Cambodia celebrates Water Festival amid economic boom
Joy abounded in Phnom Penh on Saturday as the annual Water Festival entered its first day with tens of thousands of visitors rushed in to share gourmet dish, enjoy fireworks and watch boat race.
King Norodom Sihamoni, Prime Minister Hun Sen, National Assembly President Heng Samrin, Senate President Chea Sim and other senior government officials watched the dragon boat performance outside the Royal Palace on the bank of the Mekong River on Saturday afternoon, together with the huge audience.
Dozens of boats shuttled on the river to satisfy the viewers' addiction for speed and beauty, and some 24,000 racers with 409 racing boats are poised to strive for the titles during Sunday's competition.
Meanwhile, on the main streets around the Royal Palace, thousands of holiday makers munched fried insects and minced fruits, had rice noodles and baked bananas, played dice in expectation for various prizes and danced in the beat of the street concerts organized by large enterprises like Angkor Beer and Alan Delon Cigarettes.
"From one year to another, our Water Festival has grown bigger in terms of people's participation," Nhem Valy, deputy secretary- general of the National and International Festival Organizing Committee, told reporters.
The Independent Monument, which is a symbol for the capital city, also attracted hundreds of people to take leisure at its foot while watching the fireworks show conducted in the Royal Palace.
Around 1.5 million visitors are expected to crowd into the capital during the festival from Saturday to Monday and the municipal government has been fully mobilized to embrace the traditional heat.
Some 50 portable toilets, along with the already-installed 30 permanent public toilets, were more than enough to handle private problems for the incoming visitors.
Meanwhile, some 2,300 policemen, 660 armed forces and 800 official security guards have been deployed to ensure the order during the celebrations.
The major roads were blocked against motor vehicles during the festival in order to avoid traffic jam.
The Water Festival, for which people celebrate ebb tide and ensuing re-surface of enriched land, came along with the government's prediction on Friday that the kingdom's economic growth rate in 2007 will reach 6.5 percent, which can be viewed as a consistently stable figure.
The cabinet also set the Gross National Products (GNP) at 7.594 billion U.S. dollars and the inflation rate at below 5 percent for 2007, in the National Fiscal Budget Draft 2007.
Daniel Zhu, general manager of Cambodian representative office of China's Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., told Xinhua here on Saturday that the forecast of 6.5 percent growth rate for 2007 is practical and reliable, as the kingdom's economy enjoyed consistent growth at an average rate of 5 percent to 7 percent in the past several years.
"For Cambodia, the investment keeps rising, the open policy is maintained and the economy is expected to develop at rapid speed in the coming years," said Zhu, whose company is the major IT infrastructure provider for Cambodia.
According to a keynote address made by Prime Minister Hun Sen to a Business forum in Melbourne on Oct. 13 during his official visit to Australia, Cambodia has achieved remarkable macro- economic stability and economic progress, with robust economic growth in average of 8.2 percent per annum during 1994-2005. In 2005, economic growth even peaked 13.5 percent.
Local economic analyst David Phat told Xinhua on Saturday that the joyful festival could be viewed as prelude to next year's prosperity and next year's prosperity might spell blessings for 2008 when the kingdom is scheduled to hold its fourth democratic general election.
However, the government had to do enough to improve law enforcement so as to safeguard the ongoing economic boom and ensure the country not to lose the chance to rise from the damage incurred by years of wars, said Phat, who published a book entitled as Cambodian Economic Review this month.
"For Cambodia, water symbolizes life and birth. We hope that the bustling festival can be an indicator for the kingdom's future luck," he added.
Source: Xinhua
King Norodom Sihamoni, Prime Minister Hun Sen, National Assembly President Heng Samrin, Senate President Chea Sim and other senior government officials watched the dragon boat performance outside the Royal Palace on the bank of the Mekong River on Saturday afternoon, together with the huge audience.
Dozens of boats shuttled on the river to satisfy the viewers' addiction for speed and beauty, and some 24,000 racers with 409 racing boats are poised to strive for the titles during Sunday's competition.
Meanwhile, on the main streets around the Royal Palace, thousands of holiday makers munched fried insects and minced fruits, had rice noodles and baked bananas, played dice in expectation for various prizes and danced in the beat of the street concerts organized by large enterprises like Angkor Beer and Alan Delon Cigarettes.
"From one year to another, our Water Festival has grown bigger in terms of people's participation," Nhem Valy, deputy secretary- general of the National and International Festival Organizing Committee, told reporters.
The Independent Monument, which is a symbol for the capital city, also attracted hundreds of people to take leisure at its foot while watching the fireworks show conducted in the Royal Palace.
Around 1.5 million visitors are expected to crowd into the capital during the festival from Saturday to Monday and the municipal government has been fully mobilized to embrace the traditional heat.
Some 50 portable toilets, along with the already-installed 30 permanent public toilets, were more than enough to handle private problems for the incoming visitors.
Meanwhile, some 2,300 policemen, 660 armed forces and 800 official security guards have been deployed to ensure the order during the celebrations.
The major roads were blocked against motor vehicles during the festival in order to avoid traffic jam.
The Water Festival, for which people celebrate ebb tide and ensuing re-surface of enriched land, came along with the government's prediction on Friday that the kingdom's economic growth rate in 2007 will reach 6.5 percent, which can be viewed as a consistently stable figure.
The cabinet also set the Gross National Products (GNP) at 7.594 billion U.S. dollars and the inflation rate at below 5 percent for 2007, in the National Fiscal Budget Draft 2007.
Daniel Zhu, general manager of Cambodian representative office of China's Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., told Xinhua here on Saturday that the forecast of 6.5 percent growth rate for 2007 is practical and reliable, as the kingdom's economy enjoyed consistent growth at an average rate of 5 percent to 7 percent in the past several years.
"For Cambodia, the investment keeps rising, the open policy is maintained and the economy is expected to develop at rapid speed in the coming years," said Zhu, whose company is the major IT infrastructure provider for Cambodia.
According to a keynote address made by Prime Minister Hun Sen to a Business forum in Melbourne on Oct. 13 during his official visit to Australia, Cambodia has achieved remarkable macro- economic stability and economic progress, with robust economic growth in average of 8.2 percent per annum during 1994-2005. In 2005, economic growth even peaked 13.5 percent.
Local economic analyst David Phat told Xinhua on Saturday that the joyful festival could be viewed as prelude to next year's prosperity and next year's prosperity might spell blessings for 2008 when the kingdom is scheduled to hold its fourth democratic general election.
However, the government had to do enough to improve law enforcement so as to safeguard the ongoing economic boom and ensure the country not to lose the chance to rise from the damage incurred by years of wars, said Phat, who published a book entitled as Cambodian Economic Review this month.
"For Cambodia, water symbolizes life and birth. We hope that the bustling festival can be an indicator for the kingdom's future luck," he added.
Source: Xinhua
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