KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA
Nation-Religion-King
Issued by Royal Embassy of Cambodia in Washington D.C.
January 2007 - Volume 13
Address: 4530 16th Street, N.W.
Washington D.C.
Tel: (202) 726 7742
Fax: (202) 726 8381
E-mail: rec.dc@hotmail.com
Website: www.embassyofcambodia.org

 International Assistance to Cambodia;
 The Growth of Foreign Investment in Cambodia;
 Cambodia – US Cooperation;
 First Peace Corps Volunteers to serve in Cambodia;
 Cambodian Offshore Oil Deposits;
 Tourism Development in Cambodia;
 Mine Clearance in Cambodia;
 Agriculture Development in Cambodia;

International Assistance to Cambodia

The Government of Japan has donated 1,249,000,000 Yen (10.5 millions U.S.
dollars) as grant aid to Cambodia to help it construct infrastructure and improve the
economy.
The grant aid were signed on January 22, 2007 by Deputy Prime Minister Hor
Namhong, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and H.E Fumiaki
Takahashi, Japanese Ambassador to Cambodia and witnessed by Cambodian Prime
Minister Samdech Hun Sen.
The aid will be used to help reform Cambodia’s economic infrastructure, detailed
design of the execution of the project for flood prevention and drainage improvement in
Phnom Penh.

Japan has donated also about 900,000USD for the demining work in Cambodia in
2007. The money will be used for the demining in Kampong Thom, Oddar Meanchey and
Preah Vihear provinces and benefit about 4,000 families, said Kem Sophoan, General
Director of Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC). After the mines are cleared, the land
will be handed over to the village communities for the development, he said.
Since 2000, Japan has donated approximately 50 million USD worth of materials
and technique as well as experts for demining in Cambodia, he added.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation, H.E. Hor Namhong had a meeting in Phnom Penh on January 19 with H.E.
Madame Brigitte Giradin, Minister Delegate for Cooperation, Development and
Francophone of France and signed a supplementary contract to the Cambodia-France
Partnership Framework Agreement. The Framework Agreement was signed in Paris in
September 2005, during the official visit of Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen to France.
In the press briefing, His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister said, through the
contract, France will donate 120 Million euro to Cambodia to enhance its development in
various sectors from 2006 to 2010. Besides, about 4.5 million euro of the fund will be used
to optimize tourism layout in Siem Reap to facilitate influx of more foreign visitors.
Therefore, the signing of the two amendments will no doubt brought the existing good
cooperation and relation of friendship between Cambodia and France to a new height, he
pointed out.
Prior to the signing ceremony, he had requested France to assist Cambodia in other
fields such as health, education, agriculture, especially family rubber plantation and,
medium and small scale irrigation, said His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, Her Excellency Madame Brigitte GIRADIN told the press that her
visit to Cambodia was to review the actual implementation of the Framework Agreement
on cooperation between Cambodia that was signed in 2005. The signing of the
supplementary contract to the Agreement would not only further strengthen the existing
good cooperation between the two countries but will make France, one of the most
important donors for Cambodia, she said.
France has learnt through the visit that France has made the right decision in
assisting Cambodia in the three prioritized sectors such as Agriculture and food security,
environment and bio-diversity and, health and anti HIV/AIDS prevention, she emphasized.
In addition, France will also assist Cambodia in the fields of urbanization, good
governance, French language study, restoration of ancient temples of Angkor Wat complex,
scholarship for Cambodian students to study in France.

European Union planned to provide 144 million Euros (some187 million US
dollars) in grant aid for the development cooperation in Cambodia in 2007, according to a
news release of European Union.
The amount of the grant aid for a planning action of Cambodia’s annual
development cooperation was elaborated in a report of European Union known as Blue
Book, in which road map on the European Union’s aid effectiveness was showed.
In a meeting on January 26 with Pius Fischer, German ambassador and
representative of European Union in Cambodia, the Blue Book was presented to Senior
Minister, Minister of Finance and Economy Kiet Chhon.
In 2006, European Union offered approximately 160 million US dollars in grant for
the development project in Cambodia.

The Growth of Foreign Investment in Cambodia
The value of foreign investment in 2006 rose to $3.97 billion from $1.05
billion in 2005. Last year, investment in tourism, mining, energy and construction
was more than $2.6 billion. The industry sector, including garments, garnered $552
million and agro-industry more than $481 million, the Council for Development of
Cambodia (CDC) figures showed.
Mr. Suon Sithy, Secretary-General of the Cambodian Investment Board
(CIB), said construction was booming because of rising tourism. About 1.7 million
foreign tourists visited Cambodia, last year compared with 1.4 million in 2005.
Cambodia's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2004 was another factor
in drawing investment, especially to the garment industry. Cambodia exported
garments worth $2.56 billion last year, a 17 percent rise from 2005.
South Korea has been the leading investor in Cambodia with its $1 billion
contribution to the World City satellite town investment on Phnom Penh's Pong
Peay lake. Next is China with $717 million, including 28 projects down from 40 in
2005. Russian investment is next with the $278 million Koh Pos holiday resort
island project in Sihanoukville. In fourth place is Thailand, whose investors plan a
$10 million for 250-bed hospital, $31 million for sugarcane factory and $22 million
for Kampot electricity plant.
Far down on the list of investors to Cambodia is Japan. To address the low
level of investment, Cambodia and Japan began their first round of talks to hammer
out a bilateral investment protection agreement which aims to pick up the latter's
investment speed in the kingdom. "We want Japanese investors to invest in the
sectors of copy machines, television sets, spare parts for cars and others, which they
have already invested in other Southeast Asia countries," said Mr. Sok Chenda,
Secretary General of the Council for Development of Cambodia. Cambodia needs
the investment from Japan to increase its employment and speed up the economic
growth.
Currently, Japanese investors have over 20 projects such as bank, hotel resort,
mansion construction, trade company and island development in Cambodia. Mr.
Mizukoshi Hideaki, Director of Asian Division of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Japan, said that Cambodia is a country that strongly attracts Japanese investors.
"The labor price is low and we focus on garment, all kinds of spare parts,
agricultural production and other sectors," he added. Prime Ministers of the 2
countries have been pushing the technical officials to reach the agreement as soon
as possible.
According to official statistics, from 1994 to 2005, Cambodia attracted 5.49
billion U.S. dollars of agreement-bound foreign direct investment.

Cambodia – US Cooperation

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen met US Assistant UnderSecretary of Defense Charles A. Ray in charge of MIA/POWs at his residence at
Takmao, Kandal province on January 17. 2007. The meeting focused on American
servicemen who are missing in the Indochina war and other related cooperation
issues between the two countries.
Mr. Charles A. Ray requested the continued support of Cambodian
authorities in locating the remains of U.S. soldiers, believed to be in Kratie province.
His team will be in Cambodia for the next 2-3 weeks to conduct investigation that
might lead them to aircraft crash sites or potential burial location.
During the Indochina war in the 1970s, there were 81 American soldiers
missing in their mission in Cambodia’s territory, but so far 27 remains were
discovered. Mr. Charles A. Ray, former U.S. ambassador to Cambodia from 2002 to
2005, said that there are 54 U.S. soldiers still missing in action (MIAs) in Cambodia.
"The parents of those soldiers are still asking us about their sons and if they died,
their parents need the evidence," Charles told some 100 media management
students at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.
Mr. Ray said that in the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
countries, his team will conduct investigation of archives and villages to seek out
details that might lead them to aircraft crash sites or to potential burial location.
"But we are faced with rigid border-crossing rules and regulations. Our
investigations have often been halted for months or longer, while negotiations must
take place. Such delays are devastating to the progress of a case, and especially to
the families who are waiting and hoping that answers on their missing loved ones
will be forthcoming”, added Mr. Ray.
"Cambodia has set up an example for the other nations in this region and
the citizens of the U.S. recognized that," added Mr. Ray. Meanwhile, he noted,
Prime Minister Hun Sen said in Siem Reap in 2004 that the mission of recovering
the remains of U.S. soldiers offered new venues of cooperation between US and
Cambodia. "The relation between Cambodia and the U.S. is up and down and
sometimes is rocky," he said, adding that presently both sides cooperate nearly in all
sectors and "it is a positive sign."

During the meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister on 22 January, Ms.
Kathleen Stephens, Deputy Assistant Secretary in charge of East Asian and Pacific
Affairs, said that the United States has changed its attitude in providing aid to
Cambodia by giving it directly to the Cambodian Government, instead directly to
nongovernmental organizations and civil society groups as previously. The US
Deputy Assistant Secretary also highly valued the efforts by the Royal Government
of Cambodia in especially improving economic growth beyond expectation.
Moreover, she voiced her support for the Cambodian Government's preparations for
the commune and precinct council polls in early April 2007 and general election in
2008.
The Cambodian Prime Minister, in his reply, said the efforts by the
Cambodian Government were to make sure that reforms and good governance were
effected in order to enable Cambodia to prosper more strongly in implementing
democracy and political stability as well as further promoting economic growth.
The Prime Minister also stressed that Cambodia would try its utmost to reinforce
and tighten cooperation, especially the anti-terrorism cooperation, with the United
States.

The visit to Phnom Penh on Wednesday January 24, 2007 by US Navy
Admiral Gary Roughead, who is in charge of the United States Pacific Fleet, , is to
increase warm military relations between the US and Cambodia.
The US and Cambodia Navies will share an interest in ensuring the
movement of goods and people over Southeast Asia's oceans, the commander of the
US Pacific Fleet said Wednesday. "All navies share an interest in the free flow of
commerce and goods in the region. I think that economies are facilitated by navies,"
Mr. Roughead said. "I believe that the Cambodian navy has a strong interest in
maritime security and I just wanted to come here, meet the leadership and begin a
dialogue
that
will
lead
to
a
way
of
cooperation."
Mr. Roughead said that his own visit and that in July 2006 by US Admiral
William Fallon, commander of all US forces in the Pacific, means that things are
looking up. Admiral William Fallon promised, during his July visit, to increase
military aid to the Cambodian government. The United States would help train
Cambodian military and provide it with non-lethal assistance.
A U.S. navy warship, with 200 officers and crew, will arrive at the
Sihanoukville port in southwestern Cambodia on Feb. 9 and will stay until Feb. 13,
2007. Speaking at a press conference in the capital, US Pacific Fleet Commander
Gary Roughead and Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh said they hoped the
arrival of the ship would open the door to increased cooperation between the navies
of the two nations. "The purpose of the visit is to bring our navies closer together,
the 200 officers and crew to meet and greet both Cambodian civilians and members
of its armed forces and we believe that it marks a beginning of a strong navy-tonavy relationship with many opportunities for the future."

First Peace Corps Volunteers to Serve in Cambodia
According to a news release on January 26, 2007 by the Peace Corps, thirty
English teachers, the first group of Peace Corps Volunteers to serve in the Kingdom
of Cambodia, departed from San Francisco for Phnom Penh on January 31 to begin
the historic partnership between Peace Corps and Cambodia. "We are excited to
begin this historic new program for the Peace Corps in Cambodia," said Peace
Corps Director Ron Tschetter. “The Cambodian people have extended their warm
invitation, and we look forward to working with them. We are enthusiastic about
this opportunity to build lasting friendships and a mutual understanding with the
people of Cambodia.”
American teachers (Peace Corps Volunteers) arrive at Phnom Penh international
airport February 2, 2007
Peace Corps is launching its program in Cambodia with an English as a
foreign language project. Volunteers will teach English at the upper secondary level
and support teachers in Cambodian provinces and districts to improve their English
language and English teaching skills. The scope of the Volunteers’ work, however,
will not be limited to classroom teaching. Volunteers will also work on communityinitiated programs, the promotion of life skills and collaborate with community
groups and individuals to develop sustainable community activities, to enhance the
quality of life for Cambodians in the communities where they serve.
The first group of Volunteer-trainees arrived in Phnom Penh on February 2. They
will spend three months in intensive training where they will learn the language,
have cross-cultural training as well as learn more technical skills to help them be
more proficient in their profession. After completion of their training, they will be
officially sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteers on April 4, 2007, and begin their
two years of work in Cambodia.

Cambodian Offshore Oil Deposits
Speaking at a seminar on January 15, 2007 in Phnom Penh on the country's
oil and gas assets, Cambodian National Petroleum Authority director-general Te
Duong Tara said exploration by US oil giant Chevron in its Block A allocation
alone indicated that its initial estimate of around 400 million barrels had been too
conservative. Cambodian offshore oilfields may yet yield millions of barrels more
oil than previously estimated.
"According to estimates before drilling five wells we said that Block A has
perhaps 400 million barrels and three to five GPS of gas. This was the previous
estimate, but a subsequent tendency increases that from 400 to 700 million barrels,"
he said. "Chevron is still drilling. It has not announced the final figure yet. I think
maybe in May or June we can know about everything and talk about a real figure."
Block A is one of six demarcated areas. Japanese, Chinese, South Korean,
Malaysian, Indonesian, Singaporean and Thai interests are also involved in
Cambodian offshore oil exploration. Chevron is the largest investor in Cambodian
offshore oil reserves and has so far poured around 130 million dollars into
exploration.
With Block A the only block so far to be significantly explored, it remained
unclear whether other blocks would also yield higher than previously estimated, and
if so by how much. However Tara said Cambodia's oil boom was only just
beginning and the government was already looking at exploring significant potential
onshore reserves in a range of provinces including central provinces of Kampong
Chhnang and Pursat, as well as Kampong Thom and the Thai border provinces of
Battambang and Preah Vihear. The Cambodian government was taking a long-term
view to oil investment regarding its potential to boost the national economy but
lacked the finances to develop its oil and gas reserves without foreign investment.
World Bank estimates had previously put Cambodia's total offshore oil
potential at up to 2 billion barrels, the extraction of which the United Nations
Development Program has said could potentially double the nation's annual GDP
and significantly reduce the country's current dependence on foreign aid.

Tourism Development in Cambodia
Some 1.7 million tourists had visited Cambodia in 2006, or 35 percent increased as
compared with the same period of 2005, said Secretary of State of the Ministry of Tourism
H. E. Thong Khon during his visit to the Pailin Angkor Souvenir shop in Phnom Penh on
January 12, 2007. He further said Cambodia earned 1,500 million US dollars from the
tourism industry that provided some 200,000 jobs to Cambodian workers. Normally,
tourists spent 20 percent of their money on buying souvenir, he said, adding that each
tourist spent averagely US$ 700 in three nights.
The number of foreign tourists traveling by ship to Sihanoukville international
seaport grew to 808 in December, as compared with the same period last months,
according to an official of navigation department. The figure showed that the majority of
foreign tourists were from England, the United States and Europe.
In the meantime, he said, two Bahamas tourism ships carrying foreign tourists
docked at Sihanouk Ville seaport. It is noted that in 2006 there were 10 international
tourist ships and in 2005 three tourist ships, docking at Sihanouk Ville international
seaport.
In 2006, there were 290,000 Cambodian tourists visiting foreign countries and 5
million local tourists visiting pleasant resorts in the country. The increase of Cambodian
tourists visiting the foreign countries was due to the improvement of Cambodian livings.
Stung Chinit, a freshly reconstructed irrigation project in Kampong Thom province,
approximately 150km north of Phnom Penh became a new eco-tourism destination in the
kingdom. The province’s authority are now building the master plan to manage that zone
to be one of tourism destination in the province.
Kampong Thom province is one of a main tourism destinations. The most popular
site there is Sambo Prey Kup where there were 174,087 tourists visited in 2005.

Mine Clearance in Cambodia
The Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) plans to clear mines in 237
villages covering an area of 28 million square meters in 2007, CMAC Deputy
Director General Heng Ratana told on Thursday January 25, 2007 to a dozen
officials from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and 10 delegates
of Deputies from eight African countries, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Uganda, who came
here to draw experience of mine clearance and weapons collection.
The Center expects to demine 28 million square meters of land this year, at
the cost of 11.44 million U.S. dollars, he said, in 2006, CMAC, the kingdom's
flagship demining organization, cleared around 26 million square meters of land
and found 35,745 pieces of anti-personnel mines, 1,062 pieces of anti-tank mines
and 113,296 pieces of unexploded ordinances (UXO).
In addition, he said, from 1992 to 2006, CMAC has cleared 170, 988,776
million square meters of land and found 346,735 pieces of anti-personnel mines,
6,573 pieces of anti-tank mines and 1,141, 172 pieces of UXO.
CMAC officials took the delegates to a demining field in Chrey Tom Village,
Kdol Tahen Commune, Bor Vel District, where they listened to Ratana's
introduction and witnessed the detonation of a detected mine.
The Deputies came to Cambodia to attend the six-day workshop on AsiaAfrica Cooperation on Peace Establishment in Africa, which was started in Phnom
Penh on Wednesday January 24, 2007 under the sponsorship of JICA, co-founder of
CMAC.
According to CMAC, there were more than 400 human casualties over mine
and UXO explosions in 2006 in Cambodia, or 50 percent decrease over the average
number of the previous six years.
Due to 30 years of armed conflicts, Cambodia has become one of the world's
most heavily mined countries with an estimated four to six million of such "hidden
killers" buried underground in areas as extensive as 2,900 square kilometers.

Agriculture Development in Cambodia
Cambodia, a traditional agricultural country with rice as its major crop and staple
food, has been fueling its dream to build a rice exporters' coalition in order to share more
profits and procure economic power. The kingdom's rice production chalked up an harvest
again in 2006, it rose to six million tons in 2006, five percent higher than 2005.
Cambodian Prime Minister has called on Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam
to join hands with Cambodia to form an association of rice exporting countries to stabilize
rice price and share more profits from rice sales. An association of the rice exporting
countries along the Mekong River could be important for the world market, he said, adding
that the association was somewhat like the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC). According to official statistics, Cambodia planned to export 1.5 million
tons of rice in 2006. Annual rice exports in the region of the Mekong River stand at over
10 million tons, almost half of the world's annual rice exports
Market also responded positively in 2006 as rice price jumped to a range between
120 U.S. dollars and 135 U.S. dollars per ton, while seeds of top-quality fragrant rice were
sold at 180 U.S. dollars per ton, quoted statistics form Ministry of Agriculture and
Fisheries.
Cambodian Prime Minister has encouraged the Cambodian Agricultural Research
and Development Institute (CARDI) to further strengthen its role despite the fact that it has
fulfilled an active function over the past years. The Prime Minister made the
recommendation in Dangko district, Phnom Penh, on January 09, 2006 during the
inauguration of CARDI’s physical infrastructure built with the Asia Development Bank
credit of nearly 200 million US dollars.
CARDI was established for the first time in 1999 and was officially launched in
late 2000. It has so far researched and produced a number of rice strains that are widely
used by the Cambodian farmers. According to the agriculture reports, the new rice seeds
produced by CARDI are currently used on more than 1 (one) million hectares of an
estimated 2 (two) million hectares of rice fields across Cambodia.
Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun said a new rice strain, called “Sen Pidor,” is more
popular for its short-term, high output and quality that is able to meet the international
market standards, and can be planted in either the rainy or dry season.
Apart from the research in rice seeds, CARDI is also experimenting on other cashcrop seeds such as maize, green bean, soybean, cassava, and tomatoes. CARDI has also
conducted researches to find out the ways to control and prevent insects and rats from
destroying rice and other crops.
The Prime Minister also expressed the government’s commitment to further build
the irrigation networks. The already-built networks are now capable of supply water to
over 70,000 to nearly one million hectares of farmland. However, he said, the existing
irrigation networks cannot supply water to some of the farmland in the dry season.
The Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology has constructed more than 30
projects of water reservoir system which capable of watering rice fields of up to more than
one million hectares in 2006 throughout the country.
Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology Lim Kean Hor said that in this 2007,
the ministry planned to construct some more water reservoir system. During 1960s,
Cambodia water reservoir system capable of watering only 70,695 ha, and between early
1980s and late 1990s its can provide just 47,000 ha, but it is much improved since 1998 to
2006, he said. All of those projects have built with millions of US dollar under
government’s budget and some grant aid from various donors.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) Representative, in charge of Asian region, Mr.
Arjun Goswami expressed his appreciation for the increase of agricultural sector in
Cambodia during his recently meeting with the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Minister Chan Sarun.
The representative said that, around 80 per cent of Cambodian population bases
their living on agriculture. So the recent economic growth of Cambodia must result, to a
large extent, from an increase in agriculture.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister thanked ADB for its wide range of
assistance to his ministry which so far has been going smoothly. “The rainy season harvest
for 2006 can increase by 15,000 to 20,000 hectares compared to the previous year because
of good weather and absence of big flood and many pests,” added the minister.
