Unofficial Translation of Selected Comments

Inaugurating Road 67 with Thai Deputy Premier Suthep

04 July 2009

It is indeed a great pleasure that we are present here today to put into official use the National Road 67 of 131 kilometers with the presence of HE Suthep Thaugsuban, Deputy Prime Minister, highly representing HE Abhisit Vijjajiva, Prime Minister of Thailand making the event more meaningful for the sake of friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries – Thailand and Cambodia.

… On June 12, Prime Minister, if I may recall, Abhisit Vijjajiva conducted an official visit to Cambodia and I have requested him to send a representative to inaugurate the road on July 4. Here with us today is HE Suthep Thaugsuban, Deputy Prime Minister, who came to visit me with HE Prawit, Minister of Defense of Thailand, weeks earlier for a luncheon … The presence has indeed proven what two neighboring countries can do and I hope, as the Cambodian Prime Minister and you (HE Suthep) and the Prime Minister of Thailand, that this will go on …

… Please allow me to take this opportunity to congratulate what has been said in a meaningful speech of HE Suthep which stressed the importance of Thai as well as Cambodian focus on infrastructural development for neighboring countries … It is feeling good to hear determination of the Kingdom of Thailand to continue to treasure friendly relations and cooperation between the two countries and to commit to building a road that will link the northern part of Cambodia to Si Sa Ket of Thai northeast ... We also hope to make Juam Srangam border pass an internal one …

… Taking this opportune moment I would express my sincere thanks and appreciation to the Ministries of Public Works and Transports, Economy and Finance, the Mine Clearance Organization, as well as local authorities of Uddar Mean Jei and Siemreap for the efforts they made to get the task completed … We all may remember that on December, 27, 2006, together with HE Ambassador of Thailand, we put into official operation an 18 kilometer road between Juam Srangam and Anlong Veng as grant from the Kingdom of Thailand …

… Particularly I have to thank two persons – HE Sun Chan Thol and HE Tram Iv Toeuk who, in their former functions as Minister and Secretary of State for Public Works and Transports and their colleagues, have made efforts to get the tasks done … HE Suthep has already mentioned a great deal about what this road means and can do in terms of benefit for both countries … On behalf of the Cambodian people I think perhaps I would say a few words about the road from the Cambodian perspective …

… We have to trace back to the time when we implemented my win-win policy which was put into operation in 1996 and had come to a successful end in 1998 … What had been the thrust of such a speedy implementation was the fact that the policy enjoyed supports from all factions and players involved … What I wanted to underline here is the fact that political and military integration of the former Khmer Rouge forces into the fold of the nation would not have created such an impact … if it were because of infrastructural development that helps integrate the country so that wealth distribution will not be in favor to one but not to others …

Also last year we put into use the national road 48 from Koh Kong to Sre Ambel linking up with the national road 4 – it is what we term as the sea corridor which has not been there in the Cambodian history … In my meeting with HE Abhisit Vijjajiva in Pattaya on April 10, I have requested for his help in building the road 68 from O Smatch to Kralanh … I would be grateful if HE Suthep could inform this with the Prime Minister HE Abhisit so as to reach and to sign an agreement soon … and Your Excellency Suthep could come to Cambodia again for the groundbreaking event …

… Transportation and travel to and fro between the two countries have been better … It had been so difficult to transport fruits and goods from Koh Kong to Sre Ambel before the road is there … improvement has also been obvious in the trip between Poi Pet and Siemreap thanks to the completion of the ADB project road segment between the two places … Tourists who got off from the border at Poi Pet to Siemreap took almost a day have now shortened their trip to just over an hour … Also trip from Anlong Veng to Siemreap, which took two days and one night in between, now has improved because the national road 67 …

… I have a great ambition to turn former battlefields into development zones … I just went to release fish at Phnom Voar – former fighting zone … I also have a wish to turn all our border with Thailand, Vietnam and Laos to be those of peace, friendship and cooperation for the sake of development … People along the border are usually poor and full of fear … In the history of many countries those who were guilty often would be sent to reside or work at the border ...

… We have achieved that already with Vietnam and Laos and a major part of our border with Thailand … Areas where both sides installed and aimed artilleries at each other have now become destination of factory investment and tourism … These are the visions that Hun Sen wanted to achieve when he is still in power and alive … and talking about being alive, I would turn to be 61 only in 2013, so it is not unreasonable to look to 2018 (elections) …

… In fact HE Suthep and HE Prawit and I had a good discussion last week on a range of issues – common maritime development, and I urge both side to start negotiation the soonest we can as there are abundance of oil under the seabed … More is also on the way between Cambodia and Laos, and Vietnam in terms of connecting places by air …

… We all are Khmer here and we are proud that the Khmer of this generation do not opt for fighting or taking revenge on each other, taking senior advise and opinion for consideration, and together working for the country’s development. Take for instance next year we will have a national road between Battambang and Pailin ready and we have just secured the Chinese assistance to build a road from Thmor Kol to Sampeo Loun and Phnom Proek. We also have projected to seek Kuwait’s assistance in building a road that will link Pailin to Malai … We have more commitments from China as more projects have been planned to be finalized by July this year … However, let me assure HE Suthep that for the construction of road 68 I will not ask it from China because it is nearby Thailand …

… I would like to take this solemn occasion to thank people in Siemreap for giving five from the six parliamentary seats, and Uddar Mean Jei for giving their only seat to the Cambodian People’s Party in the last elections … It shows that people support the CPP and Royal Government policy and those who made false remarks on that would not be able to win their support …■

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