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Headlines:
Rule of Law Rating Near the Bottom
English Crisis Threatens Competitiveness
Multi-Agency Task Force Targets Scams
Denim Giant Bets Big on Cambodian Expansion
$74 Million Investment Wave Creates 4,400 Jobs
Canadian Trade Blows Past $1 Billion
U.S. Spirits Tariffs Eliminated Immediately
Korean Kidnapping Cases Spike
Corruption Probes Hit Big Wigs
Digital Health Needs Clearer Rules
Startup Competitions Draw Thousands
Cooling Emissions, Drones for Forest Animals
Rule of Law Rating Near the Bottom
The World Justice Project put Cambodia second-to-last globally in its October 2025 rule of law index, putting it just above Venezuela and Afghanistan (tied) in a field of 143 countries. Cambodia, of course, did get ranked dead last (first place at the bottom?) in the 15-country East Asia and Pacific region. While the government waved off the findings as “unverified,” local rights group Licadho took the opportunity to remind everyone of the 88 “prisoners of interest” that remain locked up for activism or speech.
Read more: CamboJA News
English Crisis Threatens Competitiveness
Cambodia sits 111th out of 116 countries in English proficiency. Almost 9 in 10 students who passed the 2022 national exams did so while bombing the English language part of the tests. Part of the problem is that poor performance in the subject doesn’t really affect the overall outcome of Grade-12 exams, killing most of the motivation to give it serious effort. The call is for English to be made a more important subject that’s given more weight, better methods of instruction, and more extracurricular opportunities to use English in order to improve the dismal ranking.
Read more: Cambodianess
Multi-Agency Task Force Targets Scams
A national cybercrime task force put together by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it is going to hunt down criminal masterminds, break up organized networks, and help victims (sounds like something a guy in a cape might announce?). The plan comes after heavy international pressure, including sanctions from the United States and the UK on Prince Holding Group. Authorities picked up 106 Indonesians on November 1 during a Phnom Penh raid, bringing arrests of online scam suspects coming from 20 nationalities to more than 3,400 in the past four months.
Read more: Sigma World (Task Force), The Star (Indonesian Arrests), Asian News Network (Korean Indictments), iGaming Today (Gambling Fraud)
Denim Giant Bets Big on Cambodian Expansion
Panther Denim is investing more than $100 million in a new plant near Phnom Penh. They plan to test the waters with a trial production run late this year. The automated plant is going to match the company’s existing Chinese capacity - 3 million yards of PFD and 5 million monthly - while taking advantage of available renewable energy and other supply chain efficiencies they can wring out. Unlike the way it structured a previous Vietnam project, this time Panther is getting full control, and says it expects to specifically work with brands that want new cost-competitive options to the existing Chinese options.
Read more: Sourcing Journal
$74 Million Investment Wave Creates 4,400 Jobs
Eight new investment projects worth $74 million were given approval on October 30, in industries from agro-industrial and manufacturing to testing instruments, automotive parts, and kitchen equipment. The projects are expected to create about 4,400 jobs in Phnom Penh, Takeo, Kampong Speu, and Kampong Chhnang. Through September, the CDC (Council for the Development of Cambodia) tallied 546 projects with investments of almost $8 billion.
Read more: Construction Property
Canadian Trade Blows Past $1 Billion
Government officials this week chewed the fat on bilateral cooperation with their Canadian counterparts, as the bilateral trade balance jumped 14.4% to best the billion-dollar mark earlier this year. Exports hit $973 million against imports of $52 million. Officials pitched the Pentagonal Strategy to reel in more Canadian money for technology, green industry, and infrastructure. A Canadian consortium is reportedly actively looking for opportunities in oil, gas, healthcare, and automotive.
Read more: Asian News Network (Canadian Trade), Construction Property (Canadian Interest)
U.S. Spirits Tariffs Eliminated Immediately
U.S. Ambassador Jamieson Greer announced the government has wiped out its 35% tariff on U.S. distilled spirits after negotiations. The moves come as U.S. spirits exports are generally taking a beating, with a 9% decline through June and brutal drops to Canada (85%) and the EU (12%).
Read more: Drinks Intel
Korean Kidnapping Cases Spike
Kidnappings or unlawful detentions of Koreans exploded from four accounts in 2021 to 330 in just the first eight months of the year. More than 3,200 Koreans who traveled to Cambodia last year haven’t made the return journey, and at least 80 are reportedly missing. South Korea slapped a ‘code black’ travel advisory on parts of Cambodia on October 16 and started joint efforts to tear down scam networks in the wake of widespread Korean public outrage over deaths, including that of student Park Min-ho.
Read more: Inkl (Kidnapping Deaths), The Star (Family Networks), Straits Times (Singapore Case)
Corruption Probes Hit Big Wigs
The Anti-Corruption Unit is digging into suspended deputy chairman Sean Borath over alleged connections to a $200 million fraud scheme that buried families in debt by getting them to make fake real estate investments. In a separate case, the Siem Reap Provincial Court has given former Brigadier General Sambath Kosal six years for bribery and the making of false accusations, in addition to ordering him to pay ~$5,000 in compensation. The General Department of Identification is sniffing around in the affairs of Major General Kong Vuthy for allegedly pocketing money that he “got from a foreigner” and refused to return.
Read more: CamboJA News (ACU Deputy), Khmer Times (General Sentenced), Khmer Times (Identity Services)
Digital Health Needs Clearer Rules
EuroCham was out pushing for better regulation of the digital health scene during their Healthcare Forum last week, saying that the status quo was filled with safety and data protection landmines. Their White Paper puts forward the ideas of a National Digital Health Coordination Committee, risk-based licensing, and regulatory sandboxes. The Ministry of Health said that it was going to use generative AI “responsibly,” and officials promised that they’re ready to take on AI innovation in line with European guidelines.
Read more: CamboJA News (EuroCham Call), Kiripost (AI Commitment)
Startup Competitions Draw Thousands
Khmer Enterprise’s UniPreneur National Challenge Season 3 pulled in more than 3,000 students from 50+ universities, with teams pitching ideas in agriculture, ICT, food processing, and sustainability. Ten teams made it to the final, and eight got invites to the flagship Award Night. In a separate story, the “Technopreneur Battlebotx” Season 4 was wrapped up on October 30, and featured more than 30 teams going head-to-head in battle with robotic prototypes.
Read more: Cambodia Investment Review (UniPreneur), Cambodia Investment Review (Battlebotx)
Cooling Emissions, Drones for Forest Animals
The 3rd Annual World Green & Sustainability Summit brought together government and business to talk sustainable growth. The government’s 2023 National Cooling Action Plan wants to meet a 17% cut in cooling-related emissions and a 20% drop in electricity use by 2030. In another environmental tech play, rangers at Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary are using drones and mobile apps to fight back against illegal logging and wildlife crimes. Forty-seven drones have been deployed since the beginning of last year.
Read more: Khmer Times (Summit), UNESCAP (Cooling Plan), Khmer Times (Drones), Ecotextile (Textiles)
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