via CAAI News Media
Cambodia National Carrier Buys Aircrafts Worth US $40 Million
Friday, 19 February 2010 07:32 DAP-NEWS/ Ek Madra
PHNOM PENH, Feb. 19 - Cambodia Angkor Air has planned to purchase two brand new ATR-72 aircrafts of $40 million from Europe as part of the government's efforts to boost the country's tourism sector, said the officials on Friday.
The 70-seat aircraft, which is manufactured by the French-Italian company, worth an estimated $20 million each, said the officials.
The first aircraft arrived last week and second one will be landed in Phnom Penh next month.
Tourism deputy minister, So Mara, welcome the company's move of purchasing new aircrafts, which would help for not only improving the flight service, but also to carry more foreign tourists who could not wait to visit the Kingdom of wonder.
"We are living in the competitive world, so we have to improve our service as well as to expand our flight destinations in the region," he told DAP.
Last week, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An told Japanese delegation that Cambodia has sought a green light from Tokyo for Cambodia Air Angkor to run direct fly from Phnom Penh to/from Japan's Osaka International Airport and Narita International Airport.
"Japanese Airline (JAL) alone cannot carry all Japanese visitors who wanted to visit Cambodia. Soon, Cambodia Angkor Air will have more planes and we could have direct fly to and from Japan if that possible," Sok An told Hideo Ohkubo, Japanese leadership committee member of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and vice-committee chairman of Advancement of New Industry, who led the delegations visited Cambodia.
Cambodia received 146,286 Japanese tourists out of the total foreign arrivals were recorded 2,161,577 foreign tourists who visited the Kingdom last year.
Another Cambodian deputy minister, who in charges of Cambodia Angkor Air, worked at the Office of the Council of Ministers, said the company's purchasing the brand new ATR-72 given the sign of economic and tourism recovered.
"We cannot keep hiring aircrafts from others, so we have to have our own aircrafts if we meant business," he told DAP.
Cambodia Angkor Air is a joint venture of which Cambodia held 51 percent of Cambodia Angkor Air and Vietnam Airlines had the rest.
Cambodia Angkor Air launched in July, 2009 with a $100 million initial investment.
Two aircrafts have been hired by the company to operate commercial flights domestically from Phnom Penh to/from Siem Reap, the country's biggest tourism destination, as well as to/from Ho Chi Minh City of the neighbouring Vietnam.
The company has said it was looking to expand commercial flights to another neighbouring Laos, according to the Vietnam Airlines Executive Director Pham Ngoc Minh, added that it hoped to increase its fleet to 10 in the next five years from now.
Cambodia Angkor Air has been operated an addition of 78 flights per week (64 domestic ones and 14 international) and should therefore offer the visitors to/in Cambodia a better access to its network of international airports (Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanouk), increased connectivity and a large range of travelling plans.
Cambodia Angkor Air also operated regular liaisons to/from Cambodia's main coastal town of Sihanoukville province.
Vietnam's deputy prime minister, Truong Vinh Trong, said at the time of a signing ceremony in July, 2009 that the airline was not just a rare joint investment, but a way to "improve the two Asian neighbours' bilateral relations".
In 2007, Indonesia's Rajawali Group signed a deal with Cambodia to establish a flag carrier and planned to begin flights in mid-2008, but the deal was cancelled because of the global economic downturn.
Cambodia has had no national carrier since Royal Air Cambodge (RAC) went bankrupt in 2001 with estimated losses of US $25 million.
Cambodia tourism sector, which is one of the country's key economic factors, continued to play a vital role in contributing to the country's growth given the tourist arrival is expected to increase 15 percent a year.
Cambodia received 2,161,577 foreign tourists who visited the Kingdom last year, which is about 2 percent increased from 2,125,465 in 2008, according to the tourism ministry.
Tourism brought in the equivalent of 13 percent of Cambodian gross domestic product.
The World Bank said Cambodian economic growth was contracted 2.2 percent for last year and is expected to grow 4 percent for 2010 thanks to be driven by the continued growth of tourism and agriculture.
Khmer Rouge Courts Claims On the Award “Most Innovative Use of Technology during a Trial”
Friday, 19 February 2010 02:53 administrator
By Soy Sophea
DAP News Cambodia
Khmer Rouge Tribunal known official the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia has won the award “Most Innovative Use of Technology during a Trial” in the seventh annual Law Technology News Awards programme.
The Law Technology News, a US-based monthly publication on the latest technologies, products and services available for the legal marketplace, has selected the ECCC for the award “for its success in installing and using technology despite extraordinary difficulties, constraints and a limited budget” during the court’s first trial case against a former security prison chief, Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch, according to the court’ press statement on Friday.
The court considers the award a testimony to the dedication of staff who worked hard, day and night, to make the trial successful.
During the eight-month trial, which ended in late November last year, 55 witnesses including surviving victims and former prison guards and interrogators testified about their horrific experiences, and more than 31,000 visitors closely watched the proceedings from the public gallery.
Behind the scenes, both national and international staff in the technical component of the ECCC tirelessly worked to ensure the smooth operation of the trial. The staff managed to provide simultaneous interpretation of the three official languages, video links for testimonies from overseas, and live streaming for TV broadcasting, among other things.
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