International students and foreign family members of Vietnamese citizens are among those allowed to enter Vietnam on commercial flights to be resumed from Tuesday.

The government has allowed the Transport Ministry to reopen flights to mainland China, Japan and South Korea from September 15, followed by Laos, Cambodia from September 22, the Government Office said Tuesday evening.

The ministry had proposed that passengers allowed entry includes Vietnamese citizens, foreigners carrying diplomatic and official passports, experts, business managers, high-skilled workers, investors, and their family members.

The government’s permission has added international students and family members of Vietnamese citizens to the list of those allowed entry in the latest loosening of arrival restrictions.

The flights are not opened to tourists yet.

There will be a maximum of two round trips a week between the destinations opening up, and the number of flights will be adjusted depending on actual demand.

Passengers must have a certificate showing they tested negative for the novel coronavirus within three days of boarding the flight. That test must be conducted using the real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method.

Upon landing in Vietnam, the arrivals would be tested again with the RT-PRC method at centralized quarantine camps.

The quarantine period for those who test negative twice would be reduced from 14 to five days, following which they have to remain at their accommodation or place of work until the 14 days are up under supervision of local authorities. Those showing signs of infection will have to continue staying at the centralized quarantine facilities.

Those entering Vietnam after transiting from a third destination must stay in centralized quarantine camps for 14 days and undergo tests as required.

All arrivals will have to pay for their quarantine and tests.

Quarantine options

After taking necessary screening steps at quarantine camps, foreign arrivals have different options for continued quarantine.

Foreigners holding official or diplomatic passports and their families can be quarantined at their offices’ guest houses or at lodgings of their choice.

Experts, investors, business managers, high-skilled workers and their families, international students and foreign family members of Vietnamese citizens will be quarantined at their company offices, factories or lodgings.

Vietnamese arrivals will be quarantined at military camps or lodgings.

The Health Ministry had already announced that those entering Vietnam for a period of less than 14 days will not have to be quarantined at centralized camps, but they must ensure compliance with all other requirements, including wearing a mask and refraining from shaking hands. They also need to complete medical procedures, including tests for Covid-19 and the organization that invites them needs to guarantee that it, or an international insurance company, will bear all medical and other expenses if they contract the disease in Vietnam.

The government’s decision came not long after the Transport Ministry said earlier Tuesday that it is yet to allow resumption of flights pending final decisions on quarantine and testing procedures.

Vietnam has suspended all international flights since late March.

The country has recorded 1,063 Covid-19 cases so far with 35 deaths. No local transmission has been recorded for 12 days.

@ VN Express

‘China holds all the cards. It has the dams upriver and it hosts the meeting,’ says scholar Sophal Ear.

China’s extensive damming of the upper Mekong River has reduced water flows, threatening downstream countries Cambodia and Vietnam with environmental harm and food shortages, said experts in advance of a summit meeting of the multilateral  Mekong-Lancang Cooperation group.

The summit, to be held on Aug. 24 as a virtual meeting, will be co-chaired by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. The group is widely seen as a rival to the separate four-nation Mekong River Commission (MRC) and as a forum controlled by China to promote its own interests.

Ham Oudom, a Cambodian consultant on natural resources and water governance, told RFA in an interview this week that downstream countries on the Mekong should confront China forcefully over the harm caused by China’s control over water flows on their countries’ economies and environment.

“It appears to me that China seemingly wants to avoid its responsibilities for the fact that it has contributed to devastation and impacts on downstream countries, as in the case of the Tonle Sap Lake,” he said.

“In the past, there were no mechanisms through which we could raise our concerns, and we could not identify anyone who was responsible,” he said, adding, “Now there are many mechanisms in place, but countries seem to talk only about sustainable development, and don’t dare address the root causes of our problems.”

“We should carefully reflect on the negative impacts we have already seen in the past resulting from the construction of hydropower dams,” he said.

Cambodia’s Tonle Sap, a large inland lake whose waters ebb and flow with the annual cycle of the river connecting it to the Mekong, has been drying at a rapid rate in recent years, threatening the fish stocks providing millions of Cambodians with their main source of protein.

The inland lake is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots and is Southeast Asia’s most bountiful source of freshwater fish. The greater Mekong river system provides fish, water, and fertilizer for 60 million Southeast Asians.

Meanwhile, reduced water flows on the Mekong have even further reduced the volumes of water flowing back to the Tonle Sap, local fisherman and head of the Tonle Sap Fishing Community Alliance Long Sochet told RFA.

“There seems to be no pulse pushing the natural flow from the Mekong River, and all we see now is a rise due to floods from the various streams surrounding the Tonle Sap,” he said.

“The Mekong River has not yet reversed its flow to the lake, and if not for the rain we’ve had in surrounding areas, the water level would not have risen at all.”

The Mekong-Lancang group also competes with a 2009 U.S. program called the Lower Mekong Initiative, involving Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. China, which has ruled Tibet, the source of the Mekong, since 1951, refers to the waterway as the Lancang River and has built 11 dams on it.

‘China holds all the cards’

Talks at the coming Mekong-Lancang summit are unlikely to effectively address questions about water security in the region, though, said Sophal Ear, an associate professor of diplomacy and world affairs at Occidental College in California.

“China holds all the cards. It has the dams upriver and it hosts the meeting,” Ear said. “It has the gold and so it makes the rules.”

“China needs to stop building dams and needs to blow up some dams to release water back to the Mekong. This really is a zero-sum game. What is happening now to lower Mekong countries is attributable to China.”

China has built 11 large dams on the river since the 1990s and has more planned or under construction on the 3,100 mile river that originates on the Tibetan Plateau and empties into the South China Sea in Vietnam.

Laos, aiming to become the “Battery of Southeast Asia,” is also building a series of dams on the Mekong to boost the generation of hydroelectric power which it plans to sell to other countries.

Vietnam also under threat

Vietnam’s access to water is also increasingly under threat, with almost 70 percent of its resources now coming in from rivers outside the country and water flows regulated more and more by upriver foreign dams, one government expert told the National Assembly in Hanoi on Aug. 17.

Around half of Vietnam’s 200 rivers enter the country from outside its borders, but these bring in 63 percent of the surface water used in Vietnam for domestic, agricultural, and industrial use, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said, according to state media reports.

The quantity and quality of water available to Vietnam is thus directly controlled by the growing number of hydropower projects managed by China and other countries upstream on the Red and Mekong Rivers, Nguyen said.

Vietnam is the last stop for water flowing into the country from China, Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand, Le Anh Tuan—a climate change and water resource expert at Vietnam’s Can Tho University—told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“The amount of rain falling into the Mekong River in Vietnam is very small compared to the total amount of river water flowing down from countries upstream,” Le said, adding, “This means that Vietnam depends almost completely on water resources from other countries.”

The Mekong River Commission — a regional group made up of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam — has meanwhile issued several warnings about the impact on downstream countries of China’s dams upstream, said Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment.

“But China seems not to pay any attention,” Dang said.

“The countries along the lower Mekong have come together to require that China share information about its hydropower projects, but China has not responded so far to these requests,” he said.

‘Prepare for the worst’

Ho Phi Long, Director of the Water Management and Climate Change Center at the National University in Ho Chi Minh City, told RFA on Aug. 17 that countries on the lower Mekong must “prepare for the worst,” so that they are not made hostage later to political pressures from outside.

There is no lack of water coming into Vietnam, but the yearly distribution is not consistent, said Le Anh Tuan.

“For example, when we don’t need more water, the volume of water flowing into the country is too great,” he said.

“But when we need more water for our daily needs or for use in cultivation, the amount of water flowing into Vietnam is much less than expected, and this causes an increase of salt-water intrusion in the Mekong Delta region.”

Because Vietnam is still a developing country, Ho Phi Long added, the country has not experienced the full impact of water shortages yet. “But as we develop, and as we start to face real shortages, the country’s economy will have more trouble.”

Reported and translated by RFA’s Khmer and Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Cambodia has re-opened its borders with Vietnam after banning cross-border movement more than three months ago due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Foreign Affairs Ministry secretary of state Ouch Borith said Vietnam had already been informed of the June 19 decision.

However, it is unclear whether Vietnam will reciprocate with a similar move.

Related: Experts say we are still in the 1st wave of virus cases

Borith said Vietnamese nationals entering Cambodia must adhere to the health measures implemented by the country.

“For Vietnamese nationals, especially technicians, investors, and students, they may get other visas except for a tourist visa,” he said.

The Khmer Times reports General Keo Vanthorn, deputy director at the Ministry of Interior’s Immigration Department, confirming the opening of the border, saying it would boost economic, investments and trade between the two countries, and allow businessmen to travel.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Vu Quang Minh said this easing of restriction would allow students to return to their universities in Vietnam and Cambodia.

“Our countries have managed the epidemic well so far, with no deaths and more than two months of no community transmissions. We both can be proud and think about measures to mutually ease travel restrictions between us.”

Centre for Policy Studies director Chan Sophal also expressed support for the lifting of border restrictions although concerns linger over a new wave of infections.

He said now was a “suitable time” to allow travel between the two nations.

He encouraged the reopening of borders shared with Thailand and Laos so economic activities with the countries could resume.

“However, the reopening of the borders must come with a mechanism to control the risk of virus transmission. It does not mean that we will allow them to enter our country freely.”

In related news, Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey provincial governor met officials from Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province to discuss the reopening of the Poipet- Khlong Luk international checkpoint, the most important border point shared by the two nations.

The meeting comes after traders requested the re-opening as up to 12,000 Cambodian vendors with stalls in Sa Kaeo were suffering since its closure.

The Phnom Penh Post said Asean countries were discussing possible measures to rejuvenate tourism throughout the region.

Last Friday, Asean nations convened via videoconferencing for the Conference of Federation of Asean Travel Associations to discuss the reopening of borders.

According to a Tourism ministry Facebook post, the discussion touched on policies to promote domestic tourism between Asean countries.

Its director-general of Tourism Development and International Cooperation, Thong Rathsak, said each country presented policies and measures, but a timeframe for border openings was unclear.

“All the Asean countries prepared a plan for advancing travel in the region, but for the opening of borders and airspace, no country has set specific dates yet.”

Rathsak said 1.16 million international tourists arrived in Cambodia from January to March, a 38 per cent decrease from the same period last year.

Reporting by NST

No government is likely to fall as a result of its COVID-19 response, the impact on politics is still significant.

COVID-19 hit Southeast Asia earlier than most regions of the world, and today the region has over 90,000 cases, with more than 2,700 confirmed deaths. The low levels of testing in all states, bar Singapore, however, should give rise to skepticism. The virus is likely far more prevalent than what governments are admitting, and anecdotal evidence suggests that there are far more deaths than what has been officially reported.

The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the economies of Southeast Asia, which are dependent on tourism and exports. The IMF is predicting a global economic contraction of 3 percent, and all evidence suggests that the globalized economies of Southeast Asia will be deeply impacted, with recessions in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

How will COVID-19 impact politics in the region?

On the surface, we see little change. There are only three countries that have scheduled elections or routine political transitions coming months. With a new COVID-19 election bill passed earlier this month, Singapore is moving ahead with elections as soon as infections drop; Myanmar announced that elections will proceed as planned by year’s end, but is introducing a series of administrative changes due to limitations posed by the virus. Vietnam will hold its quinquennial Party Congress in January 2021 and will be sure to capitalize on its COVID-19 management success.

The pandemic response in Indonesia has exposed Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s weakness, but with elections just held in 2019 it’s not going to change the government. In Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines, the response to COVID-19 has simply accelerated the authoritarian trends of the leadership. In fact, COVID-19 has strengthened incumbents, giving them space to capitalize on fear and displace challengers.

This does not mean that all leaders are safe or the trend will last. Weak leaders are more exposed. COVID-19 has constrained patronage to appease challengers, resources have contracted as economies have shrunk ,and the costs of responding to the virus have increased.

Ultra-royalist elites in Thailand have questioned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s competence for a while, and there has been a growing push to replace him and key cabinet members, though leaving the military-backed coalition in place. Despite reopening the economy, the Emergency Decree remains in place.

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s attempt to dodge a vote of no confidence has done him no favors. Leaders who lack broad public mandates and face elite challengers are vulnerable and beholden to their allies. They have to spend time politicking rather than focusing on crisis response.

All that said, we’re not predicting any immediate political COVID casualties. The intensity of the economic crisis tied to COVID-19 will be more determinant than the public health challenges.

We see five distinct political trends that will impact politics in the medium term.

The first is an abject failure in governance in many countries. States have basic obligations to provide security, education, public health, and a legal system to their electorates. In country after country, public health systems were exposed to be underfunded and poorly staffed. Governments were caught flat-footed despite seeing the crisis unfold in China and experiencing other public health scares since the 2003 SARS outbreak.

With the exceptions of Singapore, Vietnam, and Malaysia, governments in the region were slow to respond to COVID-19, sent mixed and confusing messages, peddled quackery, were largely in denial, and proved unwilling to defer to medical and public health advice.

In a region that is based on notions of paternalistic leadership, including the region’s few democracies, where people are not supposed to question the state, there is now a growing realization that government does not know best. Revered politicians have fallen off their pedestals.

Demands for greater competence and embrace of science-based approaches, especially among the younger generations, is sowing the seeds of new political forces. Civic-mindedness has already sustained mobilization at local levels and it is only a matter of time until such sentiments translate into greater demands for accountability and political movements. In Indonesia, the hashtag “Whatever Indonesia” is trending; an expression of frustration with the government’s chaotic response.

It is telling that in Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines the governments immediately adopted emergency decrees. Indonesia’s president considered adopting one. Governments were unable to cope with the pandemic with existing institutions and authorities and aimed for extended power, but these emergency powers, in all cases, were used to go after dissent first.

Second, the weakness exposed by COVID-19 has caused militaries to gain more prominence.

In Indonesia and the Philippines, the weakness of the government response has forced the presidents to rely on militaries and security forces to backstop their flailing responses.

In Indonesia, this has been welcome news for the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), which has sought to claw back many of the civil-administrative powers that it lost following the collapse of the New Order regime in 1998. Jokowi’s entire COVID-19 response team is staffed by acting and retired generals who are responding with an insurgency-based approach, an abject failure as the pandemic continues to spiral out of control.

We have seen the same thing in the Philippines, where Duterte’s COVID-response team is comprised of retired and acting generals, not medical professionals. The result has been a militarized response not informed by public health. Meanwhile, Duterte has called security forces to shoot people who violate quarantine orders on sight.

In Myanmar, the military has assumed a role in crisis-management, pitting itself against Aung San Sui Kyi’s National League for Democracy during an election year and at the same time using the distraction of the crisis to ratchet up fighting in ethnic conflict areas.

While regional militaries are providing order and using the crisis to accumulate power (and money), they are also exposing their poor capacity to manage public health problems.

Third, the greater role that security forces are playing accentuates authoritarianism. Many governments are adopting securitization to address the crisis and simultaneously cracking down on critics of the crisis response. This is worryingly happening in the region’s more open regimes.

In Malaysia, we’ve seen a shocking attack on the free press, which for the past two years had seen the most notable improvements in the region. A journalist was summoned to police headquarters for her reporting on the roundup of migrant workers. While there is no evidence of an overall shift in government policy to reverse the positive trajectory on press freedoms, such incidents point to increased intolerance of alternative views.

In Indonesia, circumstances surrounding the charges against researcher Ravio Patra, who raised questions about Jokowi’s COVID-19 response, raise even further questions.

COVID-19 is being used to curb discussion and necessary criticism – often dismissed and framed as “disinformation.” Thailand, Singapore, and Cambodia have all wielded their “fake news” laws to that effect, while Duterte has increased his use of the cyber crime law to target dissenters. This comes at a time where governments are breaking down the boundaries of privacy via the centrally controlled use of applications to track and trace citizens.

Fourth, the pandemic has exposed the glaring inequities around the region. Singapore, which received accolades as being the “gold standard” of pandemic responses, has seen the largest number of cases in the region. An overwhelming majority of the more than 35,000 cases (as of June 1), have been in the crowded dormitories for the 324,000 migrant workers who make the country’s first world living standards possible.

Thailand, whose excellent public health and medical systems have responded well to the crisis, has been unable and unwilling to address the large numbers of poor that can ill-afford a prolonged shutdown. COVID-19 has seen a rise in other health problems, as well as hunger and helplessness. In Thailand the number of suicides has soared.

Thailand, according to a the 2018 Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook, is the most inequitable society in the world, a trend that has been exacerbated since the 2006 coup d’etat. The military and ultra-royalist elites simply do not care about the underclass, and as such the government has done little to support them. Thai government official are now predicting that some 14 million workers could be unemployed in the second and third quarters of 2020.

But inequality is rife around the region, and all countries have rising Gini coefficients. A prolonged economic recession will further exacerbate existing inequalities. The region’s social safety nets have serious holes and do not provide broad cover for those who need them.

In the Philippines, Duterte has tried to direct COVID-19 relief funding to the poorest segments of society, but simply doesn’t have the resources to do so in a meaningful way. The Indonesian and Malaysian governments are in a similar predicament – although in Malaysia’s case the former Najib government decimated the country’s finances in the 1MDB scandal.

COVID-19 spread through globalization, but it is a stark reminder that what made the rapid economic growth in Southeast Asia possible has been distributed inequitably. Unless the poorest and most marginalized of a society have adequate protections, then no one does.

The final trend is the growth of polarizing, identity politics, exacerbated by a vociferous religious fringe and rising xenophobic nationalism. This is not new. We’ve seen extremists Buddhist monks in Myanmar fan the flames of a genocide, the sudden reassertion of chauvinist identity politics in Malaysia, and the wielding of Islamist politics in Indonesia.

Both governments and the people have already proven quick to scapegoat certain communities for the spread of the pandemic. Thai leaders blamed Western tourists, ignoring community transmission. In Singapore and Malaysia, the blame quickly fell on migrant workers. In Indonesia, Islamists immediately resorted to their default position: blaming the Chinese community.

In any crisis, there is an innate response to scapegoating, but what is so telling in COVID-19 is that governments are not stepping in to counter those destructive narratives, instead often using them to distract from their own responsibility and their lackluster responses.

Extremist religious groups are poised to take advantage of both the emotions of COVID-19 – fear and insecurity – and well as government weaknesses; they will capitalize on the inequities of society and to try to mobilize their constituents through scapegoating out-groups.

Despite these trends that should cause alarm for governments and the elites who back them, they have several things in their favor. First, the weakness of the political oppositions. While we have seen the Thai and Philippine presidents further consolidate their authoritarian grips and go to lengths to crush the free press, the reality is that they have sustained a long-term assault on the political opposition.

Duterte has jailed political opponents on trumped-up charges, marginalized his vice president (who hails from the opposition party), and trounced opposition figures in the midterm elections. With a stacked parliament and supreme court, Duterte has wielded the police as a hit squad in his war on drugs, without any due process, oversight, or accountability. COVID-19 has seen even greater attacks on the opposition and the shuttering of the largest media conglomerate.

In Thailand, the military-backed government has used the courts to dissolve political parties and bring legal cases against opposition figures, already having stolen an election in March 2019. The government wields enormous coercive legal powers through its arbitrarily applied Computer Crimes Act and lese majeste provisions of its criminal code.

In Indonesia, the opposition was largely co-opted by Jokowi when he brought his long-time political rival Prabowo Subianto into government as the minister of defense. The remainder of the opposition is a very loose coalition of parties that have little ideological or policy affinity for one another.

In Malaysia, the recently ousted Pakatan Harapan faces divisions over leadership and grapples with winning a new national base, especially among Malays, and among its own base who are dissatisfied with their slow record of implementing reforms while in office from 2018 until February of this year.

In Singapore, an expanded opposition has yet to resolve internal differences. While people may cast votes for the opposition, it is usually only a way to signal displeasure with the ruling People’s Action Party rather than voting for an alternative.

In short, political oppositions across the region are weak, divided, and largely unable to work together. In several cases, they are simply not up to the task of governing at all.

The second thing in favor of governments is the ability to distract. Governments can manufacture security incidents and political crises. As no country in Southeast Asia has a truly free press, governments can use mainstream media to push certain narratives. They have more resources at their disposal to rent a mob or an army of cyber trolls to shape opinions on social media. While there may be opposition and dissent, the government has greater coercive power as well as the ability to mobilize. COVID-19 at least in the short term limits the ability for mass protests, forcing criticism to be localized or online.

The third tool at their disposal is patronage. While traditional patronage has shrunk in COVID-19, we will likely see the fire sale of government assets to cronies or potential political rivals as governments face soaring budget deficits amidst recession. Increasingly, as has happened in earlier crises, regimes will shore up oligarchs as policies move toward protecting elites over ordinary citizens.

While no government is likely to fall in the short term as a result of its COVID-19 response, the impact on politics is significant. The pandemic has exposed weaknesses in governance capacity, weak leadership, and rising inequalities, to which governments have responded with an overreliance on security forces and onslaughts on critics. At the same time, they have tried to buy off challengers through patronage, keeping the political opposition weak and allowed distracting scapegoating narratives to take root — exposing their own fragility. In the short term COVID-19 has been a political opportunity for many governments, but as the crisis deepens with contracting economies the pathogens within these regimes may also spread.

Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College, Washington, DC and an adjunct at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program. The views are his personal opinions and do not reflect the opinions of the National War College or the U.S. Department of Defense.

Bridget Welsh is Honorary Research Associate, UNoARI, University of Nottingham Malaysia and a lead author of the Asia Barometer Surveys.

This article originally posted on The Diplomat

With its fast developing nature, Cambodia is speedily moving to be a choice location for expats and travelers all over the world, also with a booming economy the desire to holiday in Cambodia is gaining interest among many.

Owning real estate investments in Cambodia as well as in Vietnam is one way through which you can consider, from the enormous potentials and benefits the countries afford foreigners and investors alike.

Investing with a real estate company is a safe heaven as it affords you the opportunity of having risk free investments, as the real estate company goes out of its way to give you the very best choice. Mistakes that ordinarily should have cost a fortune, are avoided when you chose to invest with a real estate company.

Invest in real estate in Cambodia or Vietnam ?

Vietnam is one of the trendiest real estate market in the region but Cambodia should also be considered for foreigners who want to diversify their assets and exposure to emerging markets.

To start investing in real estate in Cambodia, here are some key things you have to get in mind before choosing where, what and how to buy properties in Cambodia :

• Invest in condominiums : to get the full ownership for foreigners
• Invest in choice cities: Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Siem Reap, Kampot are some of the trendy cities where you can expect having growth
• Go with trusted developers : follow advice from local property developers used to work with foreign investors
• Have security in mind : working with a agency including all the dealing for your renting will be hassle-free for a long term investment
• Consider the returns on investment : pay attention to the increase of price per meter square and also the rent you can expect by renting out your property in Cambodia

Investing in real estate properties in Cambodia as a foreigner

Because as a foreigner, you cannot own lands in Cambodia (article 16 of the law about investment in Cambodia), there is common ways you can invest in properties in Cambodia:

1. Through a Cambodian company : you create a company that owns your real estate just like in Vietnam
2. Through Leasehold : leasing agreement with a Cambodian citizen for a period of 15-50years
3. Citizenship : after seven years living in Cambodia, a foreigner can become a citizen, it is a good way to get a second passport
4. Through a nominee of Cambodia : using a trustworthy Khmer person to own the land

Top 3 real estate companies in Cambodia

Some top performing estate companies in Cambodia can advice you about the local market. With the intention of guiding your decision making process and helping you to settle for a choice.

1. IPS

IPS is a real estate company founded 10 years ago in Cambodia and owned by an Australian investor and businessman David Murphy. Those 10 years of experience in the real estate sector of Cambodia, helping hundreds of foreign customers all over the world to buy properties in the county and also to help Cambodian real estate market to get a worldwide exposure. IPS is focused on offers both residential and commercial property services from apartments, hotels, condominiums and different kind of offices and commercial real estate. IPS has been operated for a long period of time, growing and becoming popular among the expat and foreign investor community for great service, reliability and honest consultancy according to each investor profile.

2. Cambodia Properties Limited

Founded in 1997, Cambodia properties limited is one of the oldest real estate companies in Cambodia with more than 20 years of experience in helping foreigners and locals to get the best value for their properties and also in finding the best properties to meet client’s demands. Reputed for it’s work in the real estate sector of the country, the Cambodia properties limited is a choice company among property developers and buyers. The company offers both commercial and residential estate services to its clients, and also manages these properties.

3. Cambodia Angkor Real Estate

Care as it is often called by clients and abbreviated, is a leading real estate company in Cambodian with over 20 years of service in the real estate sector to its crest and badge of honor. Notable for meeting clients demands and finding the best properties across Cambodia for its clients, the company offers commercial real estate services to clients as well as residential real estate services, ensuring that no matter your need for a real estate in Cambodia, it is fulfilled with ease and speed. Care’s experience in the real estate sector and its achievements gives it a place on this list.

Cambodia as diversifying of your investments

Minimizing risk in business and investment is one of the basic essentials needed to survive for the long run, and this is very important in real estate.

Investing in real estate comes with risk that if not guided against can cost one a great fortune, investing with a real estate company is one of the best ways of minimizing the risk that is associated with doing business in fast developing market like Cambodia.

Movetoasia.com agency is now growing in other part of south east asian countries to help and advice expats doing smart and sustainable investment decisions.

Check out the last updated guide about investing in Cambodia.

The guide contains real estate companies that can be trusted to help you with your real estate business, and ensure you make the best returns from your investment.

A US subsidiary of 7-Eleven Japan Co will expand its convenience store empire to Cambodia next year and allow the Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group Co Ltd (CP Group) to oversee operations in the Kingdom.

Japan’s Kyodo News reported on Friday that CP All Plc, the conglomerate’s SET-listed retail arm, has concluded a deal with Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc to operate 7-Eleven stores through its subsidiary CP All (Cambodia) Co beginning in 2021.

A spokeswoman for 7-Eleven Japan’s parent company, the Japanese retail group Seven & i Holdings Co Ltd, told Kyodo News that the first outlet is set to open in Phnom Penh.

She said 7-Eleven stores in the Kingdom will offer international beverage and snack products as well as ready-to-eat fresh food items tailored to the local palette.

Seven & i Holdings is considering opening its flagship convenience store chain in other countries and plans to open an outlet in India by the end of this year, she said.

Cambodian Ambassador to Thailand Ouk Sorphorn told The Post on Sunday that the forthcoming presence of 7-Eleven convenient stores in Cambodia is a good sign of successful policies geared at promoting economics, culture and tourism between the two nations.

It also reflects upon the potential of the Thailand-Plus-One strategy, which the Royal Embassy of Cambodia in Bangkok has been implementing to lure tourists and foreign investors to visit and invest in Cambodia.

The Thailand-Plus-One strategy is a business model in which Japanese companies extend their supply chain networks developed in Thailand to neighboring countries to benefit from low-cost production sites while maintaining their main regional production base in Thailand.

Sorphorn said: “The 7-Eleven project will not only promote bilateral trade between Cambodia and Thailand but will also create a lot of employment opportunities since the president of CP All Plc has promised that at least 90 per cent of employees will be locals.”

According to the plan, he said, CP All will initially invest in around 700 to 1,000 outlets by itself. It will then sell franchises to Cambodian businesses and other foreign investors that wish to run 7-Eleven convenience stores in the Kingdom.

Federation of Associations for Small and Medium Enterprises of Cambodia president Te Taingpor told The Post on Sunday that he welcomes the presence of 7-Eleven in Cambodia. He says he hopes that the convenience store chain will consider allocating a shelf exclusively for Cambodian-made products.

“It would be great if 7-Eleven chooses to stock their outlets with our homemade products. If they just sell Thai-made products, it would impact our locally producers,” he said.

Sorphorn said inventory at 7-Eleven convenience stores will comprise at least 50 per cent local-made products.

“During a meeting with CP All Plc executive board chairman Korsak Chairasmisak earlier this year, I requested that CP All import Cambodian products to sell at 7-Eleven outlets in Thailand. The chairman accepted my request,” he said.

He said the embassy and the company have been working together to introduce a number of Cambodian products to Thai outlets on a trial basis.

“Unfortunately, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the project has been delayed. Nevertheless, with CP All’s investment, I am very hopeful that more Cambodian products will be available at 7-Eleven outlets across Cambodia and Thailand soon,” he added.

CP All began operating 7-Eleven stores in Thailand in 1989 and currently operates a network of around 12,000 outlets, the second largest globally after its 20,000-store network in Japan, said 7-Eleven Japan.

@ May Kunmakara @ Phnompenh Post

Retirement planning is never a walk in the park. It’s now the right time to transition from planning your retirement and wearing a new hat of full retirement. But if you have all your sights set on retiring to South East Asia, then you are on the right track. But there’s a lot that you must know, especially retirement visa issues in South East Asia and how to go about it.

The crux of this article is to present you with information surrounding retirement in South East Asia, retirement visa issues, and the best destinations to try out in countries, such as Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, beautiful countries with thousands planetary sights to see.

Cambodia and its retirement Visa

Cambodia is a highly preferred retirement country in Southeast Asia that has a surreal and unfamiliar landscape that spans to low lying plains. The ragged lunar mountains and the pristine gulf of Thailand Coastline will take your breath away. Cambodia’s capital city is Phnom Penh that will introduce you to the ever-busy art deco Central Market as well as the glitzy Royal Palace.

Everyone loves spending quality time in the sizzling hot beaches and limitless yet primeval jungles. You will relish in the bustling city where you have to call this place your second home. There is definitely a reason why Cambodia is referred to as a King of Wonder by locals and tourists alike.

Cambodia makes it super easy for people seeking to retire in this charming country. As an expat planning to retire in Cambodia, you will experience minimal bureaucracy, red tapes, or financial requirements. You only need to pay for a visa on arrival, simply at the airport, by filling in a short document, including submitting two passport photographs and paying for either an ordinary or business visa that is valid for only a month.

Once you enter the country, you will be required to extend your visa for a year, which allows you to enjoy living in the country while you can leave and come back to your liking. Most of all, if you adhere to the rules of the country, everyone will be happy to have you as a fond foreigner friend.

Be retired in Thailand : how it works ?

Thailand is another Southeast Asian country that is filled with sprawling tropical beaches to find pleasure in as an expat in your retirement. The magically ornate yet archiepiscopal palaces will enrich your knowledge of ancient history, and the aesthetically pleasing fine art will get your mind specially titivated. If you find religion devout, then the ornate temples that display figures of Buddha will take you to a whole new world, such as the vintage temple of Wat Arun and Emerald Buddha.

Life in Thailand is worth living with endless places to spend quality time with friends or family, such as modern beach resorts and restaurants, including Pattaya and the ever stylish and modish Hua Hin. You will definitely fall for the beguiling wildlife of Thailand in the heaving national parks. And if nature doesn’t lift your spirits high, you can choose to spend time walking in the energetic cities and endearing towns of this ‘land of smiles.’ The soaring skyscrapers and modern-day architecture will make you forget everything about your homeland.

For you to qualify for a retirement visa in Thailand, you must be at least 50 years of age when applying for a retirement visa. You also must adhere to all the financial requirements, which entails making a security deposit of approximately 800,000 Baht or a monthly income of about 65,000 Baht. This may include a total of about 800,000 Baht combinations of personal bank deposits as well as salary or pension for the whole year. You also must submit a police clearance document before applying for a retirement visa in Thailand.

If you meet the set requirements as set by the Thai Embassy in your home country, you will apply for 1 Year Non-Immigrant OA visa. You will be required to renew your extension in Thailand every year, which is done before the expiry of your current visa.

Vietnam and its long-term investor visa

Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh city

Vietnam is another fantastic country in Southeast Asia that is famous for its sassy beaches, and beloved untamed yet sparkling rivers. For someone who wishes to learn more about pious religions and scrupulously true beliefs, you’ll have to check out the Buddhist pagodas that have shaped the social, cultural, and religious lives of the people of Vietnam for decades.

Besides, the authentic history of Vietnam will inspire you to bits, particularly, that of the country’s widely admired communist leader by the name Ho Chi Minh. You will have a lot to learn in most of the historical war museums that silently conserve a plethora of facts that remain unknown to many foreigners.

Even though Vietnam appears tiny on the map, you could easily spend months exploring this spellbinding country. This is starting from the sultry beaches to the toothed mountains and profoundly rich culture of the people of Vietnam.

Vietnam, firstly, doesn’t have a retiree visa. However, American citizens are granted a year, multiple-entry visa. You will still be required to leave the country at least once every 90 days. Getting a permanent resident visa is often extremely limited. This sometimes happens to relatives of current residents with permanent resident visas.

Moreover, if you intend to not only retire in Vietnam but also invest in this fast-growing country, you will be spoilt for choice. You will be introduced to a Vietnam visa by investment, which is abbreviated as DT, or (Dau Tu), which means investment in Vietnam. As a foreign investor in Vietnam, you will be issued with a DT visa allowing you to get a DT Temporary Residence card that is valid for 12 months up to 5 years according to the amount you are investing.

For you to apply for the DT visa, you must submit documents that prove your investment plan in Vietnam as enshrined in Vietnam’s law on Investment. You also need to show your practice license, in case you work as an attorney in Vietnam.
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The application process for a DT visa is straight forward. It involves acquiring an approval letter from your inviting company/organization. You will then be required to apply for a DT visa approval letter through your inviting company and provide papers as well as a written request.

Other crucial requirements include legal paper of inviting company, Certificate of Business Registration, Certificate of Investment, Certificate of Stamp Registration, personal details as indicated in passports, the port of entry, exit, and date, as well as point of getting entry/single/multiple entry visa.

Wrapping up,

After many years of planning as well as saving, it is finally the time to retire like a millionaire! In case you reached your financial freedom, and you can now manage to put an end to working full-time, hats off! You need a huge pat on your back. Sample one country of preference and enjoy your retirement because you deserve it. Won’t you?