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Cambodian Premier Urges for Cambodian Refugees Transported to Their Homeland Safely
Phnom Penh, February 28, 2011 AKP – Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen urged the local and relevant authorities to help transport Cambodian refugees from a war made by Thai side to let them return to their homeland safely for crop cultivation.
Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting held at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh on Feb. 25, the Cambodian premier called on the Cambodian soldiers in the front line at Cambodian-Thai border, mainly Preah Vihear Temple area, to take the high vigilance where stationed for safeguarding the territory and try to do the best in exercising restraint by implementing the permanent ceasefire agreed by Cambodia and Thailand in the ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting held in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Feb. 22.
He also asked the Cambodian soldiers to give a favorable condition to an observer team from Indonesia who perform its duty in the country.
In the meantime, the Council of Ministers’ meeting passed draft sub-degrees relating to the city management and the chemical substance involving the production of chemical, nuclear, biologic and radioactive weapons.
Other issues dealing with the national interests were also discussed and approved. –AKP
By THOU Peou
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Cambodia and Vietnam Sign Border Agreement
Phnom Penh, February 28, 2011 AKP – The fifth meeting of the Cambodia-Vietnam Joint Border Committee closed last Friday in Phnom Penh after its three days of work with an agreement on the border marker plantation and demarcation signed.
Signatories of the agreement, on the Cambodian side, were H.E. Long Visalo, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and H.E. Var Kimhong, Senior Minister and Head of the Cambodia’s Joint Committee on Border Demarcation; and on the Vietnamese side was Ho Xuan Son, Deputy Foreign Minister and Head of Vietnam’s Joint Committee on Border Demarcation.
According to the agreement, in 2010 the two countries planted 82 border markers on 72 positions and delineated 155 kilometers of border line. From June 2006 to the end of 2010, both sides have planted 251 border markers on 207 positions or 66 percent of the border line and delineated 155 kilometers of border line or 12.4 percent of the whole 1,270-kilometer border line.
This year, the two neighboring countries agreed to plant 100 border markers, demarcate 500 kilometers of border line and complete the switch from the current use of the Bone map on the 1/100,000 scale to the UTM map on the 1/50,000 scale.
They also agreed to finish the publication of a set of the Cambodia-Vietnam land border terrain maps and accelerate the compilation of a protocol on land border demarcation between the two countries. –AKP
By Noeu
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Nearly 8,000 Children Removed from the Danger of Agricultural Works
Phnom Penh, February 28, 2011 AKP – Nearly 8,000 Cambodian children have been removed and protected from the danger of agricultural works in the country, Winrock International said last week.
According to a Winrock International’s press release, some 7,883 children in 160 villages have been removed from the worst forms of child labor in agriculture in Cambodia, especially in fishing work.
So far, thousands of children in 32 communes have had access to education provided by Winrock International, while 2,918 have been removed and 4,965 others have been protected from the dangerous works, it said.
Minister of Labor H.E. Vorng Sauth said the elimination of child labor is a main task of the Royal Government of Cambodia. –AKP
By KHAN Sophirom
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CRC President Gives Donation to Soldiers at Preah Vihear Province
Phnom Penh, February 28, 2011 AKP – Lok Chumteav Bun Rany Hun Sen, President of Cambodian Red Cross (CRC) visited and gave donation to soldiers and their families on Feb. 26 in Cham Ksan district, Preah Vihear province.
On behalf of Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen and charitable people, Lok Chumteav Bun Rany Hun Sen expressed her support and encouragement to the soldiers who have scarified their flesh and blood to protect the country’s territorial integrity.
The donation included rice and other food stuff, clothes and some amount of money. –AKP
By LIM Nary
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Cambodia and Japan To Organize Joint Peace Photo Exhibition
Phnom Penh, February 28, 2011 AKP – Cambodia’s Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum will host a joint photo exhibition with Japan’s Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum in 2012 to covey the message on the meaningfulness of peace to the world.
The agreement was made in a meeting on Feb. 24 between Secretary of State at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts H.E. Chuch Phoeun and a Japanese delegation of the Okinawa Museum at the ministerial office in Phnom Penh.
H.E. Chuch Phoeun appreciated the initiative that will open another opportunity for the staff of Tuol Sleng to acquire practice-driven knowledge especially about displaying photos for exhibition. The joint photo showcasing to promote peace, he added, is done in the right time because Cambodia is striving to achieve permanent ceasefire over the border dispute with Thailand.
While Cambodia’s Tuol Sleng Museum preserves the evidence of a former school-transformed political prison by the notorious Khmer Rouge, the Okinawa Museum houses the collection of records of Japanese individual bitter experience at the end of the World War II, in 1945.
Having identified common interest of peace promotion, the two museums started their three-year project in mid 2010 – the project that has been gradually enabling Japan to build the capacity of the Cambodian counterpart to make positive use of the museum to communicate peace message to the next generations. –AKP
By MOM Chan Dara Soleil
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Japan Supports Four Irrigation System Rehabilitation Projects in Cambodia
Phnom Penh, February 28, 2011 AKP – The Japanese government has provided a total of US$378,342 to carry out four rehabilitations of irrigation systems under Japan’s economic cooperation framework, the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (“KUSANONE” Grant).
The grant contracts were signed last Friday by Japanese Ambassador to Cambodia H.E. Kuroki Masafumi, and the representatives of four Provincial Departments of Water Resource and Meteorology.
The grant will be used to support O-Ankrong, O’Daung, O’Taki and Sre Preah irrigation system rehabilitation projects in Prey Veng, Kep, Battambang and Mondulkiri provinces respectively, according to a press release of the Embassy of Japan.
Japan’s “KUSANONE” Grant Assistance started in Cambodia in 1991 in order to support Cambodia’s reconstruction and development efforts at the grassroots level. The assistance is aimed at protecting vulnerable individuals from such factors as poverty and misfortunes that directly threaten their lives, livelihood, and dignity, as well as at promoting self-reliance of local communities. Since 1991, the Government of Japan has provided over US$46.3 millions for local authorities and non-governmental organizations to implement 448 projects throughout the country. –AKP
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UNESCO Special Envoy Arrives in Cambodia
Phnom Penh, February 28, 2011 AKP – Special Envoy of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, arrived here yesterday for a three-day visit.
He was welcomed at Phnom Penh International Airport by high-ranking government officials as well as representatives of the UNESCO Office in Phnom Penh.
The purpose of the visit of Mr. Koichiro Matsuura to Cambodia is to promote the cooperation between Cambodia and Thailand for an effective protection and safeguard of Preah Vihear Temple, a World Heritage Site, H.E. Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Office of the Council of Ministers told reporters at the airport.
Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, former UNESCO director-general and former chair of the World Heritage Committee, is also willing to seek ways to ease the tension between Cambodia and Thailand concerning the Khmer sacred Preah Vihear Temple, he added.
During his stay in the Kingdom, Mr. Koichiro Matsuura will meet with Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and Sok An, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister in charge of the Office of the Council of Ministers, H.E. Phay Siphan said.
For his part, Secretary of State for the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and Chairman of Preah Vihear National Authority H.E. Chuch Phoeun said Cambodia will present Mr. Koichiro Matsuura about the serious damages of Preah Vihear Temple. Between 70 to 80 percent of the temple was damaged even though the temple did not collapse, but 414 shells of mortar and artillery had fallen on the temple, he said.
Thus, his visit to Cambodia is aimed to assess the damages of the temple due to the recent war of aggression of Thailand against Cambodia, H.E. Chuch Phoeun said, stressing that Mr. Koichiro Matsuura’s plan to visit Preah Vihear Temple had been postponed to the next two weeks until the arrival of observers from Indonesia for the Cambodia-Thailand ceasefire. –AKP
Article in Khmer by CHIM Nary
Article in English by SOKMOM Nimul
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DPM Sok An : Cambodia Will Spend Oil Revenues Wisely
Phnom Penh, February 28, 2011 AKP – Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister in Charge of the Office of the Council of Ministers H.E. Sok An told a U.S. delegate last Thursday that Cambodia will spend oil revenue wisely in social sectors for the benefit of the nation and its people.
In a meeting with Frank Sampson Jannuzi, Policy Director for East Asian and Pacific Affairs for the majority staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, H.E. Sok An said that Cambodia expects to produce its first oil in December 2012 in the Gulf of Thailand, where the U.S. giant Chevron is drilling in “Block A”, according to the Press and Quick Reaction Unit of the Council of Ministers.
The Cambodian deputy prime minister informed Mr. Jannuzi about the Thai attacks on Cambodia, which forced Cambodia to defend its territory. From Feb. 4 to 7, 10,000 Cambodians were displaced in areas near the Temple of Preah Vihear. Six Cambodians were killed.
H.E. Sok An said that Thai troops had fired at the Preah Vihear Temple, causing serious damage to it. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is sending Koichiro Matsuura, the former UNESCO Director-General, as its special envoy to assess the damages of Cambodia’s Preah Vihear Temple listed as World Heritage Site in 2008.
He further said that Thailand has violated the International Court of Justice 1962 ruling that the Temple of Preah Vihear is situated in Cambodian sovereign territory. The Court found that Thailand is obligated to withdraw any of its military or police forces, or other guards, stationed at the Temple or in its vicinity on Cambodian territory.
H.E. Sok An also informed Mr. Jannuzi that the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the UN-assisted tribunal that is trying former Khmer Rouge leaders, has achieved the five world records or firsts: the speed in carrying out its work, its relatively low cost, the absence of any fugitives, the extent of public support and the involvement of victims in the judicial process. –AKP
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USS Essex Docked at Cambodian Seaport for Joint Naval Exercise
Phnom Penh, February 28, 2011 AKP – A United States warship USS Essex led by Captain Brad Lee on Feb. 25 docked at Sihanoukville’s seaport of Cambodia for a joint naval exercise and some humanitarian activities until Mar. 2.
Cambodian Commander of Ream Naval Base Ouk Seiha made an onset welcoming for the arrival of the U.S. warship, which is expected to foster the relationship between the naval armies of the two countries as well as to promote the U.S. armies friendship among adjacent Cambodian communities.
In addition to the joint naval exercise, according to Commander Ouk Seiha, the arrival of the U.S. warship will provide various technical training sessions to Cambodian armies and encourage experience sharing in a manner that will improve our operation and collaboration to combat terrorism.
Like similar previous 10 visits, the 350 sailors of the USS Essex will perform humanitarian operation in some selected Cambodian communities. –AKP
By MOM Chan Dara Soleil
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