AFP
Cambodia's donors opened their annual aid talks Tuesday concerned that rampant corruption remains a huge problem as they decide how much to pledge this year to the impoverished country.
International aid makes up about half of the country's national budget, and donors last year offered just over 600 million dollars, but said they remained deeply frustrated at the government's failure to enact key reforms.
"The fight against corruption remains the number one concern of the donor community, as it underpins our efforts in every other sector," US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli told AFP in an interview before this week's meeting.
At the core of these concerns is the government's repeated failure to pass anti-corruption legislation that is hoped to tackle graft that plagues every level of governance.
Cambodia was ranked 151 out of 163 countries in the governance watchdog Transparency International's 2006 corruption index, which compares graft levels in governments around the world.
While progress was made on the law over the past year, some points remain unresolved, including whether government officials would have to declare their assets and guarantees that Cambodia's anti-corruption body would be independent.
"I am confident that we can pursue, provided there is sufficient political will and good will on both sides, a dialogue to resolve the two remaining sticking points," Mussomeli said.
Other diplomats say they are encouraged by a more conciliatory Cambodian government, which has turned past donor meetings into sometimes antagonistic showdowns over the country's right to run itself free of foreign influence.
"The climate has changed on both sides -- there's more open dialogue," said one western diplomat who did not want to be named.
"We're not at the end of the road yet, but (the government) is moving forward," he added.
Finance Minister Keat Chhon said the government was "resolutely fighting against corruption" as he opened the meeting.
But opposition politicians say Prime Minister Hun Sen's administration has been "unreasonably slow" to act on donor demands for reform.
"Non-transparent land reforms and the creeping pace of judicial reforms lead us to believe that what is lacking is not a plan, but rather political will," the Sam Rainsy Party said in a statement.
International rights groups have also come down hard on both the government and donors, who were taken to task this year for allowing Cambodia to slide along with little progress on reform.
"The five billion (dollars) in aid ploughed into Cambodia in the past decade has yielded little in return for the donors or the Cambodian people," said Brad Adams, Asia director for the group Human Rights Watch.
"It is time for a clear and unambiguous signal to be sent to the government ... Hun Sen continues to run circles around the donors, making the same empty promises every year and laughing all the way to the bank," he added.
Cambodia remains one of the world's poorest countries after decades of civil war and government mismanagement.
Some 35 percent of the county's 14 million people live on less than 50 US cents a day, while inadequate infrastructure, healthcare and schools only add to the misery of poverty.
International aid makes up about half of the country's national budget, and donors last year offered just over 600 million dollars, but said they remained deeply frustrated at the government's failure to enact key reforms.
"The fight against corruption remains the number one concern of the donor community, as it underpins our efforts in every other sector," US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli told AFP in an interview before this week's meeting.
At the core of these concerns is the government's repeated failure to pass anti-corruption legislation that is hoped to tackle graft that plagues every level of governance.
Cambodia was ranked 151 out of 163 countries in the governance watchdog Transparency International's 2006 corruption index, which compares graft levels in governments around the world.
While progress was made on the law over the past year, some points remain unresolved, including whether government officials would have to declare their assets and guarantees that Cambodia's anti-corruption body would be independent.
"I am confident that we can pursue, provided there is sufficient political will and good will on both sides, a dialogue to resolve the two remaining sticking points," Mussomeli said.
Other diplomats say they are encouraged by a more conciliatory Cambodian government, which has turned past donor meetings into sometimes antagonistic showdowns over the country's right to run itself free of foreign influence.
"The climate has changed on both sides -- there's more open dialogue," said one western diplomat who did not want to be named.
"We're not at the end of the road yet, but (the government) is moving forward," he added.
Finance Minister Keat Chhon said the government was "resolutely fighting against corruption" as he opened the meeting.
But opposition politicians say Prime Minister Hun Sen's administration has been "unreasonably slow" to act on donor demands for reform.
"Non-transparent land reforms and the creeping pace of judicial reforms lead us to believe that what is lacking is not a plan, but rather political will," the Sam Rainsy Party said in a statement.
International rights groups have also come down hard on both the government and donors, who were taken to task this year for allowing Cambodia to slide along with little progress on reform.
"The five billion (dollars) in aid ploughed into Cambodia in the past decade has yielded little in return for the donors or the Cambodian people," said Brad Adams, Asia director for the group Human Rights Watch.
"It is time for a clear and unambiguous signal to be sent to the government ... Hun Sen continues to run circles around the donors, making the same empty promises every year and laughing all the way to the bank," he added.
Cambodia remains one of the world's poorest countries after decades of civil war and government mismanagement.
Some 35 percent of the county's 14 million people live on less than 50 US cents a day, while inadequate infrastructure, healthcare and schools only add to the misery of poverty.
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