IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is preparing for the implementation of shifting some certification registration online, through its e-government services, with the help of the Chinese government.

Minister Veng Sakhon met with China-based Easy Business recently to discuss migrating manual import and export certification systems for sanitation and phyto-sanitation (SPS) products to an online platform, secretary of state for agriculture Hean Vanhan told Khmer Times yesterday.

Australia has thrown its support behind the smart city development in Preah Sihanouk. This statement was made on a Facebook post of the Australian Embassy on June 30.

In the recent “Smart City Initiative Prioritisation Workshop” organized by Australia’s flagship AU$ 49 million Investing in Infrastructure (3i) programme, with the Preah Sihanouk provincial administration, the Second Secretary of the Australian Embassy, Mr. Anthony Samson, said, “The smart city project selection is a crucial step in our smart city cooperation, as well as in Australia’s efforts

About 32 kilometres outside Phnom Penh stands a public secondary school that is one of the small, but growing, group of government-run schools in the Kingdom connected to the internet. Thet Visith, a grade 9 student at Samraong Leu high school in Kandal province, said he is only able to use the internet for two hours a week, but he is still grateful for the free use of online resources. “It is good to have an internet connection at my school because I can look for interesting news and gain new knowledge easily,” he said.

A Chinese company has expressed its readiness to help Cambodia establish e-government and e-commerce in order to enlarge the country's business potential and to promote trade facilitation, Cambodia's Commerce Ministry said in a press release on Wednesday.

Dong Huang, general manager of Anhui Easy Business Digital Technology of China, revealed the plan during a meeting with Cambodia's Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak on Tuesday.

The government has been discussing plans to turn three of the Kingdom’s cities into “smart cities”, more environmentally friendly urban hubs that improve the standard of living for locals and make them more attractive to tourists.

Minister of Civil Service Prum Sokha noted that a smart city is not just defined by its incorporation of digital advances, but also by the increasing of its livability. The minister spoke at yesterday’s opening ceremony of the Virtual Conference on Smart City Planning.

On March 16, Cambodia published a directive for the closure of all academic institutes across the Kingdom in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus. However, as the number of infected patients continue to soar by the day, reopening of the schools remains uncertain. Caught in a limbo are students and teachers who struggle to adjust with the limited alternatives presented before them.

In an effort to keep students on track with the academic curriculum, the educational sector has brought in reforms to digitalise traditional pedagogy. While the public has seen the government’s initiative to launch e-learning materials for Mathematics, History, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Khmer literature, teachers and students alike admit navigation of the new system has been challenging.

At the 32nd ASEAN Su​mmit in 2018, Siem Reap – one of the most attractive tourism cities in Cambodia – was selected as an ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN) Pilot City.

And JICA has collaborated with the Siem Reap Provincial Administration since 2020 towards “Smart City” realisation.

In May 2022, the “Project for Implementation of Smart City Approach to Solve Urban Issues in Siem Reap” was launched as a JICA technical cooperation project.

Lastmile Works Cambodia chief technology officer (CTO) Keo Phearin is pushing the boundaries of his company’s digital vision with digitalisation transforming the Kingdom’s business ecosystem.

The 29-year-old Phearin, backed by his talented Japanese and Cambodian teams, is striving to create a digitally empowered workforce as the demand for tech professionals grows in the domestic market.

The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications urged a working group to draft a digital government policy framework in line with digital economy policy.

Minister Chea Vandeth said on Tuesday during a meeting at the ministry that it is working on drafting the framework to further study trends at the regional and global level, and collect input from key experts who have expertise in the preparation of such policies.

The Civil Service Ministry yesterday urged public institutions to go digital to provide more efficient and timely services to the public.

The ministry, in collaboration with UNDP, yesterday launched the National Conference on Public Sector in the Digital Era to seek innovative ways to improve services.

Phnom Penh City Hall and Japan have held talks on the setting up of a smart bus station as part of the capital’s Smart City development project.

The talks were held recently in a virtual meeting between Nuon Pharat, deputy governor of Phnom Penh and representatives from Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, representatives from the Japanese Embassy in Cambodia and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as well as officials from the Department of Public Works and Transport.

In a bid to improve public transportation services, City Hall on Friday launched an app that enables travellers to track the location of city buses.

In a press release, City Hall said it cooperated with JICA to install GPS on buses for the City Bus app, which was created by ITSMO, enabling travellers to locate buses as well as estimate the time of arrival of a bus at a designated stop.

“Smart city is not only about digital advance, but means a liveable city.”, declares the Cambodian Minister of Civil Service, Prum Sokha, this morning, July 12. He emphasized this while presiding over the opening ceremony of the Virtual Conference on Smart City Planning.

According to the minister, in the future 70 to 80 percent of a country’s population would be living in a smart city, therefore development of smart cities is important. He also explained the smart city is meant to be liveable and should provide for all necessities; jobs, transport, communication, education, security, clean water, electricity, etc.

Economists have praised Siem Reap’s goal of becoming a smart city, which will harness technological and digital solutions to enhance the lives of both residents and visitors.

They anticipated a substantial increase in tourist numbers if the smart city initiative proves successful.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance chaired a virtual meeting with the Urban Planning and Design Institute of Shenzhen (UPDIS) to discuss the master plan for the development of Preah Sihanouk Province as a model, multi-purpose special economic zone.

Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Economy and Finance Vongsey Visoth said the meeting examined the progress of the master plan, prepared by the working group of UPDIS, that aims to turn Sihanoukville into a smart city with the state-of-the-art technology.

South Korea made a commitment yesterday to help Cambodia develop information technology to improve government services.

Korean Interior Ministry representative Hye Young Kim said at the opening of a Cambodia-Korea E-Government Forum that the Korean government always supported Cambodia in improving digital technology.

Viettel (Cambodia) Pte, Ltd, which uses the brand name Metfone, and The National Institute of Posts, Telecoms & ICT of Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Cambodia (NIPTICT), have signed a memorandum of understanding for developing e-government.

Witnessed by senior leaders, this agreement marks an historical change in bringing IT into the government’s work path in order to serve the Cambodian people and the entrepreneurs more effectively.

High-level officials are to attend the inaugural National Workshop of the “Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders” (Academy), a core ICT for development curriculum developed by the United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (UN-APCICT/ESCAP), in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 9 to 12 March.