The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Considers Cambodia as a Special Country, a Good Model and a Good Student

8 February 2008.

The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 546 -

For the Khmer version, the Kanhchok Sangkum, click here.

“Phnom Penh: The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development [UNCTAD] and the Ministry of Commerce [of Cambodia] expressed their enthusiasms about their firm partnership and support, to have more capacity development programs relating to Cambodian trade. A press conference was held on 5 February at the Hotel Le Royal, Phnom Penh.

“Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, the UNCTAD Secretary-General, and Mr. Cham Prasidh, the Minister of Commerce of the Kingdom of Cambodia, expressed their acknowledgment of the successes of the technical assistance program ‘TrainForTrade’ and underlined the need for more capacity building for Cambodia’s officials, to support the developments and trading affairs. ‘Entering into the World Trade Organization [WTO] has brought many potential benefits, still it is a long and complicated process that will affect most of the developing countries’ capacities as well. This program is especially designed for the least developed countries’ economies, that often lack human resources, administrative abilities, and technical skills to actively manage this process,’ said Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, the UNCTAD Secretary-General during the press conference.

“UNCTAD considers Cambodia ‘as a special country, a good model and a good student.’

“The UNCTAD Secretary-General emphasized three programs that were successfully achieved by Cambodia, including the Automated System for Customs Data – ASYCUDA - that helps to create transparency and availability information, encouraging the government and the private sectors to cooperate on Debt Management Programs – DMFAS - that instruct also about debts and sustainable sea port management. ‘Sea port services can be an important sector for Cambodia, pushing towards diversity, and we see that it is an opportunity to work with the government to establish a training basis that can help the development of sea port management, leading to Cambodia’s ports not only serving Cambodia, but also the region as a whole.’

“Since 2003, UNCTAD has trained 650 Cambodian officials, responding to requests from the Ministry of Commerce, in many technical programs, including improving investments, trading, electronics, trade negotiations, international investment agreements, and competitive laws and policies.

“Mr. Cham Prasidh, the Minister of Commerce, linked the success of these programs to the fact that UNCTAD has granted assistance responding to the basic needs of the partner country.
‘Assistance or capacity building based on the special conditions of each country are very important, because you cannot use only one and the same argumentation in Vietnam and in Cambodia. The two parties [the UNCTAD Secretary-General and the Minister of Commerce] specifically highlighted the need of more capacity development in Cambodia. ‘With bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, we need much capacity development, because we need many skills,’ said Mr. Cham Prasidh. ‘The French government learnt about our needs and helped us, and I encourage other development partners to also consider assistance.’

“This press conference was part of a regional summit that lasted for three days to discuss extending capacity development on regional trade, with the participation of delegations from Cambodia, Bhutan, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, and Vietnam. The purpose of this conference is to help especially Cambodia and Laos that get TrainForTrade programs to achieve the best implementation, including lessons learnt by neighboring countries. This conference was organized by UNCTAD in close cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce, and it was also supported by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

Koh Santepheap, Vol.41, #6265, 7.2.2008