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Unofficial Translation
Selected Comments on the Fifth
Asia Economic Forum — Selected Comments
06 April 09
In addition to the prepared text Samdech Techo Hun Sen made
following comments relating to local economic development and its status,
millennium development goals, and China as regional and world economic power,
etc.
There was this economic
intelligence group who once predicted Cambodian income to have lost 75% while
only 25% was left and it was the same team that wrote and requested for an
audience with me. I find it incredible even in family level that 75% of its
income has been depleted by their children in anyway and the family is still
doing fine. The country’s economy is emerging in a growth rate of about 10% five
consecutive years, where 10.4% was the highest in 2005, Cambodia was at that
time predicted to be 1.6% or 1.7% growth country. You know what, we did 13.3%.
Because of this fact-missing assessment of the Cambodian economy, I do not know
how to respect their intelligence …
Cambodia has been classified
according to their reading similar to those countries of Sudan, Angola, Chad,
Zimbabwe, while as I said elsewhere we have decided to send our de-mining troops
to Chad and Central African Republic in addition to those that are working in
Sudan as an international contribution under the United Nations umbrella …
How could we then send our
troops to Chad if Cambodia is ranked as equal as Chad … Some countries have been
classified as better off (than Cambodia) while their countries are still at war,
social upheavals. Is it an effort to thwart off investment influx into Cambodia?
I think this is the question to ask.
Cambodia is not free from
crisis but we are not as stupid to destabilize the country and to create
political turmoil, thus losing its normal socio-economic process … I do not
think the Cambodian people are that stupid that when they know that there are
economic hardships, instead of laboring harder, they take to the forest to wage
war, if I may say as an example. One cannot tell as there can be countless of
political risks … Sometimes, demonstration brings about instability or a
revolution … But being in Cambodia, have they seen us preparing for all of
those? Is it a political intention to block influx of investment into Cambodia?
I would like to inform you
all that all projects have been implementing and we do not retreat from them,
take for instance, all electric power stations developed with the Chinese
assistance are to keep going, while roads and other infrastructure are to
mentioned, as HE the Chinese Ambassador is here too, China has now played an
ever bigger role, and I wish China to be richer. I was once asked by President
of Nikkei Company in Tokyo if China will become a threat being a member of the
World Trade Organization (WTO) … I gave them a simple answer, to receive Chinese
tourists or to accommodate Chinese refugees …
IN our history when China was
in difficult situation because of invasion from foreign countries, the Chinese
had fled their countries and some have been living in Cambodia and some in other
countries in Southeast Asia. So if about 20 million Chinese took refuge what
kind of drama we all will have …
But if we all make China a
rich country and we all receive Chinese tourists, I think it would be better … I
would like to take this opportune moment to give my appreciation to the fact
that Chinese tourists seem to increase in number as they have changed their tour
destination because of economic difficulties from Europe to Asia, Cambodia
included, which cost less …
Further to that trade between
China and ASEAN countries are for the benefit of the ASEAN countries more than
for China itself because the ASEAN countries’ volume of export to China is
bigger than the volume from China to ASEAN …
Again I met the President of
Nikkei Company and he said to me Your Excellency’s understanding is quite
justifiable as China has now become a reality and it has given no threats to any
country …
Having said all this I wish
to remind you that concerns have been expressed about China being member of WTO
and it will be a stronger country economically leading to being strong in
military and influential in politics …
As for Cambodia, all projects
are on the move and I would say there would not be major impacts … As exports
crisis is a normal experience as buyer countries suffer financial and economic
difficulties making money scarce …
What has been lost in our
income is the tax on vehicles and I am sure the people of Cambodia know their
situation full well that if they could not afford new cars, they would go for
the ones of a lower prices. If we were to have no new car, we would not be dead
as without rice … and that situation is not existing here …
They have thought of
Madagascar as better than Cambodia, Guinea Bissau whose President had been
assassinated to be better off, while Guinea has indeed requested to buy rice
from Cambodia … I have no intention whatsoever to discredit the two countries
but the EI seems to have put Cambodia in a wrong position. What is the heck as
they invite me to London only after they criticized me? The problem is if I
should take the invitation or not and to respond to their letter or not?
Cambodia still benefit from a
situation that its workers have not been entirely cut off from their farms
because we just have factories while they still have their parents owning farms
back in their native villages … Our way of helping them is to increase, and we
have incorporated in the budget law, spending in agricultural sector and more
will be provided every year so that agriculture will accumulate more capital …
What seems to be our concern
here is if we are able to meet the millennium development goals in this state of
economic downturn? Or should we readjust them? Given situation has been changed
if we compared to the time when we set out objectives for the millennium …
Will the United Nations
readjust them, for example the time frame? Cambodia is also concerned that its
objective of eliminating 1% of poverty every year will be affected as those who
have been cleared off the poverty line might fall back again under it because of
the situation … but we do not anticipate political risk as is predicted by EI
because the people of Cambodia do not see why that have to go back to war or
social unrest …
HE Ambassador of the United
States of America, the other day brought a delegation of US-ASEAN business
groups to see me and many have introduced their investment interests in Cambodia
but can we ask if Cambodia is in this risk level, why should they come to us?
The same is true with HE the Ambassador of Australia as we have cooperation in
the field of Bauxite mining and they are in final stage of preparation … no one
has abandoned the project yet …
Please do not take my
response as a clash with EI but I just need to make sure that the country is
being seen in an objective way that it does suffer in this financial and
economic climate but to die from it is not what it is going to be … We have all
that the world needs and that is rice …
We have a crisis now and it
is how to sell out rice because we have too much in surplus and we also have
too much cassava and I have requested to Vietnam to buy up more from us and the
Thai Trade Minister also came to find a way to break through but Cambodia in
addition to all this has to be prepared to final products processing by itself
before exporting.
I would call on Cambodians of
all walks of life to act seriously in solving economic problem and to prove it
is wrong the kind of prediction from such an organization … I wonder if the
Global Witness and EI are one of a kind …
There was this comment that
in Tumring Rubber plantation of Kompong Thom province there were not even a
single rubber tree, and I returned my comment that yes not a single tree but
thousands of hectares … How come they classified countries at war to be better
off than Cambodia? But the importance is it is not up to what other people say –
take for instance IMF predicted Cambodia in the first three months of this year
will have growth of 0.5%, while ADB said Cambodia will get 2.5% for the same
period – but it is up to what we are doing.
It is hard to exercise trade
relations though as some countries have pursued strictly two policies –
protectionism and subsidy – only they are disguised under hygiene criteria, for
example. For Europe the deal seems to be better in agricultural products as long
as they are organic. So we have to make efforts in producing organic products …
Exports from developed to developing countries seems to be comparable to water
running off the hill top while on a reverse order like from foot hill back up
top …■
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