Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
During a recent meeting with farmers raising pigs in Prey Nhoy village, Krol Ko commune, Svay Chrum district, Svay Rieng province, Joseph Mussomeli, the US Ambassador to Cambodia, said that the smuggling of pigs and other goods from overseas to Cambodia without paying any custom fees is a “serious case of corruption.” Mussomeli made this remark when the farmers were asking the Cambodian government to help stop the illegal smuggling of foreign pigs into Cambodia, especially from Vietnam and Thailand.
With broad smiles on their faces, welcoming the visitors to their home, 22-year-old Kaing Cheav Lay and Sin Kanha, his 21-year-old wife, said during an interview with reporters, under the presence of Mussomeli, that: “Nowadays, our pig raising business has made a lot of progress, including the ability to manage and protect, this is much different from the past before we joined the Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprises (MSME) system of Cambodia.”
The strengthening of MSME in Cambodia is a program to sustain the economy supported by USAID which is operating in four Cambodian provinces where the population incomes are low, such as Kampong Cham, Kratie, Prey Veng, and Svay Rieng province. Mussomeli said: “I am very interested in what they are doing, and I don’t want honor the US government, but instead, I want to honor the Cambodian families that are involved in these enterprises because they received our guidance, and our support which allowed them to prosper with their small family businesses.”
Mussomeli noted that “in the span of only one year period, the 1,000 families which received the support from this program have made a lot of progress, they now have quality pigs to sell and their livelihood has improved much better than before.”
Mussomeli said: “There are a lot more work to be done and this involves corruption, because there are businessmen who imported pigs from Vietnam to sell in Phnom Penh without paying any custom fees, this is the reason why these pig farmers cannot compete with these businessmen.”
He added: “Because of this (corruption) issue, pig and fish farmers who take their stock to sell at the market, must pay taxes, or they have to pay fees to the cops, whereas the businessmen who brought in pigs or goods from Thailand or Vietnam, they sometimes don’t have to pay any tax at all.” Mussomeli went on to call the smuggling of pigs and goods from overseas to Cambodia without paying fees to the national budget as “a serious case of corruption.”
Mussomeli said: “Therefore, we must help Cambodian families a lot, then the farmers’ families will have the ability to make larger profits. They can make even more money than this if Cambodia can put to an end the corruption.”
With broad smiles on their faces, welcoming the visitors to their home, 22-year-old Kaing Cheav Lay and Sin Kanha, his 21-year-old wife, said during an interview with reporters, under the presence of Mussomeli, that: “Nowadays, our pig raising business has made a lot of progress, including the ability to manage and protect, this is much different from the past before we joined the Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprises (MSME) system of Cambodia.”
The strengthening of MSME in Cambodia is a program to sustain the economy supported by USAID which is operating in four Cambodian provinces where the population incomes are low, such as Kampong Cham, Kratie, Prey Veng, and Svay Rieng province. Mussomeli said: “I am very interested in what they are doing, and I don’t want honor the US government, but instead, I want to honor the Cambodian families that are involved in these enterprises because they received our guidance, and our support which allowed them to prosper with their small family businesses.”
Mussomeli noted that “in the span of only one year period, the 1,000 families which received the support from this program have made a lot of progress, they now have quality pigs to sell and their livelihood has improved much better than before.”
Mussomeli said: “There are a lot more work to be done and this involves corruption, because there are businessmen who imported pigs from Vietnam to sell in Phnom Penh without paying any custom fees, this is the reason why these pig farmers cannot compete with these businessmen.”
He added: “Because of this (corruption) issue, pig and fish farmers who take their stock to sell at the market, must pay taxes, or they have to pay fees to the cops, whereas the businessmen who brought in pigs or goods from Thailand or Vietnam, they sometimes don’t have to pay any tax at all.” Mussomeli went on to call the smuggling of pigs and goods from overseas to Cambodia without paying fees to the national budget as “a serious case of corruption.”
Mussomeli said: “Therefore, we must help Cambodian families a lot, then the farmers’ families will have the ability to make larger profits. They can make even more money than this if Cambodia can put to an end the corruption.”
