Speeches on November 16 and 17 at CLV, CLMV and ACMECS Summits

Opening Speech at the 6^th CLV Summit

Phnom Penh, 16^th November 2010

H.E. Mr. Bouasone Bouphavanh, PM of the Lao PDR,
H.E. Mr. Nguyen Tan Dung, PM of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen!

First of all, let me extend my warmest welcome to Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen to this 6^th CLV Summit held in the capital city of Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia. I hope our meeting today will not only further advance the cooperation among our three CLV countries, but also contribute to the development and prosperity of our region.

We meet today to review the progress made since the last Summit and to adopt a newly revised Master Plan 2010-2020 in order to fast track our cooperation activities in our CLV Development Triangle Area. The strengthening of cooperation is truly crucial in the regional and global context after the recent global financial crisis.

I would like to highly appreciate the achievements made, especially in the area of trade and investment promotion through the organization of related trade fairs and conferences, as well as related measures such as the simplification of export procedures and business registration processes and the granting of tax incentives in order to boost private business and investment in the region.

In this regard, I would like to note with satisfaction that the signing by the CLV Joint Coordination Committee of the amendedMOU toward the Establishment of Special Preferential Policies for the CLV Development Triangle Area, as well as the effective consultations and cooperative efforts made by the CLV Joint Coordination Committee in successfully completing this newly revised Master Plan to be submitted to the Summit for endorsement.

However, I believe that we must do our utmost to accelerate the implementation before schedules of all bilateral and multilateral agreements in the Development Triangle Area by putting them on a faster track list than the original schedule, particularly theCross Border Transport Agreement (CBTA), the ASEAN Economic Blueprint, the Bilateral Trade Agreements, the ACMECS Rice Cooperation and Contract Farming Projects and the ASEAN Single Window.

In order to achieve our vision of a harmonious and prosperous Development Triangle Area by the year 2020 in the context that our CLV countries are facing the shortages of financial resources for the implementation of the many programs and projects under the Master Plan 2010-2020, I believe that, firstly, we should commit to primarily shortlisting a number of prioritized projects from our cooperation sectors, such as infrastructure, trade and investment, social development and cultural conservation, agro-industry, tourism, and environment.

Since financing remains a big challenge for all of us, I would suggest that we address this issue by initiating the establishment of aCLV Fund to mobilize financial resources to fund these projects. Indeed, the Government of Japan has already provided a USD 20 million grant for the development of the Triangle Area in order ensure concrete and fruitful outcome of this cooperation. But it is still not adequate. Thus, we should continue to engage Japan and other development partners in order to mobilize more financial resources for the CLV Fund. This will be used to finance projects in our Development Triangle Area. One of the options is that we can propose to Japan to consider transferring some funds in the framework of Mekong-Japan Cooperation Fund to the CLV Fund.

Finally, I believe that the rich endowment in natural resources, more cohesive cooperation among our respective CLV members, along with the support by our development partners, would provide us with the opportunities to realize our CLV objectives in promoting growth, employment and income generation that will tremendously improve the welfare of our peoples in the CLV countries. This will also significantly contribute to the joint efforts to promote regional integration, especially in building the ASEAN Community.

I wish our deliberation a great success and may I now declare the opening of the 6^th CLV Summit! Thank you for your attention!

EndItem

Opening Speech at the ^5th CLMV Summit

Phnom Penh, 16^th November 2010

H.E. Mr. Bouasone BOUPHAVANH, PM of the Lao PDR
H.E. Mr. Thein Sein, PM of the Union of Myanmar
H.E. Mr. Nguyen Tan Dung, PM of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

H.E.Mr. Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN Secretary General

Distinguished Delegates of the LMV countries

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, on behalf of the Royal Government and People of Cambodia, I would like to express my warmest welcome and heart-felt thanks to the Heads of CLMV Governments and their delegation for their kind participation at this August Summit in Phnom Penh. Cambodia is very honored and fortunate indeed to host the meeting, in particular while our region has just recovered from the global economic and financial crisis.

This Fifth Summit is of great significance. It offers us opportunity to reaffirm our determination to deepen the traditional relations between our people and country based on our long friendship, good neighborliness and mutual benefits by promoting the implementation of the goals set in the 2004 Vientiane Declaration.

The Summit is very timely as ASEAN is accelerating the process of ASEAN Community building by 2015. Conceptually, the CLMV cooperation was incepted with the objectives of strengthening and accelerating the integration of the four countries with the other six ASEAN members in order to narrow development gap. There were concerns from the early stage about duplication and proliferation of sub-regional frameworks as there are many sub-regional frameworks intended to facilitate integration of the CLMV countries aiming at narrowing development gap such as, the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS), the ASEAN Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC), the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI), Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), the CLV Development Triangles, the Mekong River Commission (MRC), the East West Corridor, the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) etc.

However, we have witnessed that since the first CLMV Summit in Vientiane, the CLMV cooperation has evolved from the designing of cooperation mechanism into action plans in 9 areas of cooperation namely, coordination of economic integration policies, trade and investment facilitation and promotion, agriculture, industry and energy, transport, information and communication strategy (ICT), tourism, human resource development and health care. In addition, we successfully adopted the revised CLMV Plan of Action at the third CLMV Summit in Cebu, the Philippines and adopted 58 projects at the Fourth CLMV Summit in Hanoi in 2008. Therefore, we were able to ensure that there was no duplication of action plans, but it enhances synergy with other cooperation frameworks, especially the ACMECS cooperation. The prioritization of the projects for implementation, both short and medium term, will enhance CLMV cooperation to bring about a much better and fruitful results.

At present, we have deepened our cooperation in all sectors. In this regard, taking this opportunity, I would like to commend the successful conclusion of the CLMV Cultural Ministers’ Meeting in January 2010 in Myanmar and the first CLMV Economic Ministers’ Meeting in August this year in Danang, Vietnam.

We should incorporate the CLMV infrastructure projects into the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity that the ASEAN Leaders adopted at the recent ASEAN Summit in Hanoi, because the CLMV development projects will not only serve the objectives of narrowing development gaps in Mekong sub-region, but also will definitely contribute to the tremendous efforts to realize ASEAN Community by 2015. Since financing remains a key challenge for CLMV, the incorporation of CLMV’s projects into the Master Plan of ASEAN connectivity is part of our innovative and creative mechanism to engage ASEAN Dialogue Partners and other development partners to participate in projects of their best interest.

Narrowing the development gap is one of the key components of ASEAN Community roadmap. To this end, CLMV has to enhance cooperation in building and implementing projects under the 2^nd IAI Work Plan framework and enhance cooperation with regional and international institution such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) and Dialogue Partners to implement necessary studies and assessment to identify common challenges and necessary measures to promote trade and investment among CLMV countries including trade facilitation and the establishment of border markets.

Finally, I can conclude that we have taken a major step forward with confidence in order to strengthen our CLMV cooperation to serve the interests of our countries and peoples. The next priority is to push our activities forward toward actual implementation to achieve concrete results in the near future. Let us not wait for the completion and perfection of the entire package. Small victories, gained early, will pave our common road to overall good results over the long haul.

In this sense, I wish our summit a successful and fruitful discussion for the high benefit to our people and nations.

EndItem

"Reviewing Cooperation Progress and Future Directions for CLMV Cooperation"

at the 5^th CLMV Summit

Phnom Penh, 16^th November 2010

- Excellencies, Heads of the Government of CLMV Countries

- Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

This Fifth Summit is an opportunity for us as the Leaders of CLMV countries to provide further guidance on the implementation of the revised action plan and the projects adopted at the 4^th Summit in Hanoi in 2008 and set future direction for our joint cooperation.

I am pleased that our officials eventually were able to ensure that there is no duplication of CLMV action plan with other cooperation mechanisms particularly at the project levels. We have totally 58 projects in which 10 projects submitted by Cambodia, 3 projects by Laos, 26 projects by Myanmar and 19 projects by Vietnam. However, the tasks ahead of us are not just to work out innovative and creative mechanism but also to seek out sources of financing in order to translate the projects into actual implementation.

Cambodia highly appreciates and thanks Vietnam for providing scholarship to train students of CLM member countries. This is a part of fruitful cooperation in HRD. Cambodia has given high priority to promote trade and investment with member countries, including the establishment of border markets and border trade activities. Trade fair is also a practical and easy starting project which will help increase trade and investment flows among the CLMV countries and between CLMV countries and countries in the region and around the world. In this regard, I sincerely thank Vietnam for successfully hosting the 1^st CLMV Economic Ministers’ Meeting.

Cooperation in transport is also indispensable for all CLMV countries that want to make the best use of economic corridors across the CLMV countries such as the East-West Economic Corridor, the Southern Economic Corridor under the GMS. In this regard, I would like to reiterate that Cambodia gives a high priority to the construction of a railway link that connects Cambodia to Vietnam from Bat Deng to Loc Ninh under the Singapore-Kunming Rail Link project, and we have taken necessary measures to seek support from relevant partners.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen!

As financing remains a key challenge for all of us to move CLMV cooperation forward, I would like to share with you my humble thoughts as follows:

Firstly, we should expedite the implementation of CLMV projects supported by Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF), in order to seek funding for new projects.

Secondly, we should enhance cooperation with ASEAN Secretariat and its dialogue partners to seek financing for those projects that are under the IAI framework.

Thirdly, we will submit 16 prioritized projects chosen by each CLMV countries to seek support from the development partners.

Fourthly, we should encourage participation of the private sector in executing those projects;

Another important point in promoting implementation of this cooperation is a consideration on the necessity of setting up a monitoring mechanism to oversee the implementation of action plan and its projects that we have put forward. We should task our SOM Officials to regularly meet and update the Leaders on the implementation progress of CLMV project.

EndItem.

Opening Speech at the 4^th ACMECS Summit

Phnom Penh, Peace Palace, 17^th November 2010

- H.E. Mr. Bouasone BOUPHAVANH, PM of the Lao PDR
- H.E. Mr. Thein Sein, PM of the Union of Myanmar
- H.E. Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva, PM of the Kingdom of Thailand

- H.E. Mr. Nguyen Tan Dung, PM of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

- H.E Mr. Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN Secretary General

- Distinguished Delegates of the ACMECS countries

- Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

This is an auspicious day for the Kingdom of Cambodia to host the 4^th ACMECS Summit. On behalf of the Royal Government and people of Cambodia, I would like to extend my warmest welcome and heart-felt thanks to the Heads of ACMECSGovernments and delegations for your participation in this august Summit in Phnom Penh held in the newly built «Peace Palace».

Allow me to recall briefly the history of our ACMECS cooperation, before casting an eye on to the future. There is no doubt that we have come a long way since the first Summit in Bagan in 2003, then the second Summit in Bangkok in 2005, and the third Summit in Hanoi in 2008. Initially, there were only four members in the ACMECS cooperation, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. Later on Vietnam was admitted in November 2004 at the ACMECS Ministerial Retreat in Krabi, Thailand, and became the fifth member.

The Bagan Declaration adopted at the fist Summit spells out five priority areas of cooperation under ACMECS namely, (i) trade and investment facilitation; (ii) agricultural and industrial cooperation; (iii) transport linkages; (iv) tourism cooperation; and (v) human resources development. In 2006, health sector was added as a new sector of cooperation. Afterwards, agriculture and industrial cooperation was split into two separate sectors of cooperation in order to reflect the increased importance of each sector. Later on at the Summit held in Hanoi, we agreed to add environment as the 8^th sector of cooperation in order to address the issues related to the threat to the environment.

This enlargement well underlines how all member countries have attached importance to this shared sub-regional economic cooperation strategy. More importantly, we should be pleased that the ACMECS has been integrated into the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity. Indeed, ACMECS connectivity will not only contribute to the vision of ASEAN Connectivity but also to the ASEAN community building by 2015.

I am pleased to stress that we have made a lot progress in all areas of ACMECS cooperation. However, I believe that more efforts will be required in order to elevate ACMECS cooperation to a level that we wish to be. Indeed, further efforts in facilitation of trade, investment and tourism will further boost economic growth and social progress.

The issue of climate change is of critical importance for our future. Last month, in a number of ACMECS member countries, including Cambodia, there were unusual heavy rains and flooding in some parts of the countries. It is also a constant reminder that the impact of climate change is here to stay and may cause unpredictable damages in the future, especially to the poor. In this spirit, ACMECS countries need to join hands to tackle the impacts of climate change. Thus, I welcome the establishment of theACMECS Environment Working Group, co-chaired by Cambodia and Vietnam.

At the same time, climate change has had considerable impact on agriculture, especially rice production. Therefore, it is important that our cooperation in rice production and exports need to be further strengthened. ACMECS countries can be considered as a «rice bowl» of the world. Thailand and Vietnam are ranked first and second respectively in terms of rice export to the world market. Myanmar also has high potential in this sector. Given the potential in the country and the opportunity in the regional and global market, the Royal Government of Cambodia has given high priority in promoting rice production and export by launching recently «the Policy on Rice Production and Export Promotion». Thus, I would like to take this opportunity to commend the efforts made by our ACMECS SOM and Economic Ministers for the finalization of the ACMECS Rice Cooperation initiative.

To achieve the objectives and vision set out in the summit’s Declaration and Action Plan, efforts made by our governments alone are not adequate. We should crate favorable conditions for and encourage active participation of the private sector. Their support and participation at the project implementation level will have tremendous impact on the development of ACMECS countries and the realization of ACMECS’ vision. In this regards, the ACMECS governments have an important role to play to create additional opportunities for the private sector to participate in the ACMECS cooperation.

Moreover, the development and progress of ACMECS cooperation cannot be separated from the support and assistance from our development partners. As ACMECS is a part of the ASEAN Connectivity, we should join hands to mobilize support in both financial and technical resources for the implementation of ACMECS projects. I believe that these are the important points of agenda for our discussions at today’s summit.

Finally, I wish to reiterate the support for the shared vision of development among Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam (CLMTV). I strongly believe that the successful implementation of the Economic Cooperation Strategy will fulfill the shared development vision of our nations, namely long-term peace and stability, development and prosperity for all of our people.

I would like to declare the opening of the 4^th ACMECS Summit and wish our deliberation successful.

EndItem.

Remarks at the 4th ACMECS Summit

on ACMECS Cooperation and Future Direction

Phnom Penh, 17th November 2010

- Excellencies Heads of the Governments of ACMECS Countries

- Excellency Secretary General of ASEAN

- Distinguished Delegates of the ACMECS countries

- Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen!

This fourth ACMECS Summit is not just an important milestone all of us to review the progress of ACMECS Projects after the implementation of the Bagan Declaration, but also provides new opportunity for us to set the future direction for deeper and more comprehensive ACMECS cooperation. Indeed, this Summit is an opportunity to reiterate our firm commitments to implement the ACMECS Plan of Action (2010-2012) in order to realize the vision of building good neighborliness among member countries, promoting peace, stability and sustainable development in our region.

I have noted that we have made some progress in all areas of cooperation, especially in implementing a number of bilateral and common projects in trade facilitation and investment, agricultural cooperation, transport linkages, tourism and human resource development. However, I think we have not done our best to implement all projects that we have prepared. Therefore, I believe much more efforts will be needed to elevate ACMECS cooperation to a higher level to further contribute to narrowing the development gap and reducing poverty in the region. At the same time, we also need to exert our greatest efforts to promote projects in the areas of industry and energy cooperation and the establishment of wholesale markets along the borders, and other common projects, which require substantial investments.

The ACMECS cooperation should be geared towards vigorously and continuously implementing its existing strategy. We have to promote the development of agricultural sector to a new height to strengthen and diversify the base of economic growth as well as to promote poverty reduction for our peoples. There is no doubt, that agriculture must be a priority under all circumstances because this sector does not only play leading role in food security, but also helps maintain political stability and accelerate the pace of socio-economic development.

The steady increase in foods prices can affect our respective economies. But, if we look from another angle, I would say that higher food prices also present opportunity for developing countries to increase investment in agriculture in order to boost productivity and export of agricultural products. We should appreciate the fact that ACMECS countries produce about 62.05 million tons of milled rice per annum, accounting for 13% of the world’s total rice production, and we export to the world approximately 16.61 million tons per year, or 45% of the world rice exports. Therefore, I believe that cooperation in rice production and trade would not only further strengthen our position on the world market, but also help significantly contribute to the promotion of the living standard of our farmers.

Moreover, having realized the adverse impacts of global warming and climate change, which could result in natural calamity, I highly appreciate the creation of the Working Group on Environment, which is co-chaired by Cambodia and Vietnam. We hope that the working group will produce fruitful and tangible outcome as expected.

For the ACMECS’s future direction, I strongly believe that we should mobilize our resources and double our efforts to implement the existing projects and flagship projects as well as trying our utmost efforts to implement the ACMECS Plan of Action 2010-2012. In this regard, we should mandate our Ministers and Senior Officials to closely monitor and provide guidance to the respective working groups of the eight Sectors of ACMECS by focusing on the implementation at the project level.

Taking this valuable opportunity, I would like to encourage all development partners of ACMECS countries to provide financial support and technical assistance to ensure successful implementation of the ACMECS projects. At the same time, I would like also to appeal to our ASEAN Secretary General to help mobilize all the available resources in order to realize theACMECS’s vision, as it will make major contribution to the efforts of reducing gap within the region as well as to build ASEAN Community.

Together with this milestone of ACMECS cooperation, I strongly believe that we will make further progress in achieving the ACMECS cooperation’s objectives of fostering regional prosperity and welfare of our peoples.

EndItem.

PRESS STATEMENT

The Outcomes of the 6^th CLV Summit,

the 5^th CLMV Summit and the 4^th ACMECS Summit

1. From 16^th to 17^th October 2010 Cambodia hosted and chaired the 6^th CLV Summit, the 5^th CLMV Summit and the 4^th ACMECS Summit. The Summits were held at the Peace Palace, Phnom Penh and chaired by Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia. The main outcomes of these Summits are the following:

I. The 6^th CLV Summit

2. The Summit was held to review progress and set out future direction of the CLV cooperation.

3. The meeting took note of the progress of cooperation in the CLV Triangle Development Area, especially the achievements made in the area of trade and investment, including the organization of trade fairs; conferences on trade, investment and tourism promotion; simplification of export procedures and business registration processes; and the granting of tax incentives to boost investment in the region.

4. The meeting adopted the revised Socio-Economic Development Master Plan in the CLV Development Triangle Area (2010-2020) and given high priority to a number of sectors, such as physical infrastructure, trade and investment facilitation, social and cultural development, agro-industry and tourism…etc. with a view to accelerating socio-economic development and poverty reduction, which are crucial for realizing the vision of creating a harmonious and prosperous Development Triangle Area by the year 2020.

5. The meeting made a firm commitment to promoting this cooperation through the adoption of «the Phnom Penh Declaration on Deepening of Cooperation in the Development Triangle Area» and the amended the «MOU on the Special Preferential Policies for CLV Development Triangle Area».

6. Moreover, the meeting was resolved to accelerate the implementation of the bilateral and multilateral agreements in the Development Triangle Area, particularly the Cross Border Transport Agreement of the GMS, the ASEAN Economic Blueprint, bilateral trade agreements, the Rice Cooperation and Contract Farming Projects and the ASEAN Single Window.

II. The 5^th CLMV Summit

7. The Summit was held to review progress and set out future direction of the CLMV cooperation.

8. The CLMV cooperation was established to narrow development gap and to accelerate the integration of the four countries in order to catch up with the other six ASEAN members. As a result, since the 1^st CLMV Summit held in Vientiane, under the CLMV cooperation an Action Plan covering 9 areas of cooperation was adopted and include the following sectors:(1) coordination of economic integration policies, (2) trade and investment facilitation and promotion, (3) agriculture, (4) industry and energy, (5) transport, (6) information and communication technology (ICT), (7) tourism, (8) human resource development and (9) health care. In this framework, 58 concrete projects were adopted at the 4^th CLMV Summit in Hanoi in 2008.

9. At this CLMV Summit, the meeting adopted the Joint Declaration of the 5^th CLMV Summit to reaffirm their determination to promote cooperation in the 9 areas and to deepen the traditional relationships based on the long-lasting friendship, good neighborliness and mutual benefits among the CLMV Countries.

10. As financing remains a key challenge, the meeting was determined to seek assistance from development partners and encourage private sector’s participation in both regional and sub-regional frameworks in order to accelerate the implementation of action plans and important projects. In this regard, the meeting agreed to prioritize and select 16 projects to be submitted to development partners, particularly Japan, China, Korea and India for their support.

III. The 4^th ACMECS Summit

11. The Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) is a cooperation framework between Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam established to capitalize on both economic disparities and complementarities of member countries in order to narrow the development gaps in the sub-region and contribute to building the ASEAN community.

12. The objectives of this 4^th ACMECS Summit are: (1) review ACMECS cooperation and future direction, and (2) review and adopt the Declaration and the Plan of Action to expedite the implementation of ACMECS cooperation framework.

13. ACMECS cooperation includes 8 sectors namely, (1) investment and trade facilitation, (2) agricultural sector, (3)industrial and energy sector, (4) transport linkages, (5) tourism sector, (6) human resource development, (7) public health, and (8)environment, which is a new sector adopted at the 3^rd ACMECS Summit held in 2008 in Hanoi. Cambodia and Vietnam are the co-chairs of the Environmental Sector Working Group.

14. The meeting adopted the ACMECS's Plan of Action 2010-2012 as a roadmap for the implementation of cooperation among ACMECS member countries, as well as the cooperation with development partners to ensure its successful implementation by 2012.

15. The meeting also adopted the Phnom Penh Declaration on ACMECS and incorporated the Declaration on ACMECS Rice Cooperation into agricultural cooperation in order to strengthen ACMECS’s position in the areas of rice production and exports to world market.

16. In this connection, the Heads of the Governments of ACMECS member countries also met with ACMECS business leaders. The ACMECS Business Council was created as a common project under trade and investment facilitation cooperation. ACMECS Leaders encouraged active participation of the ACMECS Business Council in the implementation of ACMECS's Plan of Action, particularly under the initiative of Governments-Private Sector Partnership, in order to ensure maximum and effective use of all the potentials of the existing business and investment opportunities in member countries.

17. The 6^th CLV Summit, the 5^th CLMV Summit and the 4^th ACMECS Summit were held as ASEAN is also accelerating the process of building the ASEAN community by 2015. From the beginning, the establishment of these cooperation frameworks at sub-regional level is designed to achieve the main goal - promoting development and physical connectivity in the newer, less-developed ASEAN members. This will make concrete contribution to the efforts in narrowing development gaps and accelerating community building in the region. First and foremost, the objective is to build the ASEAN Community, and afterward to build the East Asia Community in the longer run.

18. In this sense, we take great pride from the fact that as through our joint efforts, the CLV, CLMV and ACMECS cooperation frameworks were incorporated into the Master Plan on ASEAN connectivity recently adopted at the 17^thASEAN Summit in Hanoi. The Master Plan is pre-requisite and necessary for building and realizing the ASEAN Community by 2015. As financing remains a fundamental challenge for countries like Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam, the preparation of projects of CLV, CLMV and ACMECS cooperation frameworks to be incorporated into the Master Plan of ASEAN Connectivity is part of our innovative and creative mechanism to engage ASEAN dialogue partners and other development partners to provide support for projects of their best interest.

19. The Heads of the Governments of all countries participating in these summits highly appreciated the capable and efficient chairmanship of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia and expressed their profound gratitude to the Royal Government and People of Cambodia for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to all delegates participating in these important Summits.

Phnom Penh, 17^th October 2010

Keynote Address at the Closing Forum on “Uplifting Women’s Leadership Role at the Sub-national Level”

Phnom Penh, November 3^rd, 2010

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen!

I am pleased and honored to be here in the closing forum on “Uplifting Women’s Leadership Role at the Sub-National Level” which has been held for the last two days. This forum, which is organized by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs with cooperation from the Ministry of Interior and financial support from development partners, aims at exploring new key options to continue building women’s capacity and determination, especially at sub-naitonal level. Along with this, i have noted that a large number of women from municipality, provinces, districts – khan across the country are joining the forum. This further reflects the Royal Government’s clear-cut political will and determination in uplifting women’s participation in the public sector and politics. In general, the Royal Government is well aware of this aspect and considers this task as a means for building the foundation of democracy and fast-tracking deconcentration and decentralization reform programs.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to praise the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and related ministries-institutions, NGOs, and related associations for the hard work and concerted effort in uplifting women’s role in socio-economic activities and eliminating discrimination and violence against women. Along with this, i would like to praise the the Cambodian National Council for Women for the effort in implementating gender equity policy which has been laid out recently. Also, I would like to thank development partners for the continued material and financial support aimed at promoting Cambodian women’s work and capacity. Taking this opporunity, I would like to welcome Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen distinguished national and international participants. I believe that the “Uplifting Women’s Leadership Role at Sub-National Level Forum” will further intensify focus on gender equity, eliminate violence against women, increase women’s ownership, promote social welfare and deepen partership and relationship with national and international institutions.

Cambodian history shows that women play an important role in all social, economic and political activities. Women are highly regarded by the society. In the middle of the 19th century, women started to participate in political and judicial sectors and became leaders in other sectors. Unfortunately, in late 19th century and early 21st century, women’s powerful role was disrupted by many factors such as the change in social behaviour which restricted women from gaining leadership position in the public and political sectors. Adding to this, barriers to education services made women return to their traditional role, this means that women have very little role and power. Moreover, family burden, lack of family and financial support and pessimism among women themselves restricted women from joining community work and public sector.

Presently, we do not only review the traditional role of women, but we must acknowledge the competency, knowledge, skill, competitive advantge and potential of women that can be used as a main inputs in socio-economic development.

Indeed, the declaration of various conventions and laws provide comprehensive mandate to ensure gender equity, women’s bravery and women’s rights that are key to proverty reduction, growth and democraty-based governance. To Cambodia, gender equity is clearly stipulated in the Constitution and various laws and now incorporated in the National Strategic Development Plan and other Royal Government’s programs. In particular, within the legal framework and policy that promote women’s political role, the Royal Government has fulfilled its obligation within international treaties, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR), and the CMDGs all have indicators specifically designed to monitor women development.

Obviously, the “Rectangular Strategy” of the Royal Government has clearly mentioned that, “Women are the Backbone of Our Economy and Society”. This strategy focuses on the promotion of capacity building of women, changing social attitudes that are biased toward women, and ensuring that women have the rights and opportunity to get healthcare services, education, skill trainings, economic resources and opportunity to participate in the development of socio-economics with equity. Parallel to this, the Royal Government has also provided legal protections with justice for women in order to prevent them from violence, human trafficking, rapes, and other violent forms. Besides, the Royal Government has always focusing on increasing the proportion of women’s participation to the maximum in national institutions at all levels, from the middle level all the way to the local level.

Truly, with this objective, the Royal Government not only encourages women to work hard at all levels, but also provides training, capacity building, and skills to women so as to promote their decision makings as well. This aspect in part has greatly reduced poverty, increased the welfare of the people and the development of Cambodia’s socio-economics.

Obviously, the result during this past decade shows that participation of women in decision-making has markedly increased. For instance, the proportion of women elected to the National Assembly has steadily increased, from 5% in 1993 to 11% in 1998, to 19% in 2003, and to 22% in 2008. Furthermore, the proportion of women holding positions as secretary of state and undersecretary of state has also increased from 7% and 9.6% in 2003, to 7.7% and 14.6% in 2008 respectively. At present, 10.1% of municipal and provincial council members are women, and 12.6% of city, district and commune council members are women as well.

Parallel to this, the Royal Government has also continued the implementation of legal measures, and other policy measures under the decentralization process so as to promote the women’s involvement, and find solutions to women and children’s problems. These measure include regulatory on gender laws on administration governance of municipality, province, city, district and commune; and decrees and guidance for the women’s consultation committee and children at the sub-national level. The development of institutions under this decentralization process, women are also assigned to work in the structural administration at local level as well. For this, women are actively involved in developing plans for district development and domestic violence as well. From this active participation in political activities at the local level, now women who are members of commune councils has increased from 8.5% in 2002 to 14.6% in 2007, and now women working at the village management level is 30%.

Moreover, Ministry of Interior has also appointed women as deputy governors of municipalities, provinces, cities, districts and communes nationwide. Secretariat of Public Service has announced and disseminated instruction information on selecting government officials serving public institutions as women from 20% to 50%. Thus, the proportion of women government officials has increased from 32% in 2007 to 34% in 2007 in middle of 2009.

Though the result of this work has been progressing, we must continue strengthen other activities that increase more the women’s participation in other governance tasks, that are against social thinking about gender roles and supporting the women’s participation in public sector. Apart from this, the Royal Government of Cambodia will continue fulfilling the needs of women in all sectors, so as to achieve Cambodia’s Millennium Development Goals, national development strategy plan, policy and plan at each institution. Parallel to this, the Cambodian National Council for Women that is headed by our Majesty the King, Preahbat Samdech Preah Norodom Sihamoni as an honorary chairman, and me as an honorary vice chairman, and also National Committee for Social Moral, Women’s Values and Khmer Families Promotion that is headed by LukChomTeav Bun Rany, as honorary chairman will continue supporting and encouraging the promotion of status, title, and position of Cambodian women and social welfare in order to reduce and eradicate the biases and all forms of violence against women.

In general, we have to imagine extensively about women, providing them with opportunity and support in participating in public sector and political sector of women as well as recognizing women’s potential in political capacity and activity of Cambodian women.

It is true that everything mentioned above is to achieve the wish of the Royal Government, that want to see our society with peace, political stability, security and social order, sustainable development, moral, human rights, and human dignity. In short, the Royal Government wants to see people becoming highly educated, well- informed about cultures, having decent living and living in harmony in society as well in family.

In order to realize this vision, I believe that the provision of opportunity, support and cooperation to women in all sectors will truly provide value and socio-economic progress. In this regard, I would like to provide a number of recommendations as follows:

- First, the National Committee for Sub-national Democratic Development (NCDD), the Ministry of Interior, Council of Ministers, Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Royal School of Administration must increase cooperation in capacity building to women who are leaders at the sub-national level, and the management, which includes gender integration.

- Second, the Management of the City, Province, and District/Khan must create favorable environment in order to enable to fulfill their tasks more actively with double efficiency.

- Third, the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Sub-national Authorities must promote the preparation and process of the Consultation Committee for Women and Children including the capacity building and provision of sufficient resources in fulfilling their work with the objective to ensure effectiveness and efficiency. At the same time, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs must strengthen the institutional and human resources development according to the objectives of decentralization and de-concentration by continuing to enhance the capacity, ownership, partnership and cooperation with related stakeholders in order to make sure that the National Council and related agencies for women become strong agencies with potentiality.

- Fourth, the Ministry of Information must cooperate with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and other relevant institutions as well as the National Committee for promotion of Social Morality, Women’s Value and Khmer Families in order to disseminate to the community to be aware and to support women’s participation in the development process, especially in the public and political sectors.

- Fifth, the Secretariat of the Public Function and the National Council for Administrative Reform must complement the shortage of the Government Officials of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in a number of districts that are in shortage for the sake of sustainable employment.

- Sixth, all institutions and related authorities must strengthen and enlarge working efficiency either in implementing the law or various legal documents related to the elimination of the acts of discrimination against women including domestic violence, trafficking and rapping...etc. In this connection, each institution and unit must continue promoting the institutional and human resources development in order to ensure the success and efficiency of the implementation of their activities.

These actions require the joint efforts to be made by the Royal Government, development partners, non-governmental organization and civil societies in order to ensure the support and promote the participation of those women in all levels. In this connection, I hope that Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen and all participants will continue to participate in actively implementing this plan as well as trying to share information, knowledge and experiences received from this forum, with officials and staffs, colleagues for the improvement of the implementation and obligations aiming to achieve new achievements conforming to our National Strategic Development Plan.

Before ending, I would like to, once again, thank for the presence of Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, who are participating in this forum and specially thank the Development Partners including the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Unite Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Peace and Development Organization (PYD), EU SPACE, and the Committee to Promote Women in Politic (CPWP), who have supported the organization of this event. At the same time, I would like to highly value the management and all officials of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, who have tried their utmost with high responsibility to organize this smooth and fruitful event for Cambodian women.

At this end, together with the closure of the forum on “Uplifting Women’s Leadership Role at the Sub-national Leadership”, now I would like to wish Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen the four gems of Buddhist blessings: Longevity, Nobility, Health and Strength.

EndItem.

Remarks at the 13th ASEAN+3 Summit

Ha Noi, Viet Nam, 29^th October 2010

(15:15 –17:15)

- Your Excellency Chairman,

- Your Majesty the Sultan, Excellencies ASEAN Leaders,

- Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen!

I am pleased and honoured to participate once again in this ASEAN+3 Summit to review the progress of our past cooperation and set future direction in order to solidify our integration and to tackle together the challenges.

At the outset, I would like to join other leaders of ASEAN+3 to reiterate that we should continue our cooperation in order to support ASEAN Integration efforts. Indeed, the increased support for the implementation of the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity is highly critical to materialize the building of ASEAN Community by 2015 and East Asia Community in a longer term.

The Summit is held in context of post global financial crisis and within the context of the new dynamic regional and global architecture. In this regard, for future direction of East Asia cooperation, I would like to emphasize the following: (1) accelerate the implementation of the 2^nd Joint Statement on East Asia Cooperation and the ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation Work Plan 2007-2017; (2) delineate between the ASEAN Plus Three process and the East Asia Summit; and (3) ensure that the expansion of East Asia Summit should be built upon the existing regional mechanisms and principles of ASEAN centrality. To this end, I would like to express Cambodia’s support for a proposal made by the Republic of Korea to establish “The East Asia Vision Group II” with the view of accelerating the implementation of the 26 ASEAN+3 cooperation and set direction for the future ASEAN+3 cooperation.

The Asian economy is leading the world’s economic recovery through the implementation of effective fiscal stimulus packages, particularly, in ASEAN plus three countries. All measures that have been taken actually help East Asia to timely and effectively respond to the crisis and avoid disruptive political and social tensions. Nevertheless, we recognize the importance of continuing cooperation aimed at restoring and strengthening the soundness of financial system and maintaining favourable macro-economic policies and strengthening the regional surveillance and economic monitoring capacity for detecting future macro-financial risks and vulnerabilities.

In this context, I am convinced that our regional initiatives such as the Chiang-Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM)which came into effect on 24 March 2010 with the total size of USD120 billion and the Asian Bond Markets Initiative (ABMI), endorsed by the ASEAN Finance Ministers’ Meeting on 2 May 2010, are of critical importance for addressing and averting future crises, as well as for promoting regional development. Moreover, we should reiterate our willingness to take part in the global efforts to achieve a more balanced global financial architecture. In this sense, the Plus Three Countries’ support for the regular participation of ASEAN Chair at the G20 Summit is crucial in order to harmonize regional architecture and policies with the new global trends and processes.

On the trade front, I believe that the coming into force of ASEAN-China FTA, ASEAN-Japan FTA and ASEAN-ROK FTA will be a stepping stone for EAFTA and CEPEA. In this regard, I am pleased that ASEAN-Japan Center, ASEAN-Korea Center and ASEAN-China Centre have been established. This will facilitate and promote trade, investment, tourism and cultural exchanges among members. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome ROK’s initiative to organize “the meeting of the ROK-Mekong Foreign Ministers’ Meeting” in order to define our joint cooperation programs.

We all recognize that food security remains a long term and sensitive issue that require joint cooperation from all countries. In this context, I welcome the regional effort to enhance cooperation in the agriculture sector, especially investment in infrastructure, technological transfer and technical assistance in order to improve agricultural productivity. Moreover, to implement the Cha-am Hun Hin Statement on ASEAN+3 Cooperation on Food Security and Bio-Energy Development, I believe that we need to establish a permanent mechanism on ASEAN+3 Emergency Rice Reserve and Regional Rice Reserve.Thank you for your attention!

EndItem