Wed, 26 Mar 2008
DPA
Phnom Penh - Oil could turn Cambodia into Asia's Norway, a UN-sponsored conference to discuss strategies to deal with the country's expected offshore petroleum reserves heard Wednesday. Bangkok-based Norwegian ambassador extraordinary Merete Fjeld Brattested told the international conference aimed at discussing how to use the as-yet untapped reserves to fuel poverty reduction said Norway had once been the poor cousin of Europe.
"When oil was discovered off the Norwegian coast in the 1960's, Norway was blessed," she said.
Now oil and gas revenue makes up about 15 per cent of the Norwegian government's income and has brought prosperity, she said, but not without the Norwegian government facing difficult decisions about how to distribute and calculate that wealth.
The three-day conference, co-sponsored by Norway, aims to head off donor concerns that the recently discovered and unestimated oil reserves may prove a curse rather than a blessing for Cambodia, which is notorious for endemic corruption.
Cambodian officials have said they expect drilling to begin between 2009 and 2011.
Deputy Prime Minister Sok An told the meeting that Cambodia needed to work out strategies to fit its own unique circumstances, but that it welcomed input from other oil producing countries.
"Not all objectives are reasonable for all countries," he said. "No single mechanism is likely to provide a silver bullet; oil producing and oil exporting countries need to use a combination of approaches."
He warned that the foreign fixation on oil revenue should not overshadow the government's efforts at reform in all areas across the board.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, who declined to attend and sent Sok An in his place, has expressed frequent public annoyance at donor criticism of Cambodian oil management before any oil has even been tapped.
The director of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority, Te Duong Tara, echoed Sok An's sentiments, but added that Cambodia's lack of qualified and skilled personnel to work on oil production was also a pressing concern.
"The key challenge facing Cambodia is therefore to attract the investment necessary to develop the energy, gas development and resource sectors of its economy in a timely and efficient manner," he said.
The conference is scheduled to end Friday.
"When oil was discovered off the Norwegian coast in the 1960's, Norway was blessed," she said.
Now oil and gas revenue makes up about 15 per cent of the Norwegian government's income and has brought prosperity, she said, but not without the Norwegian government facing difficult decisions about how to distribute and calculate that wealth.
The three-day conference, co-sponsored by Norway, aims to head off donor concerns that the recently discovered and unestimated oil reserves may prove a curse rather than a blessing for Cambodia, which is notorious for endemic corruption.
Cambodian officials have said they expect drilling to begin between 2009 and 2011.
Deputy Prime Minister Sok An told the meeting that Cambodia needed to work out strategies to fit its own unique circumstances, but that it welcomed input from other oil producing countries.
"Not all objectives are reasonable for all countries," he said. "No single mechanism is likely to provide a silver bullet; oil producing and oil exporting countries need to use a combination of approaches."
He warned that the foreign fixation on oil revenue should not overshadow the government's efforts at reform in all areas across the board.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, who declined to attend and sent Sok An in his place, has expressed frequent public annoyance at donor criticism of Cambodian oil management before any oil has even been tapped.
The director of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority, Te Duong Tara, echoed Sok An's sentiments, but added that Cambodia's lack of qualified and skilled personnel to work on oil production was also a pressing concern.
"The key challenge facing Cambodia is therefore to attract the investment necessary to develop the energy, gas development and resource sectors of its economy in a timely and efficient manner," he said.
The conference is scheduled to end Friday.
14 comments:
"Cambodia could be Asia's Norway" -- Mee Jkout (Socheata?)
What have you been smoking?
may god bless cambodia and her people.
Thank you, mate, and you too for being so thoughtful of us.
Yeah, Norway is not situated by Thailand and Vietnam. These two nations always wanted to get a piece of shit from Cambodia. These two nations are the most greedy in this Southeast Asia. They want this they want that regardless. They have encroached to Cambodia all the time.
please optimistic in your view, people because that helps to drive the engine forward. being cynical or pessimistic is so backward and useless, especially with development. who wants to be like the failed KR regime? this is why it is important to get an education, whether self-educated or what have you. smart-up people, look on the bright side of things, and please don't be so depressed. life is good now.
as much as i wanted the oil to flow to develop the nation, but as long as the anti corruption law is not passed, i don't think it will work. i am highly skeptical of their success given the history of their achievement managing corruption and respecting the rule of law.
Well, if you want any law, you have to ask the NA to move their asses. However, law is just a piece of paper, not AK47 that is what we needed to control corruption.
Another alternative is for PM to send a strong message to all corrupters to leave the country. That is probably work better than any law.
To Anon. 3:45 AM
If Hun Sen asks all corrupt officials to leave the country, where should he (Hun Sen) go to? Vietnam? China? Russia? Cuba? Hell? Heaven?
OP Hok landy and his son imlaw have to go?
No ah Kwack himself have to go! To jail in Hanoi!
Oh, cut the bullshit, 4:32. Not all of us is corrupted. The problem with you is you are trapped under the Sam Rainsy's spell.
You're right,5:02am. Only 99.99% of the CPP/cronies are corrupted, and the 1/100th are still learning to be corrupted!
Shit dude, if that was the case, we would have a population reduction and an increase in mass grave, but that isn't the case, is it?
Don't feel bad, because there are plenty of poverty in the United States; also, there are plenty of retarded gorillas in ghettor neighborhood who are living from paycheck to paycheck.
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