Cambodia: Minister of Interior is interested in addressing land disputes raised by EC in its report related to EBA trade preferences
"Sar Kheng says Kingdom is addressing European Union’s land dispute concerns", 21 November 2019
Interior Minister Sar Kheng ... said that the government has already made progress on one of the points listed in the European Commission’s preliminary report on whether the Kingdom should retain its Everything-but-arms trade status with the European Union.
The government is currently reviewing the preliminary report, which was submitted last week, and Mr Kheng ... revealed that one of the points of concern listed by the EC is land disputes in the Kingdom.
“I am interested in one point written in the preliminary report,” Mr Kheng said. “It was about resolving land disputes.”
“The government has clearly put a lot of effort into it,” he added. “It remains a problem, but it has been narrowed down. The EC’s report acknowledges positive progress.”
According to a report issued by the Ministry of Land Management on October 2, its cadastral committee received a total of 1,894 complaints on land disputes.
Of those, the ministry solved 1,765 cases and refused to investigate one because it was not under their jurisdiction. The rest is yet to be resolved.
The EBA status allows preferential access to the European Union market. It has been under review by the EC since February. The EC said duty-free trade under the EBA may be suspended due to serious and systematic violations of labour and human rights...
Ngy Chanphal, a secretary of state with the Interior Ministry, ... said the EC’s preliminary report noted positive steps taken by the government in the past nine months to retain the Kingdom’s EBA status...