Donors Pledge $ 951.5 Million for Cambodia

By Soy Sophea

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that his government has made improvement in the nation’s legal and judicial systems by focusing on the development of a sound legal framework and enhancing professional capacity, independence and neutrality of the judiciary. All of these moves are crucial for strengthening the rule of law.

The Premier made this announcement when speaking at the opening of the 2nd Cambodia Development Cooperation Forum (CDCF) on December 4. This forum took place at the Government Palace in Phnom Penh. He assured delegates that his government will push forward Anti-Corruption draft laws for approval as soon as possible.

“The government is well aware that Anti-Corruption Laws are indispensable legal instruments to fight corruption effectively,” the prime minister said. “The government is strongly committed to ensuring a rapid conclusion and adoption of this law. We have worked in close consultation with all concerned parties on the basis of considering fundamental laws that must be adopted first.”

The Premier, when referring to the 3rd Legislature, noted that a total of 140 laws were promulgated including three major codes—the Criminal Procedure Code, the Civil Procedure Code and the Civil Code. He added that however, the 2nd CDCF had been organized against the backdrop of deepening and widespread global financial crisis.

He continued that the financial crisis originating in the United States and spreading out to other developed countries demonstrated the impossibility of making accurate predictions about the world economy, as it had the habit of plunging itself into depression, as was the case with the Great Depression in 1930s.

“Nevertheless, since mid-2008, the Cambodian economy retains its vigor, despite astronomical hikes in the price of food and oil, albeit at a more sedate pace,” he said.

The Premier pointed out that the income per capita this year is around US $625, an increase of around 9.5 percent. This trend has continued since 1999. He added that wage levels have contributed to the increase in public and private investment, accounting for 22 percent of GDP annually, all of which results in annual economic growth of 9.5 percent.

International donor countries and agencies have pledged to give US $ 951.5 million in aid with grants and loans to the Royal Government of Cambodia in 2009 totaling US $689 million in 2008, which increased US $ 262.5 million.

Keat Chhon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, announced the news about international aid on December 5 after two days of discussion with the donor countries and agency partners, at the government palace.

“China contributed $257 million dollars, the EU [European Union] and EC [European Commission] contributed $214 million dollars while Japan contributed $113 million dollars,” he said. “Let me express my profound appreciation for these indications of support.”

The Deputy Prime Minister said that the Multi-Year Indicative Financing Framework process identified a total resource availability of $ 951.5 million, increasing to approximately 1 billion dollars once the existing commitments of some partners who were unable to participate in the this projections exercise are taken in account.

He gave the forum the unofficial title “the week of one thousand million dollars”. He explained that China gave Cambodia this huge amount of money because China is a neighboring country and a good friend to Cambodia. “China well understands Cambodia’s development situation and is always willing to help us reconstruct roads and bridges.”

The Deputy Prime Minister did not reveal other figures as he noted that some donor nations such as the US were undergoing a period of transition.

He said the aid will support all Cambodian government development programs including the government’s public financial policies, judiciary and military reform as described in the Rectangular Strategy-phase II for Growth, Employment, Equity and Efficiency.

Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Manager for Cambodia said during the meeting that he welcomed progress made towards finalizing the anti-corruption law.

“Such a law is clearly not a magic bullet: as in any country, implementation will throw up new challenges,” Fan said. “We also note that there are number of actions that the Government can take, even before the law is passed, that would help deter and deal with corrupt practices.”

However, he said passing the law would be an important signal, providing investors and development partners with the confidence to make more long-term commitments in Cambodia. “Strengthening transparency and accountability in the management of public finance and natural resource will help secure the scale and type of investments required to sustain growth through the global downtown and beyond.”///