Top Story of the Week: Remarks in Cambodia, U.S. Department of State
LOOKING AHEAD:
+ The Council's Business Mission to Cambodia is scheduled for March 19 - 20, 2012. Full details have been distributed via separate announcement. For more information or to register, please contact Carr Slayton at cslayton@usasean.org.
For more information regarding the Council's Cambodia programs, please contact Carr Slayton via email at cslayton@usasean.org or call +1 (202) 416-6712.
Thailand extradites four Khmer prisoners to Cambodia, MCOT, Feb. 1
Thailand on Wednesday extradited four Cambodian prisoners, but the Sa Kaeo prison chief denies it was an exchange for two Thai activists jailed earlier in Phnom Penh for espionage.
Sa Kaeo Deputy Governor Chat Kittinoppadon and Sa Kaeo Provincial Prison Commander Kittipat Dechapahun witnessed the handover ceremony of four Cambodian prisoners -- two men and two women -- to the Cambodian government through Cambodian ambassador to Thailand You Aye.
It was the first time that a handover was held at a local checkpoint as the event was held in Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo province.
Economics
MFIs still seeing significant growth, The Phnom Penh Post, Feb. 2 Outstanding loans and deposits in 28 of Cambodia’s microfinance institutions rose between 30 and 40 per cent year-on-year in 2011, official data from the Cambodian Microfinance Association indicated.The CMA’s data showed outstanding loans rose 41.5 per cent from US$916.3 million with 1.3 million borrowers in 2011, compared to $647.8 million with 1.22 million borrowers a year earlier. Deposits grew by 32 per cent to $1.26 billion with 1.1 million depositors, compared to $952.2 million with 36,776 borrowers in 2010. MFIs in the Kingdom first began to take deposits in early 2010.
Kingdom expects 15% economic growth in 2014, The Phnom Penh Post, Feb. 1The Cambodian economy could potentially grow 14.9 per cent by the end of 2014, according to statements yesterday from Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan. He said the official figures had come from the Ministry of Planning.
To achieve such growth, the ministry predicted that US$11.51 billion would need to be invested in public works over the next three years. “The GDP cannot increase itself,” Phay Siphan said. “We need road building, bridges and other travel channels in order to obtain this big increase.” Market trends indicated that Cambodia would require an additional $2.76 billion from offshore aid, loans or the oil and gas industry in order to meet the $11 billion mark, he added.
Ministry ends unpopular fee for Cambodia business, The Phnom Penh Post, Feb. 1
A newly issued prakas aims to reform Cambodia’s product registration process by eliminating distribution fees, officials say.
Industry, Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem signed the prakas on January 24. Meng Saktheara, director-general of the general department of industry at MIME, said the prakas would encourage producers to register their products now that the ministry had eliminated some expensive application forms and fees. He said producers previously had to pay between US$180 and $200 to the ministry before their products hit the shelves.
Kingdom trade with Vietnam climbs 54%, The Phnom Penh Post, Jan. 31 Cambodia's total exports to Vietnam had risen 54.87 per cent in 2011 year-on-year, officials said.An improving economy and Thailand’s temporary suspension on importing Cambodian crops led to the increased exports. Official data from the Vietnamese embassy’s Trade Promotion Office showed that bilateral trade between Cambodia and Vietnam grew 54.75 per cent to US$2.829 billion in 2011, compared to $1.828 billion in 2010.
USAID injects cash in MFI, The Phnom Penh Post, Jan. 30Thaneakea Phum Microfinance Institution has signed a US$2.71 million loan guarantee agreement with the US Agency for International Development to provide further assistance to the agriculture sector, officials said.
Under the four-year agreement, USAID will guarantee loans for up to 50 per cent of the original amount in the case of default, said Sok Voeun, TPMI’s chief operation officer. “They will support us in providing more loans to the agriculture sectors in the four provinces [Kampong Thom, Pursat, Battambang and Siem Reap]. If a loan within $2.71 million runs into a problem, they will help us by guaranteeing to pay 50 per cent,” he said.
Energy
Cambodia to import oil from Iran, PressTV, Jan. 31
The government of Cambodia has announced that it is planning to import and refine oil from Iran in clear defiance of recent US sanctions on Iranian oil imports.
“Cambodia will not take into account the foreign policies of other countries toward Iran when considering investment in the Kingdom,” spokesman of Cambodia's Council of Ministers Ek Tha said yesterday. “We do not discriminate where our FDI [foreign direct investment] comes from,” he said, adding that the deepening of cooperation with Iran was strictly civilian, not military, the Phnom Penh Post reported. According to Ek Tha, Cambodia is planning to refine crude oil that it imports from Iran at a local refinery whose construction will begin within a few months, and then sell refined products to China and South Korea starting in 2014.
The Kingdom’s much-hyped deadline of tapping its first oil reserves by December 12, 2012 – or 12-12-12 – will not be met, a government spokesman said yesterday.
Chevron Overseas Petroleum (Cambodia) Ltd, which is now exploring the Kingdom’s offshore Block A in the Gulf of Thailand, has notified the Cambodian government that no oil extraction would take place this year, the spokesman said. “2012 is not possible,” Ek Tha, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said yesterday by phone.
A representative from Chevron early this month met with the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority to deliver the news, he said, though the reasons for the decision were not discussed. Ek Tha would not disclose the name of the Chevron representative, although Chevron Overseas Petroleum (Cambodia)’s current president is Steve Glick, who arrived in Phnom Penh last April.
ICT
The shift to online trading, The Phnom Penh Post, Feb. 1
Cambodia continues to leapfrog straight to newer, better technology.
The stock market launched in 2011, and with the almost definite first listing this year, bank savings and property investment will progressively shift into capital markets. Because of this, retail investors will require brokers to buy and sell securities.
They can choose from two arenas: a full-service traditional broker or an online broker, a product that bloss-omed in the 1990s and serves most of the world’s investors today. The differences are vast. A full-service broker executes client trade orders and offers additional services such as research and advice on securities, financial planning on matters such as retirement and education savings, and opportunities to invest in initial public offerings.
Manufacturing
Cambodia's garment sector continues to grow, Khmer Post, Feb. 1
The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) has released its “27th Synthesis Report on Working Conditions in Cambodia’s Garment Sector”, which assesses compliance with Cambodian Labour Law and international
labour standards in garment exporting factories.
The 27th Synthesis Report reflects compliance data from monitoring reports completed between May 1 and October 31, 2011. During this six-month period, BFC produced monitoring reports for 169 of the 300 factories registered with the programme. The 27th Synthesis Report contains a range of information drawn from these reports, including information on factory size across the industry, as well as comparative data on compliance with fundamental rights and selected working conditions to facilitate tracking of compliance levels over time.
Politics
Cambodia at loggerheads with UN over Khmer Rouge trials, The Sydney Morning Herald, Feb. 3
One of the worst mass murderers of the 20th century will learn his fate today at a controversial war crimes tribunal convened to investigate allegations of genocide and other crimes against former leaders of the Khmer Rouge, which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.
However, proceedings have thrown the United Nations and the Cambodian government into dispute and hundreds of staff have not been paid for months. The UN, which wants to prosecute more alleged perpetrators of crimes against humanity, says it is being blocked from doing so by the government.
The decision on an appeal against the 19-year jail sentence for Khmer Rouge executioner and torturer Kaing Guek Eav - better known as ''Duch'' - will be handed down today in the Courts of Cambodia, where the UN-appointed Swiss judge, Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, has been prevented from assuming his official duties.
Cambodian FM to Visit China to Boost Ties, CRIENGLISH, Feb. 2
Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, who is also a minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, will lead a delegation to visit China on Feb. 5-7 in order to strengthen bilateral ties and ASEAN- China relations, according to the ministry's press release on Thursday.
The visit is made at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.During the visit, Hor Namhong will hold talks with Yang Jiechi on some bilateral and international issues, said the press release.The minister will deliver a speech on the ASEAN-China relations at the ASEAN-China Center. He will also meet with some other Chinese high-ranking officials. Cambodia is the chair of ASEAN in 2012. With the chairmanship, the country pledged to strengthen closer ties and cooperation between ASEAN and China.
Cambodia: Stop the use of excessive force against peaceful land activists, Amnesty International, Feb. 2Cambodian authorities must stop the use of excessive force against peaceful land and housing activists, Amnesty International said today, after police violently dispersed a group of around 150 women protesting forced evictions in the capital Phnom Penh.
Police yesterday beat and arrested several of the women, who were peacefully protesting against last month’s forced eviction of the Borei Keila community and the effects of past evictions at the capital’s Boeung Kak Lake. “Communities all over Cambodia are peacefully resisting forced evictions and taking action to claim their rights,” said Donna Guest, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Programme.
Cambodia's PM hails China for robust economic performance in past year, People’s Daily, Jan. 31
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday hailed China for its strong economic growth in 2011, saying China's progress has been considerably benefiting the developing countries.
"I'd like to congratulate China on its high economic growth of 9.2 percent in 2011, this is a high growth in Asia," he said during the inauguration of a China-funded national road No. 76 in Mondolkiri province, some 386 km Northeast of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. "It's a success for China, while the global economic growth is in the uncertain situation due to the crises in the United States and the Europe," he added.
Hun Sen added that China's progress has not only helped China itself, but it has also benefited the world, especially the developing countries, which need capitals for development.
Cambodia's ruling party wins Senate majority, VietnamNet, Jan. 31
The Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), which is the country's main opposition party, gained 21.93 percent of votes.
According to NEC, the official election result will be announced on Feb. 4, but may be postponed to March 5 if there is any complaint from political parties. The Senate elections are taking place under observation of 131 representatives of political parties and 1,432 domestic and foreign observers.
Only two main political parties participated in this year’s elections. They are the ruling CPP and SRP. The elections will select only 57 seats out of 61 seats as two senators will be appointed by the King and two by the National Assembly.