Claudio Bussolino espatriato in Cambogia

Notizie dalla Cambogia di oggi

FTA with ASEAN comes into force

2 January 2010 -The world's largest free-trade area (FTA) came into being on Friday, an initiative that analysts said gives a shot in the arm for global trade troubled by rising protectionism. Most goods traded between China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) attracted zero or little tariff. The average tariff on goods from ASEAN countries is cut to 0.1 % from 9.8 %. The six original ASEAN members - Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand - will slash the average tariffs on Chinese goods from 12.8 % to 0.6 %. By 2015, 90 percent of goods are expected to flow without tariffs between China and the four new ASEAN members: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

Border traders were happy with the launch of the FTA, the world largest in terms of population, 1.9 billion, and third largest by GDP, trailing the European Union and the North American Free Trade Area. "This will enable trade to flow more freely between China and ASEAN, it is a very good thing," said Chan Sophal, president of the Cambodian Economic Association.

He said the FTA would also create more opportunities for ASEAN countries to increase regional trade. "Cambodia can produce more products and export more to China's market," he said.

Experts have predicted the removal of trade duties will prompt China-ASEAN trade to grow 40 to 50 %.

350 rice millers make deal to boost exports

4 January - Baitang Kampuchea Plc signed an agreement Saturday with 350 rice millers from around Cambodia aiming to strengthen cooperation in order to boost rice exports to international markets this year.
Ny Lyheng, deputy general manager of Baitang Kampuchea said the terms of the agreement would allow the exporter to supply between 200,000 and 300,000 ton of rice per year to overseas markets.
In December, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries predicted that Cambodia would have 3.2 million ton of paddy left over from domestic use this year. Cambodian exporters may be able sell between 500,000 and 700,000 ton of rice to international buyers this year in Europe, the United States, Australia, Canada, Africa and the Philippines, among other places.

#
Bovine rampage injures three
6 January - An untied cow attacked three people, including a police officer, in Kandal province on Saturday. The victims were nursing injuries at a private clinic in Kien Svay district after the rampaging bovine charged them, leaving two damaged motorbikes in its wake. Police have not laid charges against the animal but have issued a warning that farmers should check their knots and not allow cows to run recklessly around the streets.

UN rapporteur sees progress in Cambodian rights

19 January - The UN special reporter for human rights to Cambodia said he held "constructive" talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen Tuesday in his controversial position. Surya Subedi, who was appointed to the job last year after his predecessor Yash Ghai resigned under a war of words with the Cambodian government, said he discussed a wide range of rights issues in a two-hour meeting with the premier.

"It was very constructive dialogue," Surya, who arrived in the country on Monday for a 13-day visit to the kingdom, told reporters after the meeting. "I discussed the issue of land evictions, freedom of expression and better cooperation between the civil society sector and the government," Surya said. "We are looking at the total picture of human rights situation in Cambodia," he added. "I think some progress has been made even this morning. So I am very pleased with the outcome."

Om Yentieng, a top adviser to Hun Sen and the chief of government's human rights committee, urged UN officials to give up "old ways" criticizing the Cambodian government on rights issues. "We are not a hell, like UN reports have mentioned, and we have not yet become a heaven of human rights," Om Yentieng told reporters.

Yash Ghai, a Kenyan lawyer, resigned as special representative for human rights to Cambodia in September in 2008 after government officials refused to meet him and Hun Sen called the envoy rude, stupid and a "god without virtue".

Cambodia won't send troops to Afghanistan, Iraq

29 January - Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday he will not send peacekeeping troops to Afghanistan and Iraq.Hun Sen said some countries, which he did not name, had requested 1,000 Cambodian de-miners be deployed to Afghanistan.

"I will not send Cambodian sons to die in those two countries," he said in remarks at the groundbreaking for a new road in the central province of Kampong Thom. "The Cambodian people have seen enough war and suffered enough casualties from land mines."

Cambodia was wracked by almost three decades of war and unrest after a 1970 military coup and became one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. It has trained a large corps of skilled de-miners. In April 2006, Cambodia sent 135 soldiers to help U.N. peacekeepers clear mines in war-torn Sudan. Hun Sen, however, rejected requests from the U.S. to deploy Cambodian troops to Iraq that same year. He said he questioned the overall legitimacy of the war in Iraq and that it was too dangerous for Cambodians to operate there.

In early 2009, Cambodia sent several dozen troops to Chad and the Central African Republic.

Cambodia uses Chinese loans to boost rice exports

02 February - Cambodia will spend $310 million of mostly Chinese money on improving irrigation systems to boost rice exports over the next two years, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Tuesday.

Cambodia, which is forecast to export as much as 700,000 ton of unmilled rice this year, had the potential to produce bigger yields, but still needed more funding to upgrade its irrigation systems. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cambodia exported 500,000 ton of rice in 2008, a figure dwarfed by neighboring Thailand and Vietnam, the world's top two exporters of the grain.

"Cambodia has the ability to export much more unmilled rice than this, many times more," Hun Sen said during the inauguration of a new irrigation system near the capital, Phnom Penh. "Cambodia's ability to export is high, so we must invest in this sector," he said, adding that he hoped to increase yields from 2.5 ton to 4 ton per hectare.

In December, Cambodia signed 14 deals worth an estimated $850 million with China, the country's biggest source of foreign investment. That included $240 million for irrigation projects, but Hun Sen said even more was needed from its ally, which has pumped more than $4.3 billion into the impoverished nation. "I would like to send a message (to China). Cambodia doesn't just need the $240 million, Cambodia needs more than this," he said.

Cambodia breaks ground on largest-ever irrigation project

5 February - Cambodia on February 4 broke ground for its greatest irrigation waterworks in Battambang province in a bid to increase farming area and crops in one of the country's main rice-growing provinces. The project has a total investment capital of US$61 million extracted from foreign credit and the government's budget. Once completed within the next two years, the project will provide production water to all districts within the province through a network of irrigation canals with a total length of 332 kilometers.
Battambang now has 260,000 hectares of rice fields with an annual yield of around 700,000 ton.

Cambodia South Korea bilateral trade soars

28 February - Cambodian exports to South Korea surged 391 % in January compared with the same month last year.
Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency says the 4 point 3 million dollar rise comes amid an overall increase in bilateral trade between the two countries.
Korea Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia says rising demand from North America has also help spur the recovery in trade.
South Korea runs garment factories in the Kingdom, and Cambodia in turn imports raw materials for its primary export industry, so trade between the two is highly dependent on demand from the United States and Canada.
Last month rubber was Cambodia's largest export to South Korea indicating the Kingdom's intention to move into other export industries, particularly agricultural products.

Cambodia rebuilds railway with Australian, ADB aid

2 March - Cambodia will rebuild its entire railway system by 2013 with the help of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Australian government and others. The project began in 2007 and it will be completed in 2013. Cambodia received an additional $42 million loan from the ADB and a $21.5 million grant from the Australian government. ADB had already provided a total of $84 million in loans to help revive the 600 km (370 mile) network. Another $13 million had come from the OPEC Fund for International Development and Malaysia had contributed 106 km (66 miles) of track worth $2.8 million.

"The railway has played a central role in Cambodia for more than 75 years and many Cambodians see it rightly as a symbol of development and a means of integration with Cambodia's neighbors in the Greater Mekong Sub region and the world beyond," said Kunio Senga, director general of the ADB Southeast Asia Department. He said the Cambodian railway would connect with the railway in Thailand, and through it with Malaysia and Singapore. Toll Holdings of Australia signed a 30-year concession to operate the railway last June.

More than 650km of track is to be renovated, including a 48km section running west to Thailand that will then connect Cambodia onward to Malaysia and Singapore. The first segment of renovated track, between Phnom Penh and Touk Meas on the coast near Vietnam, is to open to freight trains late this year. The other segments are to be finished by 2013.

New List Aims to Stem Tide of Cambodian Stolen Antiquities

4 March - Cambodia recently released a publication that it hopes will help reduce the number of artifacts being stolen from sites and temples and sold on the international market.
One thousand years ago, Cambodia's Angkor Empire was at its peak, ruling areas that are now part of Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. Today, its achievements are admired by two-million foreign tourists who visit Cambodia each year. Many come to visit the crowning achievement of Angkor Wat, the famed temple-city in the Cambodia's northwest. But, in recent years, Cambodia's rich cultural heritage has been plundered, with many temples and ancient sites ransacked for statues. Those trying to preserve the heritage sometimes struggle to do so. Hab Touch is the outgoing director of the National Museum in Phnom Penh. He says one method recently adopted to combat the theft of antiquities is the publication of a glossy eight-page brochure. The booklet lists the different categories of Khmer artifacts at risk of being stolen and smuggled abroad. The publication, which is called the Red List, was drawn up in conjunction with the International Council of Museums. The Red List will be distributed to Cambodian border and customs officials, as well as to museums and auction houses overseas, as part of a strategy to combat the illicit trade. The items on the Red List range from jewelry and weapons to stone heads and bronze statues. The brochure lists beads from more than 2,000 years back and wooden items from just a century ago.
#

Cambodian rubber exports rose 36 % last year, government says

10 March -Cambodia’s rubber exports to international markets increased by an annualized 36 percent in 2009, according to official figures obtained from the Department of Cam Control. Data show that the Kingdom exported 32,871 ton of rubber worth about US$61 million to Vietnam. Around 24,199 ton of rubber, worth about $45 million, was exported in 2008. According to statistics from the CRP, Cambodia had 34,000 hectares of yielding rubber plantations in 2009. Cambodia may be able to harvest at least 60,000 ton of rubber in 2010, as 50,000 hectares of trees would reach yielding maturity this year. At present, average output at big plantations is 1.4 ton per hectare. At smaller plantations it can be up to 2 ton per hectare.
Nevertheless, Cambodia’s rubber exports have increased each year since crop prices on international markets increased in 2008. In 2009, Cambodia’s rubber price was between $1,000 and $3,100 per ton. This high price has been echoed in recent months on international markets. According to Bloomberg, rubber futures traded in Japan have advanced 7 percent so far this year, after doubling in 2009.
Production has fallen, while global economic recovery and government stimulus measures in China and the United States have boosted demand for tires. Predictions that rubber production will continue to be on the rise worldwide during this year have also been echoed by the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries, an organization of which Cambodia is the newest member following admission last year.

Cambodia Passes First Law to Combat Graft

12 March - Cambodia's parliament has passed the country's first law to combat corruption. After 15 years of trying, Cambodia now has a law against corruption, which is a scourge in this impoverished nation.
Parliament passed the legislation on Thursday. Among other things, it imposes prison sentences of up to 15 years on officials convicted of taking bribes. It also requires politicians, military personnel, police officers, judges, and civil servants to disclose their wealth to a new anti-corruption body. The government calls the new law an important tool in fighting corruption.

Work begins on Cambodian hydropower project

30 March - A Chinese Company has begun construction of one of several hydroelectric dam projects planned to reduce electricity shortages in Cambodia.

The China National Heavy Machinery Corp. will build the 246-megawatt plant in Koh Kong province, with an investment of $540 million. Another Chinese-built hydroelectricity project in Koh Kong. China Huadian Corp. plans to build a $558 million hydropower plant that would generate up to 338 megawatts

Electricity generation in Cambodia remains largely underdeveloped, with most power plants using fossil fuels.

#
China's dams have no impact on lower Mekong

06 April - Cambodia said Monday that Chinese dams built on the upper parts have no impact on the level of water in the downstream of the Mekong River.

Lim Kean Hor, minister of water resource management and meteorology said based on studies and experts the dams built by China have no impact on the change of water level in the lower Mekong River, but because of climate change, lack of rainfalls and drought in the upper parts in China, Laos and Thailand.

China now has three hydropower stations in operation over the Lancang River, namely Jinghong, Manwan and Dachaoshan. Those three are cascade hydropower stations that do not consume water, with scarce effect on the water volume flowing across the border. The runoff volume of the Lancang River accounts for only 13.5 % of that of the Mekong River. The runoff of the Mekong River mainly comes from the middle-and-lower Mekong basin, amounting to 86.5 %.

Cambodian growth projected 4.5 % this year, 6 % for 2011

20 April - The Asian Development Bank said on Tuesday that Cambodian growth is projected 4.5 % for 2010 and higher to 6 % for next year thanks to good crops, increasing services, tourism and constructions.

"If the weather allows for reasonable crops in Cambodia, GDP is projected to rebound by 4.5 % in 2010," said the Bank release. "In 2011, a return to higher--though still below trend--growth in garment exports and tourism, together with some expansion of non-garment manufacturing and a pickup in other services sub- sectors, is projected to raise GDP growth to around 6 %," it said.

Agricultural output is projected to expand by 4.7 % assisted by efforts to increase irrigation and the greater availability of high-yield seeds.The Bank also detailed that the growth in services is projected to resume at around 5 % for this year and construction activity will likely grow at a moderate rate of about 4 %, as appetite for bank credit gradually recovers and inflows of foreign direct investment, particularly from South Korea, resume for some projects.

The World Bank on April 7 said that Cambodian growth is projected at 4.4 % for 2010, expects 6 % for next year.

320,734 workers in 269 garment factories

May 18 - Despite global economic crisis, Cambodia's garment sector still remains strong in terms of providing jobs to Cambodian people, a government data showed Tuesday. The data provided by the Ministry of Commerce showed that there are currently 320,734 workers, among them 293,664 women, are working in 269 factories across the country.

It showed that the total garment exports to foreign countries in 2009 amounted 2,385 million U.S. dollars, of which 1,486 million U.S dollars to the United States, 577 million U.S. dollars to European markets, 184 million U.S. dollars to Canada and 136 million U.S. dollars to other countries.

The data also showed that Cambodia's general exports to foreign countries in 2009 were 3,907 million U.S. dollars, and the imports were 5,448 million U.S. dollars.

A report of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia showed that there were 53,097 garment workers who had lost their jobs because of the closure of 122 factories in 2009. Even though 67 factories were re-opened, and they provided jobs to 19,772 workers, the report showed.

Solar future for Cambodia

10 July - Cambodia’s rural electrification fund is planning a bulk purchase of 12,000 solar panel systems next month to help spread green power to rural villagers who are not connected to the national grid, its executive director said.
The REF – a World Bank-supported public institution aiming to provide electricity to every Cambodian village by 2020 – plans to sell the solar panels to rural households on a monthly payment basis. To obtain the new solar equipment, rural families would be required to make a down payment, as well as monthly payments of around US$3 or $4 depending on the size of the system. Many rural households already spend a similar amount per month on batteries or diesel generators.
The project is funded by the World Bank’s $67.92 million Rural Electrification and Transmission project loan, which is set to expire on January 31, 2012.

ATTUALITA' CAMBOGIANE