PHNOM PENH: New Minister of Interior, Sar Sokha, requested his ministry to review the cost of passports in Cambodia so that they can consider lowering the cost, noting that Cambodian passports are much more expensive compared to other ASEAN countries.

On September 4, Sar Sokha met with his legion of Secretaries and Undersecretaries of State, Directors and Deputy Directors-General and Directors of sub-departments to discuss the cost of passports. He noted that ASEAN countries such as Myanmar and Vietnam price their passports low, while Thailand and Singapore, charge a medium price. He said that Cambodia seems to have a high price of at least $100 and asked relevant units to look into it.

"Overall, let's look at this issue and give suggestions on how to make sure that the people are content so that the passport price does not increase from one mandate to another. We know that the printing or producing passports does not cost that much," he said.

current passport service charge $115, in addition to other costs according to the type and needs of the people. The process generally takes about a month and passports are valid for ten years.