritage site and will provide aid for its development and management plans, local media reported on Thursday.

U.S. Ambassador Joseph A. Mussomeli here on Wednesday told Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Council of Ministers Sok An that the temple has to be officially registered as world heritage site even if there is opposition from the third side, press official for the Council of Ministers Phan Sithan was quoted by English-language newspaper Cambodian Daily as saying.

The United States will send a group of experts to Cambodia to help organize the development and management plans for the temple's official registration as world heritage site and also provide grant aid to support the plans, he said.

Recently, Long Visalo, deputy minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, told reporters that the world heritage committee of the United Nation's Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) asked Cambodia to organize the development and management plans for the Preah Vihear Temple after receiving the kingdom's request to list it as world heritage site.

The committee promised to decide whether the temple can be registered as world heritage site in early 2008.

The Preah Vihear Temple was built from the 11th to the 12th century on top of the Dorng Rek Mountain in the northern part of Cambodia next to Thailand. Cambodia secured its ownership of the temple in 1962, out of fierce competition with Thailand.

Editor: Wang Hongjiang

S. Korea provides 30 mln USD loan to Cambodia to equip gov't IT system

The South Korean company Kisan Telecom Co. Ltd has signed an agreement with the Cambodian government to provide a loan of 30 million U.S. dollars for the public Information Technology (IT) system project in Cambodia, local media reported on Friday.

The loan will be used to equip the government's IT management system, including Internet access for government institutions in 10 provinces and cities of Cambodia, the Raksmey Kampuchea newspaper said.

The agreement was signed by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and Park Byung Ki, CEO of Kisan Telecom company, on behalf of both sides, the newspaper added.

IT system has become a key role in the whole society and Cambodia needs to have and develop IT system management in government institutions, Sok An was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Cambodia also needs more human resources for IT system management, he added.

This is the second time for a South Korean company to provide loan with low interest rate for Cambodia to equip the government IT system. In the previous time, a South Korean company provided a loan of 20 million U.S. dollars for the Cambodian government.

Source: Xinhua

Cambodia to present big events to attract more tourists

Cambodia will present big events late this year to attract more tourists to visit the country and help boost the economy and reduce poverty, said Tourism Minister Thong Kong here on Thursday.

"We will have night markets soon in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap province, home of the Angkor Wat temples, organize the Johnnie Walker Cambodia Golf Open 2007 in Siem Reap, conduct better celebration of the Water Festival than previous years in Phnom Penh, hold half marathon in Siem Reap, and join the World Culture Expo 2007 from Sept. 7 to Oct. 26 in South Korea," he told reporters at the half-year review meeting of his ministry's work.

Cambodia is also preparing to host the Angkor International Tourism Expo 2007 in Siem Reap in early October and the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asia Nations) Boat Racing soon in Phnom Penh, he added.

"These events can show tourists that our country is stable and peaceful to visit," he said.

The plane crash in June, which killed 22 people, had limited impact on the kingdom's tourism industry, as the government had worked hard in the rescue operation and the aviation companies will strengthen the control of their planes' quality, improve safety measures for tourists and adopt better flight routes, he said.

In the first six months of this year, Cambodia received 975,349 tourists, about 20 percent increase over the same period last year, and most of them were from South Korea, Japan, the United States, Vietnam and China, he said.

At the end of this year, we estimate to have about two million foreign tourists in all, he added.

Last year, 1.7 million foreign tourists visited Cambodia, harvesting over one billion U.S. dollars for national revenues.

Tourism is one of the three pillar industries of Cambodia. The Angkor Wat temples in Siem Reap, the clean beach resorts in Sihanoukville and the Phnom Penh city are travelers' hottest destinations.

Source: Xinhua

Cambodia's PMT Air has safety problems, inspection shows

PMT Air, a Cambodian airline, was found to have unattended safety deficiencies in an inspection of foreign carriers serving South Korea, a report showed Thursday.

The inspection of seven foreign airlines by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) followed the crash of a PMT Air plane last month in southern Cambodia in which 13 South Korean tourists died.

PMT Air topped the list with 10 deficiencies, followed by Russia's SAT Airlines and Cambodia's Royal Khmer Airlines, with seven and five safety problems respectively, the report said.

PMT Air was cited because its crew captains, non-maintenance personnel, conducted safety maintenance checks 26 times over the past three months. The company was also found to have not updated its service route guidelines.

The airline currently runs six flights each week between South Korea and Siem Reap, a popular Cambodian tourist destination.

SAT Airlines was found to have used non-standard parts in the front wheels of its aircraft, while Royal Khmer hasn't updated its service route guidelines.

The report will be forwarded to air safety officials of the nations involved, along with demands for them to strengthen safety protocols, CASA officials said.

The Transportation Ministry announced earlier in the year that it plans to introduce a safety watch list of carriers with a high risk of accidents, similar to the one initiated by the European Union last year, which placed restrictions on 179 airlines from 14 nations because of safety concerns.

Japanese company to invest in Cambodia for bio-diesel

A Japanese company will invest 800 million U.S. dollars in Cambodia to plant castor bean and refine castor oil into bio-diesel, company source said here on Friday.

The Biwako Bio-Laboratory Co., Ltd. from Japan will plant castor bean on 48,000 hectares of land in Kompong Speu and Kompong Cham provinces and then establish a factory to refine castor oil into bio-diesel which is expected to replace gasoline, said Mitsuo Hayashi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company.

"Now we are waiting for the result of the oil sample test in the laboratory in Japan. We want to know what kind of seeds will be planted to provide high turnouts," he said.

Some 48,000 hectares of castor plants will yield 100,000 tons of castor oil annually and 40,000 tons of bio-diesel after refinery, he said.

The company needs 500,000 hectares of land for the project in 20 years and the Cambodian government is now helping to find land, he added.

Mitsuo is among the 30 representatives of the Japanese delegation currently on visit to Cambodia. Kozo Yamamoto, Deputy Minister of Economy of Japan, leads the team to find investment opportunities here.

Japan is the largest donor country for Cambodia but has little investment in the kingdom.

Source: Xinhua

Hundreds of Cambodian teenagers benefit from football education project

Around 500 children aged from 10 to 13 are benefiting from the Cambodian government-overseen Starfish Foundation Football Coaching, local media said on Wednesday.

The children from 10 teams in Phnom Penh and four in Siem Reap province receive training some six hours a week, English-language newspaper the Cambodian Daily quoted Tola May, deputy secretary- general of the Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC), as saying.

"Fun, discipline and health are all benefits that the kids can gain from football. The role of coaches is not just about training children in terms of football. They are teachers in other aspects of life also," he said.

FFC oversees the football coaching project since it came into being in April 2006 to help disadvantaged children of the kingdom.

Currently, FFC helps organize sponsorship for the project, while the non-governmental Starfish Foundation provides equipment and pay salaries to the coaches.

Source: Xinhua

Cambodian Premier League teams now have 16 foreign footballers

Five out of the eight Cambodian Premier League soccer teams hire foreign talents and their total number now stands at 16, local media on Thursday quoted football officials as saying.

They came from African countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and the Congo, Keo Sarin, Vice President of the Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC), was quoted by English-language newspaper the Cambodian Daily as saying.

FFC President and National Military Police Commander Sao Sokha said that foreign footballers were first allowed into the league for the 2006 season, in an attempt to push the maturation process forward both financially and athletically.

"We want to have more support from the public. Our sponsors will only sponsor us if there is interest from the audience," he said.

The presence of foreigners in the league can also help improve the capabilities of the local players, he added.

A foreign player is usually paid 200 to 400 U.S. dollars a month and enjoys free accommodation and food, said the report.

According to the league regulations, each team can have no more than five foreign players and no team can field more than three at one time.

Source: Xinhua

South Korean bank to operate in Cambodia next month

The first commercial bank funded by South Korean investors will begin operations in Phnom Penh next month, with unusual banking services on offer, local newspaper the Rasmei Kampuchea said on Thursday.

Camko Bank, which is in the family of Camko City, a 2 billion U. S. dollar South Korean housing project to construct a satellite city on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, will become operational late July, the report quoted a Camko City official as saying.

With capital from its parent bank in South Korea, Busan Bank, Camko Bank will provide a variety of "unprecedented" banking services such as loans, VIP services and savings, according to the official.

Different from commercial banks currently operating in Cambodia, Camko Bank will provide among other things a lending service that borrowers don't have to repay the principal, but only the interest, said the official, who declined to elaborate on the issue.

According to the official, Camko Bank will play a main role in the future stock market in Cambodia.

The Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has been assisting the Cambodian government to set up a stock exchange market in Cambodia, which is expected to start in 2009.