As our Cambodian compatriots living everywhere in the United States prepare to celebrate together with our people at home the Cambodian traditional New Year, Chaul Chhnam Chhlov (Year of Ox) B.E. 2541, beginning April 13 in the Gregorian Calendar, may I avail myself of this special occasion to extend, on behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia, the Royal Embassy, and in my own name, to all our compatriots, American friends, and the readers of the Embassy Newsletter, all the Five Buddhist wishes-Ayuk, Vannak, Sokhak, Polak, and Padepheanak for the New Year.
It is traditional in many cultures to finish the old year and welcome the arrival of the new one by making an accounting of what has been done and experienced over the past year, and on that basis, determine a plan for the new year. However, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight through this New Year message the important accomplishments made by the entire staff of the Embassy.
It should be recalled that our Embassy team reached Washington, DC on May 27, 1995, and the Embassy started its operations immediately. The Embassy celebrated the flag-raising ceremony marking the Embassy's formal re-opening on July 20, 1995. Owing to the efforts made by the Embassy staff, coupled with the support and cooperation from many Cambodian compatriots and American friends, our work has brought about remarkable progress in establishing and strengthening the good relations between our two countries, and between the Embassy and the Cambodian community.
Through the establishment of personal acquaintances and the maintenance of regular contacts and good relations with many officials in both the executive and legislative branches, the Embassy has broadened its access to US institutions. We have had numerous meetings and discussions with lawmakers and key officials to pursue issues of importance, especially to promote democratic institutions, rehabilitation, and development in Cambodia.
In addition, personal contacts, meetings, discussions, and day-to-day working relations with the business community have been established and developed to promote bilateral economic ties. Through the Embassy's home page, the publication of the newsletters, and other informational documents, the Embassy has reached out to Americans and Cambodian residents to inform them about the situation, the investment opportunities, the cultural richness, and the tourist attractions in the country.
As part of these fruitful and proud results, the United States has continued to provide Cambodia with encouraging support and broad assistance in many fields. The US Most Favored Nation (MFN) trade status was conferred upon Cambodia. The economic ties, especially the trade activities and the flow of investments, have shown a steady increase. US companies have invested over $32 million, which ranks the United States eighth on the country's investment list. Many other companies have shown an interest in studying the opportunities to invest in Cambodia.
The recent establishment of the Honorary Consulate General of the Kingdom of Cambodia in Los Angeles, California, which performs consular services on the West Coast of the United States, also testifies to the steadily increasing ties between the two countries.
With regard to the relations between the Embassy and the large and vibrant Cambodian community, we are proud that our mutual contacts are gaining a noticeable momentum. This satisfying development is attested to by the active support and participation of our compatriots in the Embassy's various activities and the respect and opportunities given to the Embassy and to me through the many programs organized by the Cambodian community.
Encouraged by what we have done during the nearly two years since the reopening of the Embassy, and with the arrival of the New Year, we are determined to continue to broaden the already solid relationship between the United States and Cambodia. We are going to strengthen the bridge between the Embassy and our Cambodian compatriots as well.
Once again, Happy New Year !
Var Huoth
Cambodia's two main political parties, FUNCINPEC and the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), agreed in principle on March 25 to hold General Elections in November 1998. The specific date will be decided later.
The agreement also includes a provision allowing people with dual nationality to run in both communal and general elections.
That move was made possible due to the concession made by the CPP, which had announced that it will not raise the issue of one nationality in the two electoral laws.
On March 31, the Royal Government issued a statement vehemently condemning the tragic attack which took place on March 30 in front of the National Assembly. The statement said that:
"The Royal Government of Cambodia expresses its most profound sorrow for the event which occurred in front of the National Assembly on March 30, 1997, at 8:30 a.m. , killing many and injuring a large number of demonstrators, local and foreign journalists, and pedestrians.
"The Royal Government of Cambodia strongly condemns this most atrocious terrorist act against innocent people and considers this inhuman act as a destruction of democracy and a violation of human rights aimed at causing instability in the country's political situation.
"The Royal Government of Cambodia extends its condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives and its sympathies to those and their families who have been injured in this most barbaric attack. The Royal Government of Cambodia has issued firm orders to the Ministry of Interior to investigate the attack and has fixed the date for the Ministry to report the result of its investigation to the two Prime Ministers."
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission team decided on March 7, at the end of its 10-day fact-finding trip to Cambodia to recommend the resumption of the $120 million loan program to the country if the Cambodian government takes concrete action to improve its forestry policies.
During the visit, the Cambodian government and the IMF team signed an agreement which will be submitted to the IMF's governing board to make a final decision in about two months, based on the progress in Cambodia.
Michael Kuhn, Assistant Director of the IMF's Central Asia Department, confirmed that $40 million, representing the third disbursement of a three-year $120 million loan program, would be made available in two installments on certain conditions.
Secretary of State for Economy and Finance Sun Chanthol said the decision reflected recognition by the IMF that Cambodia had made improvements in its forestry policies since last November.
"The IMF mission team recognizes that Cambodia has made some progress since their last visit," said Secretary Chanthol, adding that "Cambodia is doing the best it can with limited resources."
With regard to the criteria agreed upon on March 5 between the Cambodian government and the IMF team for the resumption of the loan program, Secretary Chanthol said "All the criteria will be met by the end of May. There is nothing drastic that we cannot do."
A cooperation agreement to help modernize Cambodia's customs system was signed in Phnom Penh on March 13, between the Royal Government of Cambodia and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) at the end of a five-day visit to Cambodia by UNCTAD Secretary General Rubens Ricupero.
Under the terms of the agreement, UNCTAD will help Cambodia upgrade and computerize its customs operation and will provide the country with $1.5 million in technical aid.
A technical assessment team for the project is to travel to Cambodia at the end of April, according to John Burley, who is in charge of UNCTAD's technical cooperation program.
Burley also said that the project is to be supplemented by international donations, which will pay for the computers, and that maintenance and staffing of the system would be Cambodia's responsibility.
UNCTAD will also provide technical support for Cambodia to join the World Trade Organization, expected shortly after the country joins the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
On March 11, CamGSM Company Ltd. formally launched its $50 million MobiTel venture to provide Cambodia's first digital mobile cellular telephone service which offers the country access to Global System Mobile (GSM), thus allowing callers to use their mobile phones in other countries.
CamGSM is a joint venture between Royal Millicom and the Cambodian Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. Royal Millicom is a joint venture between the Swedish firm, Millicom International Cellular SA, and the Royal Group, a Cambodian company.
According to Hakan Ledin, Vice-Chairman and Executive Director of Millicom International Cellular SA, the venture will invest about $50 million and expects to provide services to more than 10,000 customers in its initial phase.
GSM service will be available by the end of May, and a roaming service with Hong Kong and Singapore is expected to be on line in the near future, said Ledin.
The technology launched today in Cambodia provides clearer lines, protection against theft of telephone numbers, caller identification, voice mail, call forwarding and roaming, which allows customers to receive calls in other nations, added Ledin.
Minister of Post and Telecommunications So Khun said the GSM project was just one of many designed to overhaul Cambodia's decrepit telephone system, and will compete alongside three analogue cellular phone companies: Samart, Camtel, and Tricelcam, which now have more than 23,000 subscribers.
Cambodia is expected to need more than 125,000 telephone lines, including 65,500 lines in Phnom Penh, by 2003, said the Minister. Several other projects by French, Japanese, and Indonesian companies are expected to dramatically increase the availability of telephone services in the next five years, he added.
The Cambodia's Ministry of Post and Telecommunications signed on February 25 with Japan's Nippon Electric Company (NEC) a memorandum of understanding on transfer of cordless telephone technology.
Under the terms of the memorandum, NEC is going to install the first 300 lines of the digital cordless telephone system in Cambodia in the next six months.
The memorandum is not a business venture by NEC, but a part of a Japanese government US$40 million aid project to upgrade Cambodia's telephone network, particularly in Phnom Penh.
NEC Senior Vice-President Iwao Shinohara told reporters that the Japanese government will continue to grant aid to Cambodia, and NEC, being an industry leader, is ready to improve the local telecommunications sector in any way it can.
Shinohara also said NEC plans to set up an office in Phnom Penh by next year to facilitate the transfer of technology.
In the future, Cambodia is also expected to gain from NEC's extensive world-wide network to make it accessible to other countries, he added.
On March 26, 1997, H.E. Keat Chhon, Senior Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, on behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia, signed at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, DC the Articles of Agreement of International Finance Corporation (IFC) which allowed the Kingdom of Cambodia to become the 171st member of the given institution.
Present at the signing ceremony were IFC Vice President, H.E. Var Huoth, Cambodian Ambassador to the US, and other officials from IFC, Cambodian Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Royal Embassy of Cambodia in Washington, DC.
The adherence of Cambodia as IFC member is regarded as a testimony of the Cambodian Government policy in developing and strengthening the private sector which has been considered as the engine of growth and development in Cambodia.
Cambodia's membership also paves the way for the IFC to undertake a broad range of activities, including project financing, equity investments and technical assistance in Cambodia. IFC is expected to play an important role in developing the tourism, agro-business, and power sectors through its investments in the country. At the begining, IFC plans to launch two technical assistance programs named "Extending IFC's Reach Program" and "Mekong Project Development Facility" which are aimed at improving the investment environment and promoting the small and medium scale enterprises in Cambodia.
It should be noted that the main objective of the Royal Government of Cambodia, as mentioned in its National Programs for Rehabilitation and Development of Cambodia, is to raise the living standard of the Cambodian people through sustainable development. And one of the key strategies to realize that goal is the mobilization of resources for investment in the economy which is being carried out through the attraction and promotion of foreign direct investment (FDI) and official development assistance (ODA). Apart from these two sources of finance, the Royal Government is also striving to seek financing support from private investment financing institutions such as IFC, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Caisse Francaise de Developpement (CFD), etc... and to establish a capital market for portfolio investment. These four sources constitute the angles of the investment financing square of the development of Cambodia.
On March 26, 1997, H.E. Keat Chhon, Senior Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, signed with Mr. Severino, Vice President of the World Bank, two credit agreements amounting to $57 million.
The signing ceremony, held at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, DC, was attended by H.E. Var Huoth, Cambodian Ambassador to the US, Mr. Nicholl, Executive Director of the World Bank, Mr. Shirazi, Director of the World Bank's Country DepartmentI and other Cambodian and World Bank officials.
Under the terms of the agreement for Disease Control and Health Development Project, $30.4 million credit provided by World Bank will be used to finance three national health programs: Tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS and the expansion of the national health centers and referral hospitals in 10 Cambodian provinces. The project, which is for a five year period, will be implemented by Cambodian Ministry of Health with the contribution of about $5.2 million from the Royal Government as counterpart funds.
The second agreement, amounting to $27 million, is to co-finance the Agriculture Productivity Improvement Project funded by the International Fund for Agriculture Development ($4.75 million). This five year project is aimed at promoting sustainable agriculture development, impacting poverty through provision of basic agriculture services, and providing opportunity to profit from new technologies.
The project, which will be implemented by Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, consists of two main programs. The first one--Sectoral Strategies Program--covers agronomy seeds and plant protection, animal health and production, agricultural hydraulics, fisheries and small holder rubber research. The second one--Institutional Support Program--covers planning and statistics, human resource development and management, and strengthening provincial agricultural services and project management unit.
The two credit agreements have brought the Bank's cumulative lending to Cambodia since 1993 to $237 million. The five previous credits include $63 million Emergency Rehabilitation Project, $17 million Technical Assistance Project, $20 million Social Fund Project, $40 million Economic Recovery Project and $40 million Power Rehabilitation Project.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) unveiled on March 26 a new $280 million loan program for Cambodia designed to improve elements of the country's infrastructure.
The proposed loans, which will be dispersed between 1997 and 2000, covers 14 specific projects in the fields of economic growth, policy reform, human resource development, and natural conservation.
Mr. Someth Suos, ADB's Representative in Phnom Penh said that the Bank had been pleased to see earlier loans being used effectively in Cambodia. "The Cambodian economy and economic growth continue to be very robust," added Someth Suos, noting a 6.5 percent growth rate last year, the reduction in inflation from more than 41 percent in 1993 to less than 10 percent last year, and the continued stability of the national currency, the riel.
Cambodia is making progress towards self-sufficiency in rice production, but still has food shortages in rural provinces, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on March 5, after a recent study tour in the country.
FAO also estimated that rice production for 1996-1997 would increase about two percent over the previous year to about 3.39 million tonnes.
The production, about 35 percent higher than the average for the previous five years, is expected to yield a surplus of 127,000 tonnes over the requirements for rice consumption in the whole country.
However, the Organization noted that flooding, rats, and pests have destroyed rice paddy and stockpiles, so food shortages in some rural areas are still common. There is, therefore, a continued need for food aid to help people meet their minimum food requirements.
A joint US-Cambodian operation recovered in Kratie province the remains believed to be those of a US serviceman missing in action in Cambodia in the early 1970s. The remains were repatriated on March 3 to the United States for positive identification at the US military Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii.
The mission – the 16th joint US-Cambodian POW/MIA field operation-began its work on February 6 after receiving information that a US pilot died in a crash in 1971 in northern Kratie province, and another American died in 1970 in Svay Rieng province. The operation ended on March 7.
The remains of six Americans have been recovered and identified in Cambodia, since the first MIA mission that was launched in 1991 after an agreement between the two countries was reached.
The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art returned two priceless centuries-old Cambodian artifacts to the Cambodian government. The two 10th and 11th century statues from Cambodia's ancient Angkor civilization were handed back to the Cambodian government on March 17, by Martin Lerner, Curator of the Museum's collection of South and Southeast Asian art.
Mr. Lerner said that the 10th century carved stone head of Shiva had been donated to the museum in 1985 by a wealthy benefactor and that the museum had been unaware that the statue was being sought by Cambodian authorities.
Mr. Lerner rescued and recognized the second head of Shiva from a Sotheby's antiquities auction in New York last year, and the museum has assisted in its repatriation to Cambodia.
The repatriation of the two statues comes as the Cambodian government and the United Nations jointly launch a massive international media campaign calling for the return of ancient, stolen Khmer artifacts to Cambodia.
The US government provided on March 20, through the US Agency for International Development, $1.6 million aid to Population Services International (PSI) to help expand the PSI's condom marketing and selling program in Cambodia.
The program is aimed at combating the rapid spread in Cambodia of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) which were reported by the United Nations as a real threat in the country.
A two-day conference on "Cambodia and the International Community: The Road Ahead", co-sponsored by the Asia Society, The Asia Foundation, and the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, was held in Washington, DC on March 24-25 with the financial support provided by the US Institute of Peace, The Center for International Political Economy, The Patrick A. Gerschel Foundation and the Asia Foundation.
The conference started by welcoming remarks by co-sponsors and H.E. Var Huoth, Cambodian Ambassador to the United States.
The topics discussed by the Conference included: Conflict resolution and reconciliation after UNTAC; Building government and civil society; Politics: Can democracy take root?; The role of the international community; and Cambodia and the international community: An agenda for the future. The Conference was followed by a Public Program on Cambodia and the International Community which focused on Trends in Cambodia's socio-economic and political development, and Cambodia and the international community.
Among numerous Cambodian and American speakers at the Conference were H.E. Sum Manit, Secretary of State of the Council of Ministers, H.E. Om Radsady, National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Commission Chairman, H.E. Kem Sokha, National Assembly's Human Rights Commission Chairman, Mr. Ok Serei Sopheak, Adviser to the Co-Minister of Interior, Mr. Kao Kim Hourn, Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace Executive Director, Mr. Lao Mong Hay, Khmer Institute of Democracy Executive Director, Ms. Nanda Pok, Women for Prosperity Executive Director, David Ashley, Consultant to the Cambodian National Assembly, Kenneth Quinn, US Ambassador to Cambodia, Margaret Carpenter, Assistant Administration for Asia, USAID, Lorne Craner, President of International Republican Institute, John McAuliff, US-Indochina Reconciliation Project Executive Director, Jon Summers, Representative for Cambodia at the Asia Foundation, Phavann Chhuan, Cambodian Network Council Executive Director, and many others. Mr. Ichiro Fujisaki, Minister in Charge of Political Affairs of the Embassy of Japan to the United States also addressed the Conference on Cambodia and the international community.
In general, the Conference pointed with optimism the slow, but solid steps forward made in Cambodia in its process of rehabilitation and reconstruction, and underlined that political stability is the most important factor determining the developments in the country. The fight against corruption, strengthening the rule of law, wide collaboration with NGOs and more broadening freedom of expression were also regarded as important factors for the promotion of the progress in Cambodia.
As far as the role of the international community is concerned, most of the speakers advocated the continued unconditional aid to Cambodia. They argued that putting conditions on aid to Cambodia means putting sanctions on people and would badly affect the stability and economic development in Cambodia. Therefore, they suggested unconditional aid be continued to encourage and assist Cambodia.
In his address, US Ambassador to Cambodia Kenneth Quinn stressed the evolution towards progress and stability actually made in the country. He noticed the full cooperation and strong support provided by Cambodia in the search for American servicemen missing in action (MIA) and in anti-counterfeit US currency activities. He also reaffirmed the continued US support and assistance to Cambodia.
At the end of the conference, the participants had opportunity to visit Angkor temple through a slide lecture: Light over Ancient Angkor presented by John H. Stubbs, Vice President of World Monuments Fund.
To deny the groundless and untrue information published in the Far Eastern Economic Review of March 6, which alleged that there is little sharing of information among diplomats of the different factions at the Cambodian Embassy in Washington, DC, H.E. Ambassador Var Huoth wrote to the Editor-in-Chief of the Far Eastern Economic Review a letter dated March 12 with the following content :
Dear Sir,
In response to your March 6 article "Intelligence", in which you wrote that "Cambodian diplomats at the embassy in Washington say there is little sharing of information among diplomats of the different factions", I am disappointed that you overlook the fact that we are a team at the Royal Embassy of Cambodia in Washington, DC. I would like to point out the unity among all of us.
In our Embassy structure, we have one ambassador, three counselors and other staff. We have no deputy. Our work is aimed at the nation's interest, not at the factions' interests. Our main task is to represent our country in the United States, not to represent any party. So there is no need to hide information from each other. We share thoughts, ideas and information with each other and work in friendship and cooperation to address the entire range of common issues. Actually, we are proud of being in good harmony.
I believe your article includes negative statements about our interaction in the Embassy. It is not based on factual accuracy. I wish to request that my response be published in its entirety in your next edition.
Sincerely, Var Huoth AmbassadorReturn to Embassy Page