Mounted donations mirror donor country's consistent confidence in Cambodia [especially China]

2007-06-20
By Xia Lin & Long Heng

"Additionally, Hun Sen told the givers that his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) is confident to win the next general election in 2008 and the national policy will then keep consistent."

PHNOM PENH, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Donor countries here on Wednesday pledged 15 percent more donations for Cambodia in 2007 over 2006, verifying their rising trust and confidence in the impoverished kingdom and its government.

Cambodia is expected to receive over 689 million U.S. dollars in aid from its donor countries in 2007 and the amount will almost stay the same in 2008 and 2009, said Cambodian Minister of Finance and Economy Keat Chhon at a press conference held upon the conclusion of the two-day First Cambodian Development Cooperation Forum (CDCF).

"The finance will be spent on strengthening the country's overall development" and especially implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in the sectors of good governance, clean water and sanitation, he added.

Meanwhile, according to the government's statement issued on Wednesday at CDCF, or the donor countries' annual meeting, in 2007Japan alone will provide Cambodia with over 112 million U.S. dollars, remaining the largest donor country for Cambodia, while the European Union (EU) will give more than 170 million U.S. dollars.

Earlier this month during his 15th visit to Japan, Prime Minister Hun Sen signed an investment protection agreement with the Japanese government in order to promote its investment status in Cambodia.

This year's rise of donations comes along with the kingdom's achievements of consistent economic boom in the past decade.

According to the government's report, the average annual economic growth rate of Cambodia was 9.8 percent between 1994 and 2006. The macro economic stability peaked in 2005 as the economic growth rate then reached 13.4 percent and later in 2006 slightly down to 10.4 percent.

In addition, said the government's statistics, the income per capita doubled from 249 U.S. dollars in 1994 to 500 U.S. dollars in 2005, and the foreign currency reserves increased from 100 million U.S. dollars in 1994 to one billion U.S. dollars in 2006.

However, on the other side of the coin, with the donations turning out to be much higher than last year's 601 million U.S. dollars, the Cambodian government again scored a victory over the opposition force, NGOs and some foreign countries and organizations, who repeatedly criticized it as too corrupt to deserve the donor countries' trust.

On Tuesday while inaugurating CDCF, Hun Sen assured the participants in this regard with high-profile vows to iron out corruption within his government.

"We have always fight corruption with concrete measures and the government is determined to adopt anti-corruption law as soon as possible," he told the representatives, adding that corruption is "cancer of the society" and must be fought with real actions.

"Even we don't have anti-corruption law yet, we take strict actions to fight corrupt officials," he said.

Recently, he added, seven government officials were punished over illegal logging, two arrested and put into jail for seizing private properties, one accused of conspiracy in state land grabbing and destroying forestry, one another accused of destroying natural resources and ruining environment, and 11 others jailed over cutting forestry illegally in Ratanakiri province.

Additionally, Hun Sen told the givers that his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) is confident to win the next general election in 2008 and the national policy will then keep consistent.

"Now Cambodia has about 60 political parties. If CPP wins the next general election, I will continue to lead the country as premier," he said.

The next donor countries' meeting, namely the Second CDCF, is expected to be held in December 2008, two or three months after the general election is wrapped up, he added.

Hun Sen has been country leader since 1985 and transformed Cambodia from a war-torn land into a kingdom with its poverty rate decreasing from 47 percent in 1993 to 35 percent in 2004.