Kingdom, WTO call on US to drop tariffs

Wednesday, 09 November 2011
Don Weinland
The Phnom Penh Post

Both Cambodia and the World Trade Organisation this week called on the United States to follow China’s lead in promising zero-tariff treatment to Least Developed Countries.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, in a speech at the G20 summit in Cannes, France, on Friday, announced China would grant duty-free status to 97 per cent of its taxed imports from LDCs such as the Kingdom, provided they had diplomatic relations with China.

The move was designed to prompt among developed countries a similar agreement, which awaits the conclus-ion of the Doha Development Round of trade negotiations among WTO members, Hu said.

Cambodian officials responded positively to Hu’s sentiments, eager to lower trade barriers on the Kingdom’s narrow basket of exports.

UN Experts Inspect Intellectual Property Standards

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
17 February 2010

Three experts from the UN Conference on Trade and Development wrapped up an inspection tour of Cambodia’s intellectual property standards last week.

The government requested the inspection in 2008, to help fulfill its obligations under the World Trade Organization and the Trade Related Intellectual Property Agreement.

Analysts say proper enforcement of intellectual property rights could draw more investors.

During a weeklong mission, the three trade experts met officials from the ministries of Culture, Commerce, Agriculture, Health and Justice, as well as investors and entrepreneurs.

In discussions, the team analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of Cambodia’s intellectual property laws, assessing the kind of technical assistance needed to improve them.

“More people need to be aware of what [intellectual property] is,” Kiyoshi Adachi, a legal officer for UNCTAD and leader of the team, told VOA Khmer. “For instance, the [customs] people and the border people, they have a very tough time figuring out what to confine and what not to. So [with] something like that, they all need to do an assessment.”

Cambodia joined the WTO in 2004 and has since tried to strengthen protection of intellectual property, including the enforcement of laws on trademarks, unfair competition, patents, certification and copyrights.

However, numerous government officials from across the ministries involved told VOA Khmer these protections remain poor, disrupting creative ideas and hampering investment.

“There is not much progress, because no one takes caution on [intellectual property rights],” said Lim You Sur, director of the copyright department of the Ministry of Culture. “People don’t want to spend money and spend time on new creativity, but they just steal other people’s property and reproduce it.”

“There is no new investment either,” he said.

Fixed investment in Cambodia was $5 billion in 2009, but most of that came through agriculture, tourism and construction, not technology, software or medicine.

Var Roth San, head of the secretariat of the IPR National Committee, said Cambodia’s intellectual property protection remains weak. Many law enforcement agencies lack knowledge of the proper laws, and the government has no money to build their understanding or bolster enforcement of new laws and regulations.

Adachi said the results of the UN assessment would be released at the end of the year, subsequently helping Cambodia receive technical assistance to improve its protections.

“If we have full IPR law enforcement, it will help us attract investors,” Var Roth San said. “If we don’t, who will dare to invest in Cambodia, where their products will be freely copied?”

WTO, ADB urge more Aid-for-Trade efforts to counter the economic crisis

28 May 2009
Source: WTO

AID FOR TRADE

Ministers, trade officials and senior government officials from around Asia today gathered in Siem Reap, Cambodia to discuss the impact of the global crisis on trade, how Aid for Trade can support private sector growth, and how to include trade into national development strategies.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

At the conference, Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Haruhiko Kuroda and World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Pascal Lamy urged ongoing efforts to support trading activities in the face of the prolonged global financial crisis and the risk of protectionism.

“Developing countries, particularly least-developed countries and small states, need Aid for Trade not simply to weather the crisis, but more importantly, to prepare for longer-term development and structural adjustment,” Mr. Kuroda said in a keynote speech on the opening day of the two-day meeting.

Mr. Lamy stated that: “Trade is an essential ingredient to exit the crisis. But to keep the wheels of trade turning we need trade finance to flow. And to make trade work for the people we need renewed efforts on Aid for Trade. This is the time for global solidarity.”

As part of those efforts, Mr. Kuroda and Mr. Lamy announced that Cambodia and Japan will lead an Asia-Pacific regional technical group on Aid for Trade. The regional technical group is tasked with preparing plans for stepping up Aid for Trade in Asia and the Pacific and will report at the Second Global Review on Aid for Trade to take place in Geneva, Switzerland on 6-7 July 2009.

Aid for Trade was conceived in December 2005 to help developing nations, in particular least-developed countries, around the world to bolster their capacity to trade. Asia has long suffered an uneven trade status. The newly industrialized economies like Hong Kong, China and the Republic of Korea, as well as the Republic of China and India, are integrated into world markets but the region's 22 least developed and smaller economies still account for just 0.3% of world exports. This level has barely increased over the last 25 years.

In tandem with national efforts to mainstream trade into national development strategies, Aid for Trade aims to help countries overcome the supply side and economic infrastructure constraints that undermine their ability to engage in regional and global trade.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in the Asia and Pacific region through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members — 48 from the region. In 2008, it approved $10.5 billion of loans, $811.4 million of grant projects, and technical assistance amounting to $274.5 million.

The World Trade Organization, based in Geneva, is the international organization whose primary purpose is to open trade for the benefit of all. WTO provides a forum for negotiating agreements aimed at reducing obstacles to international trade and ensuring a level playing field for all, thus contributing to economic growth and development.

WTO chief underscores necessity of deal on Doha trade talk

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- A deal on the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha round trade talk is an urgent necessity to help poor countries tackle the current global economic crisis, the organization's Director General Pascal Lamy said on Wednesday.

"In the present economic turmoil, what was necessary yesterday has now become indispensable. ... The international community must deliver on both trade and aid," national television TVK quoted him as telling the opening ceremony of the two-day LDC (least developed countries) Ministerial Conference in Siem Reap province.

"I think there is a growing consensus that only multilateral solutions can address the challenges facing the global economy today," he told the delegates, who came from a total of 49 counties to discuss issues related to international trade.

The Doha round World Trade Organization (WTO) talks began in 2001 but broke down in July this year.

A joint press release from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) said that Wednesday's meeting aims to help LDCs integrate their economies into the global trading system.

One of the main topics is "Aid for Trade" (AfT), a package of incentives designed to help overcome structural and resource constraints of least developed countries in exchange for more speedy trade reforms, it added.

Cambodia to host ministerial trade conference of least developed countries

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia will host a meeting of ministers of industry and commerce from around 49 of the world's poorest countries described as "least developed" on Nov. 19-20 in Siem Reap province to discuss issues related to international trade, a press release said Thursday.

The conference aims to search for solutions to common problems faced by the poorest nations in their integration to global trade, the press release from the office of Cambodian government said.

One of the main topics of discussion is "Aid for Trade" (AfT), a package of incentives designed to help overcome structural and resource constraints of least developed countries in exchange for more speedy trade reforms, it said.

South-South Cooperation for Poverty Reduction is also on the agenda of the meeting, it added.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is to open this event, the release said.

The Cambodian government, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) are jointly organizing this conference.

Senior US official in Cambodia to discuss bilateral trade

Aug 12, 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - A US delegation headed by World Trade Organization (WTO) expert Christina Sevilla is in Cambodia for bilateral trade talks, the US embassy said Tuesday.

The US embassy statement said US-Cambodian trade was valued at 2.6 billion dollars last year, and that figure was expected to reach 3 billion dollars this year.

Sevilla is director for inter-governmental affairs and public liaison at the Office of the US Trade Representative, which falls under the executive office of the US president, and is also responsible for WTO issues.

Sevilla was scheduled to meet with Cambodian Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh Wednesday. The embassy statement did not say when her official visit was scheduled to end but said that it was aimed at furthering economic ties between the two nations.

Cambodia took its place in the WTO in 2004.

Cambodia seeks special status for Prahok and Kampot Pepper

Cambodia seeks special status for fermented fish cheese, pepper

Thu, 18 Oct 2007
DPA

Phnom Penh - Soon diners around the world may be grinding Kampot pepper on their Siem Reap fermented fish paste and Battambang rice after Cambodia announced it was seeking Geographic Indicator (GI) status for five distinctive regional products. Just as only Nuernberg can boast Nuernberger Lebkuchen - at least under the European Union laws - and only cheese from the Cambalou caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon may bear the name Roquefort, so Cambodia is seeking GI status for five products it deems regionally unique under World Trade Organization (WTO) guidelines.

The intellectual property rights-related legislation was required to be put in place by the WTO after Cambodia gained membership in 2003. The EU and the French Development Agency (AFD) helped Cambodia draw up the legislation.

The EU provided nearly 1 million dollars and AFD donated about 100,000 dollars to help Cambodia draft the GI law and protect intellectual property rights, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Mao Thora, undersecretary of state for the ministry, said the decision to put forward Kampot pepper, Siem Reap prahok or fish cheese, Battambang rice, Kampong Speu palm sugar and Banteay Meanchey silk - products from five different provinces around the country - was an exciting first step in establishing brands.

"When people can identify these products as from a specific area, it will encourage both producers and tourists," he said.

The first product likely to receive GI status is Kampot pepper, named after the coastal province 150 kilometres south-west of the capital, he said.

"By protecting that name, growers will be encouraged to raise more plants and investment should follow," Thora said by telephone.

Jerome Benezech of the Kampot Pepper Farmers Association (KPFA) said GI status would be a major breakthrough but by no means the end of the work which needs to be done.

"It will take several months to formulate policy, and then GI status is just another marketing tool which we need to utilize," he said. "However it's a great chance to strengthen our growers and improve ... quality even further."

He said KPFA works with about 70 pepper farmers in one district of Kampot and knows of at least another 80 farmers, although there are no official figures. Kampot pepper currently retails at about 4 dollars a kilo in local markets and is a sought-after souvenir for tourists.

Kampot pepper has been famed since French colonial times for its pungency and flavour and is already in demand internationally. Cambodia's fermented fish cheese connoisseurs, however, may have a tougher marketing battle before the world clamours for prahok.

US Urges Cambodia To Get Tough On Trademarks And Copyrights

February 14th 2007

DPA

The US criticized Cambodia for lagging behind neighbouring Vietnam in strengthening its laws on trademark infringements despite its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), a Cambodian lawmaker said Wednesday.

Opposition Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian said Senior Counsel of the Office of Enforcement of the US Patent and Trademark Office Peter Fowler had met with the parliamentary committee set up to oversee financial and economic matters and urged the country to toughen its laws against such infringements.

"The US wants to see Cambodia ... create more laws to ensure the commercial environment and especially trademark problems," Keo Remy, deputy chief of the committee, told reporters.

Remy said he had reminded Fowler that Cambodia was a transit point and not a major production point for such infringements, but had also admitted that trademark violations did exist, especially in pirated goods such as CDs.

He said Fowler had extended an invitation for committee members to travel to Washington to attend a seminar on ways Cambodia could draft and implement tougher laws.

Cambodia was granted WTO accession in 2003.