Landless Cambodians see nothing sweet in EU sugar deal

Land thief Ly Yong Phat (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Wednesday, Jul 04, 2012
AFP

"It is scandalous that the European Union permits this tainted sugar to be sold within its territory, but until the EU implements a ban on the import of goods produced on stolen land it is up to European consumers to say no to these products"

KOH KONG, Cambodia - An EU scheme to boost trade with developing nations is fuelling land grabs in Cambodia, activists say, with thousands evicted from their property to make way for a booming sugar industry.

Campaigners are taking their fight to European supermarkets, encouraging a boycott of Cambodian sugar, which they claim is often grown on land snatched illegally from rural farmers.

Yi Chhav said she had no choice but to return to her family plantation to work for the sugarcane grower that took her land, toiling for about US$1.50 (S$1.90) a day in the sea of swaying emerald green plants that swallowed her rice paddies.

"If we say there's no way we'll go to work in the sugarcane plantation then what will we have to eat? There's no work," the 68-year-old widow told AFP at her modest home in southwestern Koh Kong province.

"How can we survive?" she said, adding that the irregular work makes her feel like a "slave" and her low income has forced her to pull her teenage daughter out of school.

Border Management Technology Advances In Cambodia, Vietnam

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya

JAKARTA, June 28 (Bernama) -- Cambodia and Vietnam can now instantly conduct real time searches of Interpol's global database, thanks to the technical solutions developed by Interpol.

This database currently contains over 30 million entries from more than 150 countries, including information on stolen and lost travel documents.

After only a few months, the Interpol's IT-based information exchange system is proving results.

Some listed criminals had been detected in the border area between Cambodia and Vietnam and judicial procedures were now proceeding, the Asean Secretariat said in a statement Thursday.

Politiktoons No. 205: Greece

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.com and also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Local EU Statement on Koh Kong incident

US, EU Call for Investigation of Activist’s Shooting Death

Chut Wutty died along with a military policeman, In Ratana, in an exchange of gunfire in remote Koh Kong province that has left many unanswered questions. (Photo: by Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer)

Thursday, 03 May 2012
Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

“We also urge the Government to take concrete and immediate measures to ensure the safety of all witnesses and investigators as well the families of the deceased men.”

The US and the EU have separately urged the Cambodian government to undertake a thorough investigation of the shooting death of conservationist Chut Wutty.

Chut Wutty died along with a military policeman, In Ratana, in an exchange of gunfire in remote Koh Kong province that has left many unanswered questions.

The government has established an investigative committee, and two men have been detained for questioning in the April 26 shooting. However, neither of them has been charged with a crime.

The US Embassy on Thursday urged the government “to undertake a thorough, transparent, and credible investigation into this matter.”

Cambodia garment sector fears competition from Myanmar

Fri, 04/27/2012
Rasmei Kampuchea Daily

The lifting of EU sanctions against Myanmar is bound to have an impact on the Cambodian garment sector, Cambodia Sin Chew Daily reported on Thursday.

The European Union announced earlier this week that it was lifting sanctions against the country. Japan and Canada have made similar announcements since the end of last week.

"The Cambodian garment industry will certainly be affected after EU sanctions against Myanmar are abolished," Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) Secretary-General Lu Qijian was quoted as saying.

EU to strengthen trade, investment relations with South-East Asia

PHNOM PENH, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The European Union aims to open up new trade and business opportunities in this fast growing region and create strong partnerships which support ASEAN's economic integration.

In a statement released Wednesday by EU office in Cambodia, it said the European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht will head to Cambodia on Thursday to meet with ASEAN economic ministers and attend the second ASEAN-EU Business Summit on April 1.

"EU is increasing its economic ties with South-East Asia by opening negotiations for free trade agreements with Singapore and Malaysia in 2010 and remains open to start negotiating similar comprehensive free trade agreements with other partners in the region," the statement said.

Vietnam garment and textile exports to EU plunge

20 Mar , 2012
Source: Tuoitrenews.com

The volume of Vietnam’s garment and textile exports to the European Union (EU) market saw a year-on-year reduction of 30 percent during the January to mid-March period, said the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association (Vitas).

Public debt crises and EU consumers reducing their spending were reasons for the decreased export level, said Vitas.

EU importers are shifting their contracts from Vietnam to Cambodia, Laos and Bangladesh to avoid the import tax of 10 percent, as middle-income Vietnam no longer enjoys most favoured nation (MFN) status, the association said.

A COSTLY EUROPEAN JOKE

February 21, 2012

A COSTLY EUROPEAN JOKE

Today’s Cambodia Daily article titled “EU Gives $4.8 M to Fund Human Rights Projects” states that “The provincial councils in Ratanakkiri and Oddar Meanchey were given [by the European Union represented by Ambassador Jean-François Cautain] $646,000 and $547,000, respectively, to help provide support to families embroiled in land evictions.”

This must be a joke given

1. All provincial councils in Cambodia’s 24 provinces are tightly controlled by the government.
2. The government is deeply involved in, and solely responsible for, land evictions all over the country.
3. Following points 1 and 2, there are no serious indications whatsoever that any provincial council has ever supported any family embroiled in land evictions.
4. The EU, while spending European tax-payers’ money, has sadly missed an opportunity to promote the rule of law in Cambodia. Doesn’t Ambassador Cautain know that the decentralization law is constantly violated by the government and the ruling party? Doesn’t he know that all Cambodia’s provincial councils, like the National Assembly in Phnom Penh, are totally controlled by the ruling party which doesn’t give any role or any voice to the opposition? Had he bothered to also consult with the opposition SRP which is represented in all provincial councils, including those of the two concerned provinces of Ratanakkiri and Oddar Meanchey, he would not have made such a mistake.

Donor countries and institutions should remember that democratic principles with the underlying system of checks and balances, help fight corruption and promote good governance.

SRP Members of Parliament

EU starts lifting restrictions against Myanmar, rewards reforms [-A lesson for Hun Xen?]

Feb 18, 2012
By JUSTYNA PAWLAK
REUTERS

BRUSSELS: The European Union lifted travel restrictions against Myanmar President Thein Sein and other top officials on Friday in a first step toward rewarding the government for democratic reforms after half a century of military rule.

The bloc’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, also held out the prospect of a further easing of sanctions, which target nearly a thousand firms and institutions with asset freezes, impose restrictions on hundreds of officials and include an arms embargo and investment bans.

“We have seen historic changes ... and we strongly encourage the authorities to continue this process,” Ashton said.

By April, she said, EU governments will have held a review of their sanctions policy toward Myanmar and could take further steps, depending in part on the results of a parliamentary by-election. “I will visit (Myanmar) in April after the by-elections, by which time I hope we will have had the chance to complete the review,” she said.

Protest letter from EU Cambodians against Jean-François Cautain's remark on development in Phnom Penh

http://www.box.com/s/34x15u51thsqp4k2826y


http://www.box.com/s/ytvxfx9xkqy4zl4bmez3

EU Investment in Cambodia Remains Small

January 20, 2012

Phnom Penh (Rasmei Kampuchea Daily/ANN) - EU investment in Cambodia remain small since 2005 even though it is the second largest market for Cambodia export.

“Overall, EU investments have represented a very small share of total foreign investments (around 5-7 percent),” Ambassador Jean-Fran?ois Cautain, Head of the EU Delegation to Cambodia told the Cambodia Herald.

The ambassador added that as regards with the EU investments into Cambodia, from 2005 until the second semester of 2010, the Council for the Development of Cambodia approved US$472 million worth of investment projects from EU Member States . In the first semester of 2010, 7.4 percent of all CDC-approved investment projects originated from EU Member States (0.5 percent from US; 50.6 percent from China).

Asean-EU Officials, Business Rep Meet In Siem Reap To Discuss FTA Challenges

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah

SINGAPORE, Jan 16 (Bernama) -- Officials and business representatives from the 10 Asean Member States and the European Union came together today in Siem Reap, Cambodia, to discuss the challenges and opportunities of free trade agreements, as well as ways that Asean would benefit from free trade agreements.

Organised by the EU-Asean's "Enhancing Asean FTA Negotiation Capacity Programme", the event focuses on Asean and the European Union (EU) trade policies, as well as on new and emerging trade issues.

The event also includes a stakeholders dialogue, designed to enable participants to share their knowledge and experience related to key issues such as the political economy of free trade agreements, the challenges of trade agreement implementation and post-trade agreement adjustment.

Cambodia wins again in drawing competition

Primary school student Song Sothy (left) at the prize-giving ceremony. (Photo by: Mai Vireak)

Monday, 26 December 2011
Ou Mom
The Phnom Penh Post

Among 40,000 children from 60 countries, Cambodian Song Sothy is the second Cambodian boy to win a prize at this year’s EU International Drawing Competition on the theme of Gender Equality. Song Sothy was awarded a prize equivalent to €1,000 (US$1,304).

In the award ceremony at Friends International last weekend, ambassador-designate Jean-Francois Cautain, head of EU delegation to Cambodia, said that “it is a matter of pride for Cambodia to have won for the second year in a row and especially to have such intelligent generation who understand the gender equality concept from a very young age”.

“One upon a time there was a girl and a boy; together they wanted to make the world a better place ...” begins the brief for the EU’s annual drawing competition for children launched globally on International Women’s Day every year.

Cambodia to guard garment exports amidst EU crisis

December 17, 2011
Fibre2Fashion

The Cambodian Government is worried that the Greek economic crisis could affect the country’s garment exports to the EU, and it will take measures to absorb external shock, Keat Chhon, Minister of Economy and Finance said at a trade exhibition in Phnom Penh.

The Government has expressed concern in spite of it upgrading the Kingdom’s gross domestic product outlook for 2011. The concern stems from the fact that EU is the second largest importer of Cambodian garments, and hence crisis in the EU countries could hurt our exports, the Minister said.

The Government will take measures to absorb external shock arising from the EU debt crisis. These will include those related to strengthening domestic laws, human resources and financial institutions, he added.

China Signals Reluctance to Rescue E.U.

December 4, 2011
By KEITH BRADSHER
The New York Times

HONG KONG — The Chinese government over the weekend sought to tamp down international expectations that Beijing might use its large financial reserves to help ease the European debt crisis.

The two government agencies that control the reserves face heavy restrictions on their use, Chinese government officials and economists said.

“The argument that China should rescue Europe does not stand, as reserves are not managed that way,” China’s vice minister for foreign affairs, Fu Ying, said in comments that were prominently reported by the state news media over the weekend.

Ms. Fu’s statements were significant because Chinese diplomats and political leaders had been less publicly hostile to the idea of helping Europe than Chinese economic policy makers, who had been strongly opposed.

EU Statement on the 1991 Paris Peace Accord on Cambodia: Unofficial Translatio​n in Khmer

EU Statement on the 20th Anniversary of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords

"The High Representative, Catherine Ashton, takes the opportunity of the anniversary of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords to congratulate the Cambodian people on the remarkable political and socioeconomic progress over the last 20 years.

The EU remains committed to Cambodia's transformation and will continue to support all Cambodians who work towards lasting development and democracy in the country.

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), in particular, has a vital role to play not only in ensuring accountability for victims of the Khmer Rouge, but also in developing Cambodia’s long-term legal capacity and promoting reconciliation.

Cambodia has come a long way since 1991 and the High Representative calls on the Government to ensure respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms and complete the transformation and peace process begun under the Paris Agreements."

Exports up despite EU crisis

Thursday, 20 October 2011
May Kunmakara
The Phnom Penh Post

While sovereign debt crises in Europe and a lagging US economy have yet to curtail cheap Cambodian exports, industry watchers said domestic producers should diversify their target markets to avoid a future slow down.

Exports saw a more than 40 per cent increase year-on-year between January and September, hitting about US$3.6 billion, according to Ministry of Commerce statistics.

Shipments of garments and textiles to the European Union increased by more than 75 per cent during the first nine months of the year compared to last year, according to the ministry. Garment exports to the US increased by about 30 per cent.

Human Rights Watch's letter to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Secuity Policy regarding the Cambodian NGO Draft Law

http://www.box.net/shared/7z32v6g2h04rshs0dvkl