Cambodia 20260209
Mekong Memo Cambodia Weekly: Business, politics, finance, trade & legal news.
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Headlines:
Thai Troops Dig In on Disputed Border
Three Reds Make a Market
World Bank's Money Arm Courts Phnom Penh
State Ports Cash In
The Fraud Factory Floor
Four Months to Test the China Bet
Healthcare Flows Both Ways
Spanish Pipemaker Scouts Cambodia Factory
Thai Troops Dig In on Disputed Border
Thai forces deployed seven shipping containers to block a road in Cambodia's Thmar Da area of Pursat province early Saturday morning, reinforcing barbed wire barriers with armored vehicles and armed escorts in what Phnom Penh is sayin is an illegal occupation of its territory. The 5:40am operation is the latest hardening of positions along a century-old border dispute rooted in the French colonial demarcation of the 800-kilometer frontier. Thailand's military organized a media tour of what it calls "reclaimed" territory, showing off excavators clearing debris from bulldozed Cambodian homes and Thai flags flying over the newly controlled areas. Bangkok claims it merely took back land that was part of Thailand and had been occupied by Cambodians for years, while Phnom Penh argues that Franco-Siamese Treaties of 1904 and 1907 suggest otherwise.
Read more: Khmer Times (Official Rejection), Cambodianess (Diplomatic Stance), Kiripost (Village Protests), Cambodianess (Policy Reassessment), Rfi Fr (Family Displacement), CNA (Damage Assessment)
Three Reds Make a Market
Cambodia's Hun Manet hosted his Vietnamese and Laotian counterparts in Phnom Penh on Friday, where the three communist parties floated trade numbers that sound ambitious until you check what already moves across these borders. Manet pitched getting Cambodia-Vietnam trade to $20 billion (no deadline specified) and Cambodia-Laos to $700 million by 2030. The trio also committed to finishing their remaining border demarcations, turning frontier zones into what they called areas of "peace and prosperity," a phrase that usually means someone's still arguing over the map. Vietnam's Pham Minh Chinh promised more Vietnamese investment in Cambodia, while all three pushed for identifying connection points between the Phnom Penh-Bavet expressway and Ho Chi Minh City's Moc Bai route. The summit wrapped a three-day leadership forum where party bosses Hun Sen, To Lam, and Thongloun Sisoulith reinforced what they termed their "pure and loyal" ties, forged during Cold War struggles and now getting a fresh coat of paint as Beijing and Washington circle the neighborhood.
Read more: The Star (Trade Targets), Khmer Times (Party Summit), Cambodianess (Border Cooperation), Khmer Times (Border Details), En Nhandan (Leadership Vision)
World Bank's Money Arm Courts Phnom Penh
The International Finance Corporation is growing its Cambodia portfolio, with division director Keiko Miwa meeting Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol and other senior ministers this week to increase green finance and infrastructure support. The meetings also covered a Strategic Framework for Eco-Industrial Parks that’s was put forward to the Council for the Development of Cambodia last June, with proposals for a pilot Green Special Economic Zone. Miwa's tour included sessions with Permanent Deputy PM Vongsey Vissoth on private sector competitiveness and economic reform. IFC, the World Bank Group's private lending arm, is doubling down on advisory work in finance, agriculture, manufacturing, and export as Cambodia tries to get itself positioned as a supply chain alternative.
Read more: Khmer Times (Investment Sectors), Khmer Times (Green Investment)
State Ports Cash In
Cambodia's two state-owned ports raked in $209 million in 2025, with Sihanoukville Autonomous Port up 35% to about $154 million and Phnom Penh Autonomous Port climbing 24% to $53 million of income. The ports handled 18 million tons of cargo between them, with Sihanoukville moving 12.3 million tons and 1.3 million shipping containers, both up roughly a quarter year on year. Phnom Penh's port pushed through 5.6 million tons, a 16% increase. Public Works Minister Peng Ponea said that growing trade volumes were to thank and claims the government's Port Electronic Data Interchange system should get thanks for speeding things up. The numbers suggest Cambodia's logistics backbone is holding up as regional manufacturers figure out their supply chains, with Sihanoukville in particular showing the kind of growth that makes procurement teams take notice.
Read more: Khmer Times (precise revenue), Cambodianess (percentage growth)
The Fraud Factory Floor
Reuters reporters walked through a bombed-out scam compound near the Thai border this week and found the remains: profiles of a 73-year-old Japanese retiree with his phone number and bank balance, an American domestic abuse victim's details, scripts for impersonating police and running love scams, AND rooms dressed up to look like Singapore/ Australian police offices as well as a Vietnamese bank branch. Chinese-language documents showed management had leased space to different scamming groups. Reuters verified the Japanese victim's file by calling him. He'd handed over personal details to a fake electricity company which had threatened to cut his power.
Read more: CamboJA News (Legal Enforcement), Yahoo (Victim Figures)
Four Months to Test the China Bet
The Tourism Ministry is waiving visa fees for mainland Chinese, Hong Kong and Macau visitors from June 15 to October 15, a trial run after Chinese arrivals rose 41.5 percent to 1.2 million last year even as overall tourism fell almost 17 percent. Chinese tourists are now second behind Vietnamese arrivals, and the ministry is betting a free four-month window will close the gap. If it works, Japan and Western markets will get the same treatment next. If it doesn't, the Kingdom will go back to chasing headline numbers instead of working to get year-round quality.
Read more: Khmer Times
Healthcare Flows Both Ways
Cambodia's health ministry is looking into partnerships with Malaysian hospital operators to increase the availability of affordable healthcare at home, even as Cambodians increasingly head the other direction. Healthcare travel from Cambodia to Malaysia was up from just over 4,400 to nearly 8,000 patients last year, and revenue from those trips went up even faster.
Read more: Bernama (Travel Revenue), Khmer Times (Partnership Benefits)
Spanish Pipemaker Scouts Cambodia Factory
Molecor met with Industry Minister Hem Vanndy to talk about building a local manufacturing plant for its patented PVC-O pipe technology. The Spanish firm, which makes high-tech pipes and fittings for water systems, wants to supply Cambodian water operators that need to upgrade aging infrastructure. No timeline was shared, but European firms keep showing up despite Chinese contractors continuing to dominate the major bids.
Read more: Khmer Times
That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.
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