Cambodia Review

THURSDAY, 25 AUGUST 2011 15:01 DON WEINLAND AND MAY KUNMAKARA CHINA  National Cereal, Oil and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) is the latest mainland Chinese company to sign a deal to export Cambodian rice. The deal inked with Cambodia’s Angkor Rice provides for exports of 1,000 tonnes of rice. COFCO is one of a number of Chinese companies that have signed similar deals with their Cambodian counterparts, but  direct rice exports to China are yet to begin in earnest. Cambodia’s rice exports are awaiting approval from Chinese inspectors, experts say. A protocol signed between the two countries in October last year states that rice samples must be free of agricultural pests that experts say are endemic in Cambodian rice fields. “The Chinese are very strict on quality,” Phou Puy, president of the Federation of Rice Millers Associat-ions and the Baitong Rice Export Company, said. “So far, we haven't received any updated information on the inspect

Metfone has claimed to control more than 80 percent of Cambodia’s fibre-optic network, allowing it to reach every commune in the Kingdom. The firm said it contributed 16,000 kilometres of fibre-optic backbone to Cambodia’s total of about 20,000 kilometres, citing a February report from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. The last 20 percent was split between Telecom Cambodia and Cambodia Fibre Optic Communication Network Company (CFOCN), the company said. Metfone, which is owned by Viettel, a subsidiary of the Vietnamese military, claimed its cable deployment, all of which has been done since the company received an investment licence in 2006, was “13 times as high as the total national optical backbone developed by the whole country during previous 10 years”. “Metfone is currently the owner of the biggest capacity and largest coverage fiber network in Cambodia,” Metfone said in a statement released earlier this month. While Metfone Managing Director Nguyen Duy Tho di