Fears for new malaria drug resistance

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The drug resistance was first detected in Pailin province in western Cambodia

By Jill McGivering
BBC News, Cambodia
http://news.bbc.co.uk

In a small community in Western Cambodia, scientists are puzzling over why malaria parasites seem to be developing a resistance to drugs - and fearing the consequences.

Ten days ago, Chhem Bunchhin, a teacher in Battambang Province, became ill with chills, fever, headache and vomiting.

At a nearby health centre he was treated with drugs considered a "silver bullet" in the battle against falciparum malaria.

This treatment with artesunate drugs was part of a clinical study being carried out by the US Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Science (AFRIMS).

In the past, artesunates have always cleared malaria parasites from the blood in two or three days. But after four days of monitored treatment, Chhem Bunchhin was still testing positive for parasites.

The anti-malarial drugs worked more slowly in Chhem Bunchhin

Dr Delia Bethell, an investigator working on the clinical trials, said he wasn't alone. Out of about 90 patients included in the study so far, roughly a third to half were still positive for malaria parasites after three days, some even after four or five days.

"It appears that the artesunate is working more slowly than previously," she said.

"It appears that the parasite probably is developing some kind of tolerance or is somehow less sensitive to the effects of the drug. But nobody knows why that might be."

These early results need to be more thoroughly investigated, she said.

The concern is that this could be the start of emerging resistance to the artemesinin family of drugs. If full-blown resistance did develop, it would be extremely dire.

"This is by far the most effective drug we have," explained Dr Bethell.

"And there are no new drugs coming through the system in the next few years."

Scientists are particularly concerned because the last two generations of anti-malarial drugs were undermined by resistance.

And in those earlier cases, resistance also started in Western Cambodia, and in a similar way.

No-one is sure why this area seems to have become a nursery for anti-malaria drug resistance.

One factor could be the inappropriate use of drugs, related to a lack of medical supervision.

The public health system is weak. Government clinics often run out of drugs or may be closed when patients want access to them.

Instead, many patients visit private pharmacies to buy anti-malarial drugs there.
Coloured tablets

I visited one small drugs stall in Pailin's general market, sandwiched between a clothes outlet and a general grocery store.

All pharmacies are supposed to be licensed. But the stallholder told me he didn't have a licence. He'd applied for one, he said, but the paperwork had never been processed.

Many others running pharmacies, he said, were in the same position.

I watched him and his wife make up their own packets of drugs on the glass-topped counter, shaking a variety of coloured tablets into unlabelled plastic bags.

In many such private pharmacies, the customers choose what they want, deciding partly by price.

The quality of the advice they get varies enormously. If, as a result, they end up taking the wrong drugs in the wrong combinations, this too can fuel drug resistance.

The availability of many counterfeit drugs on the market only compounds the problem.

Professor Nick Day, director of the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, is also running clinical trials in the region.

He and his team have also found that artesunate-type drugs are starting to become less effective.

This resistance must be contained urgently, because its spread would be a global health disaster, he said.

Resistance to previous malaria drugs caused major loss of life in Africa, he said.

"If the same thing happens again, the spread of a resistant parasite from Asia to Africa, then that will have devastating consequences for malaria control."

In a clearing in the jungle, about one and a half hours drive from Pailin along rough dirt roads, I watched health workers distribute mosquito nets to about 200 villagers.

It's one of a series of measures being rushed through to stop the spread of resistant parasites.

If they're not contained, history may repeat itself - and the fear is that many millions of people worldwide will lose their protection against this deadly disease.

Garments got $400m subsidies, says govt

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The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Written by Chun Sophal
Friday, 29 May 2009

THE government on Thursday said that it had spent around US$400 million last year on helping Cambodia's struggling garment and apparel industries survive the global financial crisis.

Minister of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon told the National Assembly that the government provided $490 million in tax and VAT subsidies to all sectors in 2008. Around $400 million in subsidies went to the garment sector.

He also said that the government has not imposed customs duty or VAT on imports and exports of garments since 2005, so buyers should not claim that Cambodia's clothes are overtaxed.

"We spend large amounts of money on supporting the garment industry, so the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) should inform the public of this," said Keat Chhon, who added that the government currently waives tax on clothing imports and exports to encourage factories to compete overseas.

The government will also waive its 1 percent per month advanced profit tax during 2010 and 2011 and help pay 0.3 percent of occupational-risk funds for garment workers in 2009 and 2010, said Keat Chhon.

According to a GMAC report, the garment industry imported $1 billion in raw materials, and exported about $2.9 billion in 2008.

Kaing Monika, external affairs manager at GMAC, said Thursday that it is difficult to assess the exact amount of financial assistance provided to the industry because import tax is calculated by the government.

He also said that GMAC acknowledges that the government has made efforts to help the sector, including providing tax breaks for three to four years to new businesses.

"I think it is the government's calculation," said Kaing Monika. "GMAC is not sure about this issue."

PM urges ASEAN, EU to fight crisis together

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Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG
Prime Minister Hun Sen said that ASEAN and the EU could learn from G20 in bid to fight the global economic crisis.

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Written by Kay Kimsong
Friday, 29 May 2009

Hun Sen calls for further economic integration between the two regional blocs, including an FTA, in Phnom Penh meeting.

CAMBODIAN Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday urged the ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting in Phnom Penh to adopt G20 measures to manage the global financial crisis and to learn from developed nations' commitment to achieving recovery.

He said that ASEAN and the European Union have been cooperating closely to promote multilateral trade and investment, and deepen economic relations.

"I am of the view that it is in the best interests of both ASEAN and the EU to move forward with Free Trade Area (FTA) negotiations on a region-to-region basis," Hun Sen said.

"Given the size of the markets involved, the enormous economic potential and the volume of trade between regions, it is essential that we continue negotiating, because it will bring enormous benefits to both ASEAN and the EU."

Mutual benefits
"I feel we should not lose sight of the broader and longer-term interests of both regional bodies. We need to maximise the strategic window of opportunity that we now have," Hun Sen said.

He also said that ASEAN and the EU need to cooperate in taking on global challenges, which present both hazards and opportunities - particularly to countries in the developing world - created by the current crisis.

The danger is that some countries may resort to protectionism and other nationalistic measures, Hun Sen said, as a way of coping with the fallout of the global financial crisis.

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ASEAN and the EU can exchange their experiences of policy responses.
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"ASEAN and the EU can exchange their experiences of policy responses and share best practices on how to manage the ramifications of the crisis, to learn from the G20 on how they are committed to achieving recovery," he said.

Hun Sen also confirmed that the issue of food and energy security would continue to be a challenge for some time, despite coordinated efforts to deal with the problem.

He suggested ASEAN and the EU prioritise cooperation in this area, especially devising clean and renewable energy sources, such as hydropower and solar power.

"To ensure food security, I think we should avoid encouraging others to develop bio-energy, which could have real impact on food security if more arable farmland is used for bio-energy production while the global population is increasing," Hun Sen said.

Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Yim Sovann said, however, that Cambodia's government must not depend on either ASEAN or the EU, but must instead improve the country's economic policies, including fighting corruption and promoting good governance.

"How can ASEAN and the EU help you, if you do not help yourself first?" he asked.

Joint fundraising
Yim Sovann added that the G20 has shown great progress by raising a large budget for its member nations and that "my party has raised [the possibility of] a US$500 million package to help market farmers' products".

Kem Sokha, president of the Human Rights Party, said the government should persuade other ASEAN countries and the EU to allow Cambodian goods to enter their counties.

"I understand that some ASEAN and EU countries are richer than Cambodia. We should elevate our marketing of agricultural products," he said.

Kem Sokha added that the most important thing that the EU and ASEAN could cooperate on would be to devise a mechanism to fight corruption, as the financial crisis was created from widespread graft.

Pharmalink eyes swelling Cambodian health outlay

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Photo by: Sovann Philong

DeVenco Vice President Christophe Forsinetti.

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Written by Bennett Murray
Friday, 29 May 2009

Pharmacy is concentrating on quality of care to capture a slice of the rapidly expanding health care sector in Cambodia

Pharmalink, one of Cambodia's newest chains of pharmacies, has opened three locations in Phnom Penh since its inception last year and plans to open 10 by the end of 2010.

The chain was started by Phnom Penh-based investment consultants DeVenco.

"Asian people are really concerned about their image, their health, the small products that you can use, especially women," explained DeVenco Vice President Christophe Forsinetti.

"And that attitude is emerging in Cambodia, with the middle class that can now afford to buy more products."

Forsinetti defines families who earn between $300 and $1,000 a month as middle class.

"You have more and more of those people in Phnom Penh," he said.

"They are the people starting to consume. They are the ones buying cars, motorcycles, or all the news services that you see in Phnom Penh."

Lead on quality
In targeting that middle class, Pharmalink has decided to ensure it provides quality service by demanding that customers present prescriptions before buying certain drugs, Forsinetti said.

"Health care is very specific. You need to deliver quality and you have responsibilities," he said.

"If you sell something to a person and you're not supposed to, and that person has a problem or dies because of that prescription, then you're in trouble - and we cannot bear that responsibility."

He acknowledged that many people would rather save themselves the effort of obtaining a prescription by buying pharmaceuticals from any of the thousands of other pharmacies in Phnom Penh.

This may be true, but it doesn't make the practice any less dangerous.

And, as Forsinetti states, health care ought to be much more regulated.

"It's our role to take the lead and try to put some industry standards in place," he said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian people are really concerned about their image, their health, the small products that you can use.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keeping it real
Another pertinent issue that Pharmalink must deal with is the counterfeiting of drugs. Pharmaceuticals may have misappropriated brand labels, or may not even have the chemicals they purport to contain.

"I would say this is much more common with very small pharmacies," explained Forsinetti.

"They will try to pull the prices as low as possible, so they are likely to buy from people importing drugs illegally from Vietnam and Thailand."

He explained that Pharmalink aims to buy their products exclusively from reputed laboratories and distributors.

However, counterfeit drugs remain a reality for all Cambodian pharmaceutical businesses. "It's never 100 percent bullet-proof," Forsinetti admits.

Teething problems still afflict dental care development

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Brush your teeth. BLOOMBERG

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

Written by Lim Seang Heng and Vandeth Dararoath
Friday, 29 May 2009

High costs relative to income put many off treatment for toothache, while poor dental education makes decay a serious problem.

NEARLY everyone experiences toothache at one time or another. But dental problems occur more frequently in Cambodia, where many people live below the poverty line and education about oral hygiene is rare.

Meas Raksmey, a 23-year-old student at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, suffers from toothache but says he tries to ignore the pain, hoping it will soon pass. But often it drags on. "If a toothache hurts like hell, I can't sleep or eat," he said.

"And a week when my teeth are hurting seems to last a month. My face swells up like a balloon. I've had to skip classes because it grew too painful."

According to dentist Chum Mony, most patients only visit his clinic when the pain becomes agonising. "Cambodian patients procrastinate until they cannot deal with their work.

They will only visit a doctor when they get seriously ill," he said, adding that financial constraints and people's ignorance of dental problems create the misconception that having dental examinations every six months is a waste of time.

However, these kinds of problems would not be so serious, if only we started practicing preventative measures from a young age, Chum Mony said.

Sor Chandara, an English teacher who complains about the high price of dental services, still does not have his teeth checked - even though he knows that doing so regularly would keep his teeth healthy.

"I have to spend money on food every day, so how can I afford $15 to $20 per check up?" he asked.

Education needed
Meanwhile, 21-year-old medical student Hor Lat Soriya always takes proper care of her teeth. She thinks that most Cambodians lack knowledge and understanding of dental problems, and that this is a big social concern.

"Oral hygiene is crucial since we must communicate every day," she said. "We don't know exactly how many people suffer from dental problems, but I believe many Cambodians have this problem."

Brushing your teeth is not enough. Using a mouthwash and floss helps clean them sufficiently, as well as reduces bacteria in the mouth. If left, this bacteria turns into acid and speeds tooth decay.

Chum Mony, dentist at Pachem Dental Clinic, suggests that people eat more fruit and vegetables, while those with sensitive teeth should avoid drinking freezing cold or boiling hot liquids

Cost of dengue and other febrile illnesses to households in rural Cambodia: A prospective community-based case-control study

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7th Space

http://7thspace.com

2009-05-27

Publish Post

The average annual reported dengue incidence in Cambodia is 3.3/1,000 among children <15 years of age (2002-2007). To estimate the economic burden of dengue, accurate cost-of-illness data are essential.

We conducted a prospective, community-based, matched case-control study to assess the cost and impact of an episode of dengue fever and other febrile illness on households in rural Cambodia.

Methods: In 2006, active fever surveillance was conducted among a cohort of 6,694 children aged =<15 years in 16 villages in Kampong Cham province, Cambodia. Subsequently, a case-control study was performed by individually assigning one non-dengue febrile control from the cohort to each laboratory-confirmed dengue case.

Parents of cases and controls were interviewed using a standardized questionnaire to determine household-level, illness-related expenditures for medical and non-medical costs, and estimated income loss. The household socio-economic status was determined and its possible association with health seeking behaviour and the ability to pay for the costs of a febrile illness.

Results: Between September and November 2006, a total of 60 household heads were interviewed: 30 with dengue-positive and 30 with dengue-negative febrile children.Mean total dengue-related costs did not differ from those of other febrile illnesses (31.5 vs.

27.2 US$, p=0.44). Hospitalization almost tripled the costs of dengue (from 14.3 to 40.1 US$) and doubled the costs of other febrile illnesses (from 17.0 to 36.2 US$).

To finance the cost of a febrile illness, 67% of households incurred an average debt of 23.5 US$ and higher debt was associated with hospitalization compared to outpatient treatment (US$ 23.1 vs. US$ 4.5, p<0.001).

These costs compared to an average one-week expenditure on food of US$ 9.5 per household (range 2.5-21.3). In multivariate analysis, higher socio-economic status (odds ratio [OR] 4.4; 95% confidence interval[CI] 1.4-13.2), duration of fever (OR 2.1; 95%CI 1.3-3.5), and age (OR 0.8; 95%CI 0.7-0.9) were independently associated with hospitalization.

Conclusions: In Cambodia, dengue and other febrile illnesses pose a financial burden to households.

A possible reason for a lower rate of hospitalization among children from poor households could be the burden of higher illness-related costs and debts.

Author: Rekol HuyOle WichmannMark BeattyChantha NganSocheat DuongHarold Margolis Sirenda Vong
Credits/Source: BMC Public Health 2009, 9:155

Protesters call for Suu Kyi's release as EU-ASEAN meeting starts

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Earth Times
http://www.earthtimes.org

Posted : Wed, 27 May 2009
Author : DPA

Phnom Penh - Dozens of rights activist gathered outside the Myanmar embassy in Cambodia on Wednesday to demand the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as a meeting of European and South-East Asian foreign ministers began in Phnom Penh. The protesters urged the ministers to expel Myanmar from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) unless Suu Kyi and other political prisoners were released immediately.

Sok Sam Oeun, chairman of the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, said the 17th Annual EU-ASEAN meeting presented an opportunity for European and South-East Asian leaders to use political and economic leverage against Myanmar.

"We support the European Union and the Thai government, the ASEAN secretariat, in their expression of grave concern for the Myanmar Government's actions," he said. "But there needs to be stronger action taken and Myanmar needs to be expelled from the EU."

The protest came on the sixth anniversary of Suu Kyi's arrest on charges of threatening national security and the beginning of her detention in her home-cum-prison.

She is currently facing trial in Yangon for allegedly violating the terms of her detention by allowing US national John William Yettaw to swim to her lakeside compound on May 3 and stay there until May 6.

No formal discussions on the trial have been scheduled for the two-day meeting in Phnom Penh, but Cambodian Foreign Ministry officials said earlier this week that some delegates were likely to urge Myanmar to release Suu Kyi.

Foreign ministers from 40 countries held private talks Wednesday and will be welcomed by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at an opening ceremony Thursday.

Cambodia breaks ground on its first overpass

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Drivers are seen on a street in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in 2007. Cambodia broke ground at its capital's busiest intersection Wednesday for what will be the country's first road overpass.(AFP/File/Tang Chhin Sothy)

Wed May 27, 09

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP) – Cambodia broke ground at its capital's busiest intersection Wednesday for what will be the country's first road overpass.

Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the start of the project, intended to reduce Phnom Penh's increasing traffic problems, at a ceremony opening another new bridge at the intersection.

"It is will be the first overpass bridge of Cambodia," Hun Sen said at the ceremony.

Officials said construction of the 308-metre (1,010-foot) overpass would cost more than six million dollars and would be finished within one year.

The premier said Phnom Penh had changed from "ghost city, a city that has no people, and a shocked city, into a vivid city."

All residents of Phnom Penh were forced into the countryside during the 1975 to 1979 Khmer Rouge regime, as the hardline communists enslaved the nation on collective farms.

During Wednesday's ceremony, Hun Sen also called on the people to respect traffic laws, saying that doing so meant they "respect their own lives."

Traffic fatalities have more than doubled in Cambodia over the past five years, becoming the second-biggest killer behind HIV/AIDS.

Better roads and more vehicles have contributed heavily to this toll, but bad driving is the main cause behind most accidents, police say.

Cambodia has finally begun to emerge from decades of civil conflict, but has been hit with gridlock as well as a building boom that has begun to change radically the face of its once-sleepy capital.

UNDP Releases Report on Cambodian Economy – Wednesday, 27.5.2009

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Posted on 28 May 2009

The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 614
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

“Phnom Penh: Economists of the United Nations Development Program, UNDP, for Cambodia, said that Cambodia needs more investments in the education and the welfare sectors for the labor force in order to encourage economic growth and alleviate poverty.

“In a press conference to present an UNDP report on Monday, 25 May 2009, Mr. Brooks Evans, an economist, said, ‘Cambodia now does not have workers with sufficient skills, and this is a priority problem that needs the most help to improve the economy.’ The UNDP report, which studied the competitiveness of Cambodia in the global economy, ranks Cambodia below other ASEAN countries.

“Mr. Brooks Evans added, ‘Several regulations and formulas make investors from the USA, from Europe, and from Japan withdraw their operations from Cambodia, which is one of the world’s poorest countries, and Cambodia loses many foreign investors.’

“The report continued to say that 30% of the more than 14 million Cambodian people live with an average income of only US$0.50 per day. The sector of agriculture represents 32% of the GDP in Cambodia.

“Tourism grows also, like in 2008, there were more than 2 million foreign tourists who visited Cambodia. This sector contributes one firth of the national economy, and it is an important sector to boost the economy with income from foreign countries. Also, Tourism creates new job opportunities and a new job market for local people, working to provide different services and gaining benefits.

“Also, the UNDP report shows the competitiveness in information technology and in Information Communication Technology, which grew by 32% per year during the recent five years, and the increase added up to US$429 million. At present, 3.5 million people in Cambodia, or one fourth, are using mobile phones. [The UNDP report criticized, however, that there is no adequate regulation, while the government has already licensed nine mobile phone providers - though some have blocked connectivity to competitors, resulting in problems. 'There appears to be no control over this in Cambodia.']

“There is growth also in the garment sector. But at present, there are many challenges because of the impact of the global economic crisis. Textile factories in Cambodia contributed 12% of the GDP, when the garment export contributed 72% of the overall product export in 2007. This sector employs more than 300,000 workers.

“Another sector, which contributed to improving the economy, is the construction sector, which was growing in recent years and earned US$500 million in 2003 and increased this to US$3.2 billion in 2007. But nowadays, Cambodia pays the least wages to the [construction] labor force among all ASEAN countries, which is only US$4.50 per day, compared to US$7 dollar per day in Thailand.

“The report adds that Cambodia is moving [very slowly] towards global economic competition, moving up one rank to position 109 among 134 countries in 2008-2009; and it moved up by 15 ranks in a trade report of the World Bank among 135 countries. However, Cambodia is still almost at the bottom, compared to other ASEAN countries in the education and in the welfare sectors.”

Deum Ampil, Vol.3, #195, 27.5.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Wednesday, 27 May 2009

Report blasts builder burden

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Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Cambodia’s highly bureaucratic licensing process is potentially behind delays in some building developments, according to a new UNDP report.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by NATHAN GREEN and SOEUN SAY
Wednesday, 27 May 2009

But land management minister rejects UN agency findings that bureaucracy is holding up construction projects and causing some developers to pull out

Cambodia's highly bureaucratic licensing process for construction projects is potentially costing the country significant sums in foreign direct investment by lowering the sector's competitiveness, a new study by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) says.

According to the "Cambodia Country Competitiveness: Driving Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction" study, it takes approximately 710 days to get all construction permits required to complete a project in Cambodia, compared with 200 days in Thailand and about 150 days in Vietnam.

Each procedure takes 31 days to clear in Cambodia, the study found, compared with around 15 days in Vietnam and Thailand and just 7 days in Laos.

The report also said that construction companies often claim they need to resort to paying unofficial charges in order to shorten timescales for regulatory approval.

Uncertainty over the implementation of laws and regulations has also led to some investment plans being abandoned, the study found, citing foreign investors and chambers of commerce.

"The key is the opacity of rules and regulations," UNDP economist Brooks Evans said. "They may be clear at the top level, but the specifics are often unclear leading to a major obstacle to businesses setting up."

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I pay money in order to get permits on time otherwise it takes more than three months to get permission to build.
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Im Chamrong, director general of the construction department at the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, rejected the report's findings.

"We follow Cambodian construction laws," he said. "It takes approximately 45 days to get all the construction permits required to complete a project in Cambodia, even large and small projects.

"I don't know where the UNDP report gets the information from, but it's not true because the UNDP does not know how complex the rules are to apply."

He added that mistakes in required documents could delay the process. "Some companies receive permits late because something is wrong with their documents, but it's not late like 710 days but perhaps one or two months," he said.

He also denied that construction companies had to pay unofficial charges.

"I don't know about that; I know that our charges only depend on the size of the project," Im Chamrong said.

However, Seng Thora, 53, a construction company manager, said he had complained to land management authorities about corruption. "It is very difficult to apply for a permit to build a house," he said. "I pay money in order to get permits on time otherwise it takes more than three months to get permission to build."

On hold
Evans said between 30 and 40 percent of construction projects were currently on hold, though he did not specify the proportion thought to have been derailed by regulatory uncertainty as opposed to other causes, particularly the effect of the global financial crisis.

Figures released by the Im Chhun Lim, the Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, at the ministry's annual meeting last month showed the book value of major construction projects approved by the ministry fell just 1.14 percent last year to $2.96 billion from a little over $3 billion in 2007. In all, the ministry approved 181 projects last year, up from 167 the year before.

However, the ministry figures do not detail money actually spent on projects or the progress made.

A number of high-profile projects were abandoned or scaled back in the latter half of last year, many involving South Korean companies, after the US subprime mortgage crisis spiralled out of control last year into a global financial meltdown.

At the time, lawyers representing several South Korean developers told Prime Location that the global economic crisis was not the key factor in delays. Instead, they said, the botched implementation of new regulations controlling housing development deposits was responsible. If passed, the new rules would make it impossible for their clients to continue with projects due to concerns of financers at home.

The new rules, or prakas, were delayed amid the outcry and the Ministry of Economy and Finance has promised to redraft them in consultation with the private sector.

Message repeated
The UNDP findings were supported by a new study of Cambodia's investment climate by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The Second Investment Climate Assessment, which surveyed 500 entrepreneurs in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Sihanoukville, Battambang and Kampong Cham, found that regulatory uncertainty was the fourth biggest concern of businesses in Cambodia. Corruption was ranked the highest concern, followed by macroeconomic uncertainty and anti-competitive practices.

World Bank Country Manager Qimiao Fan said at the report's launch Monday that the global financial crisis made it even more critical that business environment problems were addressed. "[N]ow with the global economic crisis significantly impacting Cambodia, continued problems in the business environment may force firms to go out of business, and investors may choose to postpone investment or move to more business friendly countries," he said.

The IFC released a second report Monday, this time in conjunction with the Asia Foundation, that ranked Phnom Penh behind all of the country's 23 provinces in terms of the ease of doing business. Kampong Cham province was rated the top area to do business in the Provincial Business Environment Scorecard (PBES), which surveyed business owners across the country.

In an indication that reform could be successful in easing the regulatory burden on business, both Sihanoukville and Siem Reap town moved from near the bottom of the inaugural survey in 2006 into the higher ranks by making significant advances in four areas, including the time and cost of starting a business, property rights, and transparency of regulations.

Veronique Salze-Lozac'h, regional director of economic programs for the Asia Foundation, said it was critical government officials were aware of the problems businesses faced.

"Over the next two months, when PBES results are presented in a number of provinces, entrepreneurs will be able to compare their province with others and engage government on reform," she said.

"When the PBES and the ICA are repeated in a few years, officials and business people will be able to see whether their efforts have been successful."

Inside Business: Juice maker struggles to turn healthy profit

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Photo by: Souen Say
The Khmer Mekong Foods processing factory in Phnom Penh.

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

Written by Soeun Say
Wednesday, 27 May 2009

PICH Chan, general manager of Khmer Mekong Food Enterprise, walked into a supermarket in Phnom Penh in 2003, and he was dismayed.

He counted 90 different products that had been imported from neighbouring countries that could have been made in Cambodia.

"I wanted to see a Khmer product at markets," he said. "My friends and my relatives said my juice was good, so I started to think about producing juice for the market."

In late 2005, Pich Chan invested US$40,000 in a fruit-juice processing enterprise, and now four years later, his business produces juice from mangoes, pineapples, tamarind and guavas.

With eight workers, Khmer Mekong Foods is a small business only producing about 50 cases of juice a day. A case, which holds 24 bottles, is sold to retailers for $7, according to Hok Sovanna, Khmer Mekong Food's marketing manager.

But Hok Sovanna says Cambodians are starting to acquire a taste for fruit juice after initially shunning it.
"Now Cambodians have started to accept its flavour with up to 80 percent natural fruit," he said.

But despite increasingly positive feedback about the product, in 2007, Khmer Mekong Food lost $60,000.
Pich Chan blames the losses on his own lack of marketing expertise.

"I only have skills at producing not at selling, that's why poor marketing is our weak point" he said.

Also, as a small enterprise, Pich Chan says it has been impossible for his company to break into the international market because he cannot produce enough bottles to fill a shipping container, which is necessary to supply countries like the United Arab Emirates, Canada and the United States.

"I was sad to hear that they need one big container per month. I regret that I could not meet their demands," he said, adding many other Khmer agricultural products face the same limitations.

In the next one to two years, Pich Chan hopes to expand his company so he will be able to export his product overseas.

But the economic crisis has hit his company hard. Since late 2008, sales have dropped between 30 and 40 percent from the same period last year. Nevertheless, Pich Chan says that by continuing to improve the quality of his juices and diversifying his product line he will be able to increase Khmer Mekong Foods' market share in Cambodia.

In order for him to follow through with his expansion plan, however, Pich Chan says the company will need to borrow money. But, he says, Cambodian interest rates are too high at up to 12 percent per year.

"There are a lot of things to produce, but I don't have the capital. I need to find which bank has a low [interest] rate," he said.

Pich Chan said that he wished Cambodia had a bank with an especially low rate for small and medium-sized enterprises.

"I need a chance to borrow money to improve my business," he said.

Inside Business is a new section every Wednesday that will profile Cambodian small and medium-sized enterprises.

Cambodia plans launch of export-import bank

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An export-import bank would help finance economic development, particularly export industries such as commercial agriculture, officials said Tuesday at an SME finance conference in Phnom Penh. BLOOMBERG

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

Written by George McLeod
Wednesday, 27 May 2009

New bank would help finance small-business development as well as expansion of Cambodia’s narrow export base, say government officials

CAMBODIA may launch its first export-import bank to stimulate trade and support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), officials said at a Tuesday conference on small-business financing in Phnom Penh.

Details of the bank have not been worked out, but officials said it would provide financing and other support to SMEs, particularly in the agriculture sector.

Farmers have had difficulty accessing inexpensive credit to upgrade technology and build processing facilities, even from micro-credit institutions, which often charge more than 12 percent interest.

"There really is a capital shortage for farmers, for products such as cassava," said Sorasak Pan, secretary of state at the Ministry of Commerce.

"Though Cambodian small businesses provide jobs, generate income and contribute to the country's economic development, SMEs lack formal financial support they need to expand their businesses," said a joint statement by conference organisers.

The project is backed by the Ministry of Commerce, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and the National Bank of Cambodia, as well as a number of international agencies including the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

The government plans to conduct a feasibility study this year, and a budget for the bank could be ready by 2010 for possible launch in the same year, Ministry of Commerce officials said.

The feasibility study would be financed by the UNDP at an estimated cost of US$60,000 to $80,000. Officials have not determined the budget for the export-import bank.

Siphana Sok, secretary of state for the Ministry of Commerce, said the bank would focus on agriculture businesses struggling for capital.

"This is a first step towards getting trade finance... The bank will play a role in trade finance and will help to diversify the country's trade," he said.

The government is focusing on agriculture as a potential growth sector for Cambodia, and has identified 19 products for export promotion.

It says that boosting agriculture would have a strong impact on poverty reduction because 85 percent of the workforce is employed in the sector and it contributes 65 percent of GDP.

But a spokesman from the Pailin Agribusiness Association said that the government should focus on opening up markets and reducing transport costs.

"We are paying $20 per tonne to export cassava, which is too expensive.... The government also needs to put pressure on the Thai government to open its borders to Cambodian products," he said.

New Monivong bridge opens

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Photo by: Sovann philong

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

Written by Sovann Philong
Wednesday, 27 May 2009

A woman walks in front of the newly constructed Monivong bridge on Tuesday ahead of an ceremony to officially open the span, which runs parallel to the existing bridge and will help to alleviate traffic congestion, city officials say. The opening ceremony was presided over by Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema

PM's lawyer says he will withdraw suit if Bar punishes Kong Sam Onn

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The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

Written by Meas Sokchea
Wednesday, 27 May 2009

LAWYER Ky Tech, who is representing Prime Minister Hun Sen in his lawsuit against Sam Rainsy Party official Mu Sochua, said he would be willing to drop a separate suit against the opposition lawmaker's own attorney, Kong Sam Onn, if he is thoroughly investigated and punished by the Cambodian Bar Association for misconduct.

"It depends on the Bar's decision," Ky Tech told the Post in the latest twist in a dispute between Hun Sen and Mu Sochua, who have each filed suit accusing the other of defamation.

"I would agree to drop my lawsuit if the Bar found that [Kong Sam Onn] committed a mistake and punished him justly," Ky Tech added.

Kong Sam Onn was accused of defaming the prime minister in comments he made during an April press conference by Ky Tech, who then urged the Bar to suspend him.

While the move was met with criticism from legal experts who said politics were mixing unfairly with the judicial process, the Bar opened an investigation into whether Kong Sam Onn breached the organisation's code of conduct.

Kong Sam Onn's first hearing before a Bar inspection team was postponed Monday after two of the five members failed to show up, with one saying he did not want to participate in the probe because he felt the lawyer had done nothing wrong.

But Ky Tech - a former Bar Association president - said Tuesday the inspectors were obligated to carry out the investigation.

"If Kong Sam Onn committed some fault, but the Bar does not acknowledge this mistake, I will not withdraw my suit against him," Ky Tech said.

At least three of the Bar inspectors appear hesitant to be involved in what they say is a politically charged case, but say they had no choice but to put Kong Sam Onn under scrutiny, one team member said.

"I cannot escape this work," said Hem Socheat, one of the inspectors who failed to show up for Monday's hearing, adding he did not want to participate in the probe because he felt Kong Sam Onn did nothing wrong.

He said that the other two inspectors agreed with him.

High flyer

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The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

Written by Chrann Chamroeun nd Mark Roy
Wednesday, 27 May 2009

A police officer tries to offer a shirt to a woman who stripped off her shirt and climbed a billboard on Sothearos Boulevard Tuesday morning after witnesses say she assaulted another woman with a glass bottle in Kandal Market. The woman, who police say is addicted to drugs, was detained and sent to the government's Social Affairs Department for "re-education", said commune police Chief Preap Kha.

WRITER/PHOTO BY CHRANN CHAMROEUN/MARK ROY

Duch: “Pol Pot was the father of Cambodia's murder”

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Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 26/05/2009: The court building on day 21 of Duch's trial at the ECCC©John Vink/ Magnum

Ka-set
http://cambodia.ka-set.info

By Stéphanie Gée
26-05-2009

The hearing of Tuesday May 26th was marked by a statement from the accused Duch aimed to explain, among others, that the personal conflict between the secretary general of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Le Duan, and Brother nº1, Pol Pot, degenerated into a bloodbath. Indian journalist Nayan Chanda, specialist on political issues in Indochina, finished his testimony, not without recalling Vietnam's dampened hopes in relation to its Khmer Rouge comrades. After him, Craig Etcheson came back to the stand, once again more as a matter of form...

The fate of the “Hanoi Khmer”
Nayan Chanda recalled that in 1975 and 1976, Vietnamese officials made visits to Cambodia, in what were as many attempts for negotiations that all failed. At the most, as the Indian expert remembered, local agreements were made in the months following the Khmer Rouge victory in April 1975, which allowed for the forced repatriation to Cambodia by the Vietnamese authorities of Khmer nationals who had taken refuge on their soil. In some cases, these repatriations were carried out on the basis of one person being exchanged for one head of cattle.

Nayan Chanda then read a relevant section taken from David Chandler's book “Voices from S-21: Terror and History in Pol Pot's Secret Prison”: “He wrote that the accused was able to elaborate a very sophisticated concept of treason, between 1972 and 1973. It discussed chains of traitors and a secret operation that was then implemented by the Khmer Rouge to purge those who were called the 'Hanoi Khmer', who had come back in 1970 after years of exile in Northern Vietnam to help the revolution there. In 1973, hundreds of them were arrested and assassinated in the utmost secrecy, after Vietnamese had withdrawn most of their troops from Cambodia. Some managed to flee to Vietnam after their detention, others were arrested after April 1975, many were arrested in the special zone. The stealthy and pitiless aspects of this purge campaign may have answered to the emerging administrative style that was specific to Duch. This campaign already foretold the operating mode of S-21.”

Vietnam's disappointed hopes
Before an open conflict broke out between Cambodia and Vietnam, the latter long believed that it could count on friends in the Khmer Rouge ranks, before gradually opening their eyes. The Indian journalist recalled a “tactical alliance between the Vietnamese communist party and the Cambodian communist party in 1974.” “Back then,”he pursued, “it was patent that the United States were going to withdraw from the region and the Khmer Rouge would be able to take power in Cambodia. At that time, the Vietnamese were ready to help the Khmer Rouge. On April 17th 1975, the Khmer Rouge victory was made possible thanks to the considerable amount of weapons and trainings provided by the Vietnamese to the Khmer Rouge in late 1974. The Chinese had then not been able to give such assistance, because they had no means available. […] It was therefore the Vietnamese communist party that provided a very valuable assistance to the Khmer Rouge to allow them to reach victory in 1975. So, there is aberration somewhere in what is otherwise a fundamentally conflictual relationship. I have the feeling that the Vietnamese hoped that, by helping the Khmer Rouge in this way, they could win them over to their own way of looking at things. But their reckoning was erroneous, as it was realised subsequently. As soon as victory was theirs, the Khmer Rouge declared they had obtained it on their own, without any foreign assistance. […] Vietnam understood immediately that there was no gratitude to expect from the Khmer Rouge.”

The expert added that the Vietnamese misinterpreted the situation as they seemed to think they had more friends than they really did within the Khmer Rouge revolutionary ranks. “I have recently read a research paper written by a Russian on the relations between Cambodia and Vietnam, on the basis of Soviet diplomatic materials recently made public. The author wrote that Nuon Chea [ex-Brother nº2 and indicted by the tribunal] was the person appointed by Pol Pot to go and ask for help in Vietnam on the eve of Phnom Penh's fall. He was the party's Mister Vietnam... […] Until 1978, the Vietnamese thought that Nuon Chea was a moderate and a friend of Vietnam!”

However, Nayan Chanda believed that from late 1977, “Vietnam seemed to have understood it was not an issue of misunderstanding or resolution of some territorial disputes, but that the conflict with Cambodia pertained to the Khmer Rouge policy towards Vietnam. The problem was therefore to be solved through a political change in Phnom Penh or a change of the people in power in Phnom Penh. In other words, if there were changes within the Communist Party of Kampuchea [CPK], that was fine, but if that was not the case, it was necessary to take Phnom Penh to ensure peace and stability.”

Duch: the personal conflict between Le Duan and Pol Pot resulted in bloodshed
When his turn to interrogate Nayan Chanda came, Duch's international lawyer requested that first, the accused be given the opportunity to respond to the expert's testimony. Duch then started a long statement, in which he lashed out at Brother nº1:

“It was part of the implementation of Hô Chi Minh's theory, which said that the only main cause was the fight against the French. Consequently, there could only be one party in power, the Communist Party of Indochina: one party, one soldier, one government and one country, that is the Indochinese Federation. This was his theory. It was the source of life and death, and the hostility between Le Duan and Pol Pot. Le Duan was secretary of the Vietnam Workers' Party, which later became the Vietnamese Communist Party. […] The conflict between the two men was a mortal conflict, a long-standing one, that started as early as 1954. Le Duan saw himself as the father of Indochina, even if there was a Geneva Conference. Both tried to overthrow the other. […] Although the armed conflict existed, Le Duan wanted Pol Pot to follow him... […] The dispute led to the open armed conflict in 1978, which came to the attention of the international community on December 31st 1978. I want to say that Pol Pot and Le Duan were having a personal dispute. Each had his own party, his own soldiers, and this resulted in a bloodbath and had a disastrous impact on the lives of the civilian population. What I am saying is that Pol Pot was not a great patriot of the country, but he was a murderer. He was the father of the murder of Cambodia. […] So, I maintain my view, that it was a dispute between Pol Pot and the Indochinese Federation which was at the origin of the conflict in which Pol Pot was a murderer. More than a million people lost their lives. In this context, in S-21, my hands were stained with the blood of the people who lost their lives there... I do not deny my responsibility for this crime. However, I want to show that […] Vietnamese and Cambodian blood was shed again and again because of the dispute between these two persons.”

What is at stake with Nayan Chanda's summoning, according to François Roux
Rather than interrogating the expert, François Roux explained to him that the meaning of his presence was fully realised in light of the attempts of the office of the co-Prosecutors to demonstrate and obtain a decision from the Trial Chamber saying that [with reference to the final submission of the co-Prosecutors made at the end of the investigation phase] '[T]he evidence on the Case File [...] establishes that an international armed conflict existed between the armed forces of Democratic Kampuchea (DK) and the armed forces of Vietnam from April 1975 and continuing until 6 January 1979.' This question, which is not only political but also legal, could bear consequences as, if it is considered that an armed conflict existed since April 1975, this would mean that all the Vietnamese prisoners sent to S-21 from that time were victims of war crimes. That is what is at stake here. This does not yield a great interest for Duch, since he has always recognised he knew since September 1977 there was an open conflict between Cambodia and Vietnam. He also admitted that, at least for the whole year of 1978, the Vietnamese prisoners who had arrived were victims of war crimes that came under his responsibility. […] The dispute bears little impact on Duch's guilt. However, I have drawn the Chamber's attention to the responsibility that the co-Prosecutors wanted to place upon international criminal justice. That is, until now, we have always heard the official view according to which the international armed conflict had started from December 31st 1977, when diplomatic relations were severed, and now, the co-Prosecutors are asking the Chamber to take the heavy decision to contradict, through a decision of justice, that date. […] The co-Prosecutors have asked you to come here to see if you would confirm this simple sentence: an international armed conflict existed between the armed forces of Democratic Kampuchea and Vietnam from April 1975 to January 6th 1979. I note that you have not confirmed that sentence. On the contrary, I note that you have indicated there were many clashes and occasional fighting of the military, and you have said 'I have the feeling that, in late 1977, the Vietnamese had concluded it was not a misunderstanding.' You also said yesterday [Monday May 25th 2009] that until late 1977, the Vietnamese government had tried to prevent the conflict from deteriorating. Have I heard correctly, Mister Chanda?”

Nayan Chanda confirmed while wondering: “However, I am not a jurist. I do not know how war is defined in law. Must it be declared? Can war exist without any declaration? If it is not necessary to have a declaration, then the two countries were at war since 1975. If it is necessary, then war effectively started only on December 31st 1977.”

This was the end of the questions to the former correspondent of the Far Eastern Economic Review, who was replaced by Craig Etcheson, whose examination resumed after being interrupted on Thursday May 21st.

Craig Etcheson's examination resumes on an air of “deja vu”
International co-Prosecutor Alex Bates then resumed where he had stopped, and started again the reading, tedious due to translation difficulties, of the minutes of a meeting which Duch attended and during which S-21 and the divisions were ordered to collaborate in the implementation of the purge policy. There was like an air of “deja vu” and the translation issues drowned the co-Prosecutor's demonstration, which some thought had already been made on May 21st...

Alex Bates then sought to interrogate the U.S. expert on nine letters from Sou Meth, the former commandant of division 502 of the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea, sent to Duch between April and October 1977. His endeavour was interrupted by François Roux, on the basis of the same arguments that Duch's lawyer had made the previous Wednesday [May 20th]. This had already brought the debates to a standstill and resulted in a decision of the Chamber the next day [May 21st], which appears to have been partial in light of the continuing debate. The co-Prosecutor called the defence's objection an “absurdity” and recalled that “all the pieces of evidence are free and once presented, their value can be assessed.” The civil party lawyers, one after the other, joined him, which led Roux to observe that, each time the defence made an objection, they had “not only one but many opponents.” “I end up wondering where the equality of arms is in this trial?” He explained again that it was not the nature of the documents that bothered him and that his client was quite ready to comment on them. For him, the problem was that Craig Etcheson be presented with documents he became aware of after July 2007, that is after the start of the investigation procedure against Duch, as the expert worked as an investigator at the office of the co-Prosecutors and his testimony could therefore be flawed with lack of partiality. Finally, Roux wondered that the co-Prosecutors did not summon Sou Meth before the co-Investigating Judges or the Chamber to confront him with Duch... A misunderstanding seemed to settle regarding the substance of the defence's objection. Judge Lavergne then suggested as an arrangement that the expert's answers be taken with caution, in light of his current post.

Once more, Craig Etcheson was little heard. The final word went to a Cambodian civil party lawyer, Hong Kim Suon: “We have already lost a lot of time not so wisely. […] To revive the same debate is to reopen the same Pandora box. I feel like we are going round and round.” The president then adjourned the hearing...

Japan agrees to help preserve Tuol Sleng prison archives

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Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG
Participants listen to a presentation about Japanese efforts to protect the Tuol Sleng torture centre's document archives.

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

Written by AFP and Neth Pheaktra
Wednesday, 27 May 2009

Cambodia-Okinawa ‘Peace Museum' Cooperation Project will also see the training of Cambodian conservation experts

JAPAN has signed a three-year agreement to help preserve Tuol Sleng genocide museum, the former central prison camp for Khmer Rouge detainees.

The Cambodia-Okinawa "Peace Museum" Cooperation Project will begin working this month to preserve the remaining remnants of the prison, known as the S-21 security centre under the regime.

"This is very useful because Tuol Sleng has key documents [from the regime], but we do not have tools to preserve them," Cambodia's deputy minister of culture, Chuch Phoeurn, said Tuesday, adding that under the deal, museum staff would go to study in Japan every year to learn particular preservation methods.

Representatives from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum, Cambodia's Ministry of Culture and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum signed the preservation agreement.

"The agreement focuses on the management of the museum, preservation of documents and education. Right now we are mostly concerned about the preservation of the building and of documents for the future," Chey Sopheara, director of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, told the Post.

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THIS IS VERY USEFUL BECAUSE TUOL SLENG HAS KEY DOCUMENTS [FROM THE REGIME]
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"With [the agreement], we hope that Tuol Sleng museum will be preserved and saved because our museum's building is old," he said.

A long time coming
The Cambodian government last year asked the UN's cultural agency to register the prison and its archives.

The museum was also registered by UNESCO's Memory of the World for Asia and the Pacific region in February last year in a bid to gain international recognition.

"The agreement with Japan is a response to lots of waiting. The first step of agreement will focus on capacity building for Tuol Sleng museum staff and afterwards focus on preservation of documents and other necessary material," said Chuch Phoeurn.

However Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-Cam), questioned the need for outsider help.

"Cambodia should take responsibility to persevere its own history, which it has been doing for over three decades now. Toul Sleng has been established, preserved and managed by Cambodia and it should continue to do so," Youk Chhang said.

The former prison, which was originally a high school, was run by Kaing Guek Eav or "Duch", who is on trial at the country's UN-backed war crimes court for overseeing the torture and extermination of some 15,000 prisoners detained at the camp.

REPORTING BY AFP AND NETH PHEAKTRA

EU-ASEAN summit to kick off

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Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG
Homeless people, like those pictured, have been targetted by authorities ahead of today's ASEAN-EU summit.

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Written by Sebastian Strangio and Vong Sokheng
Wednesday, 27 May 2009

Observers call on delegates to address trial of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

DELEGATIONS from 40 European Union and ASEAN countries are to gather in Phnom Penh today for the 17th EU-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, an event likely to be overshadowed by the ongoing trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar.

According to a statement released Tuesday by the delegation for the European Commission in Cambodia, the meeting will focus on strengthening inter-regional cooperation on security, economic and social issues. It will also include discussions of other issues of "mutual concern" such as the global economic crisis, food and energy security, counterterrorism, transnational crime and the environment.

"The EU and ASEAN are two successful examples of regional integration in the world," Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European commissioner for external relations, was quoted as saying.

"I look forward to an ambitious agenda for joint action being agreed at the Ministerial Meeting."

Looming over the summit, however, is the fate of pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, whose trial in Myanmar has now entered its second week. She faces up to five years in jail on charges of violating her house arrest after an incident in which an American man swam to her
lakeside house in central Yangon.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said the issue was not on the formal agenda for the summit, but added the situation could change as the meetings unfold.

"I cannot speculate on any issue concerning Myanmar. It depends on the point of view of the co-chairs once the sessions take place," he said, referring to Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, who are to chair the meeting.

Photo by: AFP
Nyan Win (centre), spokesman of Aung San Suu Kyi's party National League for Democracy (NLD), and one of her lawyers, speaks to reporters inside of the party headquarters after he came back from the trial in Insein prison in Yangon on Tuesday.

More than 40 foreign ministers from Asia and Europe meeting in Hanoi this week jointly called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, according to a statement issued at the conclusion of the ASEM meeting on Tuesday.

"In light of the concern about the recent development to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, ministers ... called for the early release of those under detention and the lifting of restrictions placed on political parties," the statement said.

Ministers have agreed to a text that "makes specific reference to the release of political prisoners and particularly Aung San Suu Kyi", British junior foreign minister Bill Rammell said.

During a meeting with Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win on the sidelines of the talks Monday, the EU also made its own calls for Aung San Suu Kyi's "immediate release".

Possibility of talks
Rafael Dochao Moreno, charge d'affairs of the delegation of the European Commission to Cambodia, said he could not comment on whether EU delegates would raise the issue in formal proceedings during the Phnom Penh talks, which generally do not address bilateral issues.

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ASEAN AND EU LEADERS HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO KICK START... THE RESUMPTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS.
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"In the formal agenda, there is nothing on specific countries," he said.

"This is a multilateral meeting ... and individual issues are not, in principle, part of the agenda."

But he added that the Aung San Suu Kyi trial could force itself into sideline talks between delegates this evening.

"I can't imagine the EU and ASEAN ministers not discussing Myanmar under the present circumstances," Moreno said.

In a joint statement released Tuesday, the Sam Rainsy Party and Human Rights Party backed the call, saying Aung San Suu Kyi's trial should be on the agenda at the summit.

"ASEAN and EU leaders have an opportunity to kick-start national reconciliation and the resumption of the democratic process in Myanmar," said the statement, made on behalf of 29 opposition parliamentarians.

"We urge you to seize this opening."

Sok Sam Oeun, chairman of the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, agreed, saying that "in order to develop democracy in ASEAN, it is better for the ASEAN ministers to discuss [Aung San Suu Kyi]".

Long-time prisoner
The opposition icon took the stand at her trial Tuesday as the Myanmar junta defied international outrage by threatening to extend her house arrest even if she is not convicted.

Aung San Suu Kyi said that she did not violate the terms of her house arrest by offering "temporary shelter" to a US man who swam to her lakeside home.

She was testifying for the first time at the maximum security Insein prison in Yangon, in a case which has drawn widespread international condemnation of the country's iron-fisted military junta.

"I didn't," the 63-year-old replied when a judge asked her whether she had breached the restriction order keeping her at her residence, according to reporters and diplomats present at the hearing.

She said the first she knew of the bizarre visit by American army veteran John Yettaw was when her assistant woke her up at around dawn on May 4 to tell her that a man had arrived at the house.

"I did not inform them," she said when asked by the judge whether she had told Myanmar's military authorities about the intrusion.

Aung San Suu Kyi was also asked about claims that she had given Yettaw food and let him stay at the house, replying: "I allowed him to have temporary shelter."

In a surprise development, Myanmar authorities informed Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday morning that her six-year period of house arrest was officially over - although she still remains in detention at the prison, her party said.

"We don't know whether we should be happy or sad, because she is still in detention on these charges," said Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD).

"I cannot guess the verdict but according to the law, she should be completely free."

Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained for 13 of the last 19 years, since the junta prevented her party from forming a government following its landslide victory in elections in 1990.

Aung San Suu Kyi's Washington-based international counsel, Jared Genser, said Tuesday that a UN panel had already found that extending her house arrest would be illegal under both international and Myanmar law.

The junta is also trying Yettaw and two female aides who live with Aung San Suu Kyi in her house. Yettaw has said that he swam across a lake to the house to warn her of a vision he had that she would be assassinated.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP AND MEAS SOKCHEA

Cambodia receives 400,000 kWh of electricity from Vietnam per day

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Home/Cambodia-receives-

05/27/2009

Cambodia has now received around 400,000 kWh of electricity from Vietnam a day since a 220kV power line linking Chau Doc district in An Giang province to Phnom Penh via Cambodia’s Takeo province was put into operation on May 8.

The Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Do Huu Hao, announced this in Hanoi on May 26 at the signing ceremony of a contract for the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) to sell power to the Electricity of Cambodia (EDC).

At the event, Mr Hao confirmed that the 220kV Chau Doc-Takeo-Phnom Penh power line shows the Vietnamese government’s efforts to fulfil its commitments to help Cambodia ease its current power shortages, even though Vietnam itself faces energy difficulties, especially during the 2009 dry season.

He expressed his hope that Vietnam would increase its power supplies to Cambodia to 200 MW in 2010, with an annual sales output of 1 billion kWh.

Vietnam attends ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting in Cambodia

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A Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem will attend the 17th ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting (AEMM-17) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 28.

The meeting will discuss future cooperation between ASEAN and the EU and the implementation of the Plan of Action on ASEAN-EU Enhanced Partnership which was adopted at an ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit in Singapore in November 2007.

Delegates will also discuss regional and international issues such as the global and financial crisis, food and energy security, anti-terrorism, disarmament, climate change and epidemics.

The meeting is expected to adopt the chair’s statement and the Phnom Penh agenda on the implementation of the ASEAN-EU Plan of Action for 2009-2010.

Mr Khiem is scheduled to deliver a speech on epidemic prevention, and have bilateral meetings with heads of the participating delegations.

Thousands gather to cap off hip-hop festival

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Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON

MC Curly raps for a crowd estimated at more than 2,000 at Wat Botum park on Sunday during the finale of the Phnom Penh Hip-Hop Festival.

Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON
Grafitti artist Clevz One entertains the crowd with spray-paint art executed throughout the more than 3-hour hip-hop concert Sunday at Wat Botum Park.

Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON
A dancer from Tiny Toones performs Sunday on stage at Wat Botum Park during a concert capping off the first Phnom Penh Hip-Hop Festival, a two-week event that included hip-hop films, performances and dance workshops. Organisers say the festival could become an annual event.

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Written by Tracey Shelton and Sovann Philong
Tuesday, 26 May 2009

Inclement weather was not enough to dampen the energy and enthusiasm of performers at the finale of the inaugural Phnom Penh Hip-Hop Festival.

Early rains were not enough to deter the crowds from turning out in the thousands for the Phnom Penh Hip-Hop Festival's grand finale at Wat Botum park on Sunday. Rappers, hip-hop artists, DJs and breakdancers performed on a damp stage to a mixed crowd of foreigners and locals as graffiti artist Clevz One demonstrated his skill with a spray can painting a graffiti backdrop behind the performers.

The event was the culmination of a two-week-long training and promotional festival organised by Meta House and the French Cultural Centre.

As dance, music and fashion associated with hip-hop grows in popularity throughout the Kingdom, organisers said the festival was planned to bring these elements together for the first time in Cambodia through a cooperative and promotional event.

International collaboration
On stage at Wat Phnom, young musicians from Cambodian Living Arts, DJs, drummers and hip-hop vocalists joined together to create a blend of traditional Khmer music, jazz and hip-hop while Klap Ya Handz Collective entertained with its hip-hop mix.

DJ Sdey, DJ Illest and MC Curly revved up the crowds before the Tiny Toones crew took to the stage for a break-dancing session displaying their new skills learned during a workshop with internationally renowned dancers and choreographers Niels Robitzky, better known as Storm, and Raphael Hillebrand.

The Toones way
KK, who founded the Tiny Toones breakdance group in 2004 with a goal of giving kids a safe place to hang out away from the drug scene, said he did see an improvement in the kids throughout the workshop. He was particularly proud of how they performed on Sunday despite the added difficulty of dancing on a wet stage.

"They learned how to feel the vibe and improved their freestyle," he said. "The workshop gave them more confidence."

Twenty-one-year-old Tiny Toones member T-Boy, who began learning to break-dance with the group four years ago, was one of eight chosen from the workshop to perform Sunday.

"In the workshop, they showed us how to create a new style," he said. "Before my dance style was simple, but the technical advice on how to improve has helped me create a more interesting style with complicated moves."

Mixed-media hip-hop
The festival also included performances by both local and international artists and a range of films exploring the history of hip-hop and its impact worldwide.

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A LOT OF INTEREST WAS GENERATED DURING THE TWO WEEKS, ESPECIALLY AMONG THE YOUTH.
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Nico Mesterharm, director of Meta House and co-organiser of the event, said hip-hop began to emerge in Cambodia around 2002 and gained support as Khmer-American returnees moved back to Cambodia, bringing their music, dance and style with them.

Since then, Cambodian hip-hop music has advanced from being an imitation of the American hip-hop scene and developing into a unique Cambodian trend, Mesterharm told the Post in an interview earlier this month.

Festival with a future
Kor Borin, head of the department of culture at the French Cultural Centre, said the idea behind the festival was to expand Cambodian understanding of hip-hop culture.

"All of the events were very successful," Borin said, adding that around 2,000 were in attendance for Sunday's performance. "A lot of interest was generated during the two weeks, especially among the youth."

Borin said plans to repeat the festival annually will depend on funding but he seemed confident of a second festival next year.

Cambodia urged to improve business environment

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Photo by: Tracey Shelton
The UNDP said Monday that Cambodia needs to widen its skills base beyond labour-intensive industries such as textiles.

The Phnom Penh Post
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

Written by Nathan Green AND Chun Sophal
Tuesday, 26 May 2009

UNDP, World Bank and International Finance Corporation reports call on Kingdom to address underlying weaknesses in economy to fight downturn.

CAMBODIA urgently needs to improve its business environment and reform its education system to boost its competitiveness and sustain economic growth, said three reports released Monday.

Qimiao Fan, country manager for the World Bank, which released an assessment of Cambodia's investment climate with the International Financial Corporation (IFC), said the global economic crisis had increased pressure on Cambodia to address "chronic" problems in its business environment.

"When the economy was growing at almost 10 percent per year between 1998 and 2007, business environment problems did not seem as serious as they do now", he said. "But now with the global economic crisis significantly impacting Cambodia, continued problems in the business environment may force firms to go out of business and investors may choose to postpone investment or move to more business-friendly countries."

The World Bank's second Investment Climate Assessment showed that corruption was the most pressing concern among 500 entrepreneurs in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Sihanoukville, Battambang and Kampong Cham provinces, as it was for a similar survey released in 2003.

Macroeconomic uncertainty ranked as the second-biggest concern, higher than in 2003 because of deteriorating conditions in the global economy.

Anti-competitive practices were the next most pressing issue, followed by economic and regulatory uncertainty.

The report offered five key lessons for improving the business environment. Firstly, it said reforms succeeded when driven by government leaders, international commitments and private sector demand.

Secondly, reforms needed to be tested as pilots, monitored and evaluated, and - if successful - scaled up.

Thirdly, reforms required careful planning, deadlines, coordination and evaluation.

Next, reform of the civil service, which has proven successful in small pilots, should be scaled up. Finally, through the Government-Private Sector Forum, the private sector can play a major role in identifying needed reforms.

The IFC also released its second Provincial Business Environment Scorecard (PBES), published in conjunction with The Asia Foundation, which surveyed business owners in Phnom Penh, the capital cities of Cambodia's 23 provinces and other selected urban areas.

The report showed Kampong Cham province had the best business environment, as was the case in the first PBES survey in 2006, while Phnom Penh ranked last. Sihanoukville and Siem Reap moved from near the bottom in 2006 to the near top in 2009 by making significant advances in the time and cost to start a business, property rights, transparency of regulations and crime prevention.

"Overall, PBES 2009 results show that firms are more likely to expand their businesses if provincial administrators reduce informal charges, prevent crime more effectively, make it easier for entrepreneurs to start businesses and also make it easier for business owners to pay their taxes," said Julia Brickell, IFC's resident representative in Cambodia.

Speaking at the launch of the reports, Finance Minister Cham Prasidh acknowledged that the global economic crisis had increased the importance of providing better access to finance, information on regulations and procedures, export opportunities, reliable dispute resolution procedures, and efficient and transparent government services. "We need to build a conducive environment for business so that businesses can compete in international markets," he said.

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It is now imperative for these changes to be made; it is not a choice.
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The UN Development Programme (UNDP) also focused on Cambodia's competitiveness in a report released Monday that ranked the country near the bottom among southeast Asian countries.

More skills required
Brooks Evans, an economist in UNDP's Insights for Action Initiative (IFA), which authored the report, said one of the recurring themes was the need for an urgent overhaul of Cambodia's human-resource policy.

"The lack of skills or a highly trained workforce is one of the most commonly cited constraints by businesses," he said. "In terms of higher education and training, Cambodia is the biggest laggard in ASEAN. It has a serious lack of highly trained workers and this is something that requires urgent prioritisation."

While the global economic crisis had not affected the policy changes required, it had increased the stakes, he added.

"The focus of the study is on the medium- to long-term policy options Cambodia needs to provide for economic and human development growth, but the economic crisis means the country needs to act now," he said. "It is now imperative for these changes to be made; it is not a choice."