Foreign donors meet in Phnom Penh for aiding Cambodia

via CAAI News Media

PHNOM PENH, June 2 (AP) - (Kyodo)—International aid donors opened the annual Consultative Group meeting here Wednesday to decide on the level of aid disbursements to the country for 2010.

More than 100 representatives from 16 donor countries, including Japan and the United States, and from seven international financial organizations such as the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, are attending the forum. They are expected to make aid pledges at the end of the two-day meeting.

The group has met annually since 1996, and as of today, Cambodia has received foreign aid worth about $4 billion.

In December 2008, considering the global economic crisis, Cambodia had sought about $500 million for 2009, but it received $951.5 million, almost double, as China pledged $257 million, followed by the European Union with $214 million and Japan with $113 million.

Cambodia received aid pledges of $690 million in 2008.

Delivering a speech at the opening of the forum to the group, Prime Minister Hun Sen promised that his government will continue to tackle several key issues including corruption, judicial reform, and land disputes, all of which have been often cited by the donors as being areas of concern.

On Monday, Global Witness, a London-based environmental advocacy group, urged international donors to tackle the gross mismanagement of the country's natural resources.

"The Cambodian government has been promising to reform for years, but nothing had changed," said Global Witness Campaigns Director Gavin Hayman.

Three days ahead of the meeting, members of parliament of Cambodia's opposition Sam Rainsy Party issued a statement praising and acknowledging the progress made in several areas but saying more work remains in key sectors.

Cambodia is one of the world's poorest nations with some 35 percent of its 14.5 million people living below the poverty line, defined as earning less than $1 a day.