DPA
Phnom Penh - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen gave Deputy Prime Minister Sok An a public rap over the knuckles over delays in setting up a new Cambodian national airline carrier, vowing to negotiate the deal himself to expedite the process. Cambodia has been without a national carrier since Royal Air Cambodge went bankrupt in 2001. Negotiations with private airlines to set up a joint deal managed under government auspices have dragged on since 2002, Hun Sen said.
"This has been too long without any result. Let Hun Sen do it. I will negotiate myself and establish a national airline," he told a conference on investment and trade in the capital.
Hun Sen likened the process to "a woman who had been pregnant for a long time but had not delivered a child" and said he was taking the responsibility from Sok An, who is also head of the Council of Ministers.
He said the current deal being hammered out would see the Cambodian government maintain a 30 per cent stake of the airline and maintain control over operations, with a private company or companies acting as executors and providing the planes.
"Aircraft under this company must use the Cambodian flag," he said, adding under his guidance, a national carrier would be established "soon" and that two private companies had currently lodged tenders, but gave no further details.
"This has been too long without any result. Let Hun Sen do it. I will negotiate myself and establish a national airline," he told a conference on investment and trade in the capital.
Hun Sen likened the process to "a woman who had been pregnant for a long time but had not delivered a child" and said he was taking the responsibility from Sok An, who is also head of the Council of Ministers.
He said the current deal being hammered out would see the Cambodian government maintain a 30 per cent stake of the airline and maintain control over operations, with a private company or companies acting as executors and providing the planes.
"Aircraft under this company must use the Cambodian flag," he said, adding under his guidance, a national carrier would be established "soon" and that two private companies had currently lodged tenders, but gave no further details.
