My country

Potential Products in Cambodia

2019-05-06T15:41:00.000+07:00

Khmer Traditional games for new year

2019-05-06T15:36:00.003+07:00

Cambodia Considers TPP If All ASEAN Members Join

2019-04-23T09:59:00.001+07:00

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced that Cambodia would consider to join Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) if all ASEAN members reach consensus, speaking at the 18th Royal Government-Private Sector Forum held Friday at the Peace Palace.

Prime Minister Hun Sen stated that Cambodia should not depend on two or three big markets. The kingdom has started to diversify markets outside of the United States and Europe by negotiating bilateral trade agreements with Canada, China, Japan, Korea, and some countries in Africa. For the multilateral agreement, Cambodia must continue to push forward the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Eurasian Economic Union.

At the same time, Prime Minister urged the Council for the Development of Cambodia to
(1) setup Special Economic Zone (SEZ) along the border;
(2) expand electricity grids and ensure cheaper price at SEZs;
(3) boost incentives for investment; and
(4) enhance trade facilitation and logistics at borders and SEZs.

Source: CNV

ASEAN payment connectivity a major step towards cutting transaction costs

2019-04-06T21:41:00.000+07:00

Migrant workers, tourists and small and big businesses will be able to cut the cost of their financial transactions in Asean after regulators, bankers and non-bank operators decided to integrate and upgrade their financial services across the region.

Eight Asean countries agreed on Asean Payment Connectivity, which aims to cut transaction fees for migrants, tourists and businesses, during the meeting of Asean Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Chiang Rai Wednesday.

Bank of Thailand (BOT) Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob and Perry Warjiyo, governor of Bank Indonesia (BI) signed the memorandum of understanding on Cooperation in the Area of Payment Systems and Financial Innovation.

Veerathai and Bank of Laos governor Sonexay Sitphaxay also signed an MoU on Cooperation in the Areas of Financial Innovation and Payments Systems.

The MoU targets enhanced collaboration on financial innovations and payment services to promote more efficient and secured domestic and cross-border transactions as well as to promote the use of local currencies.

The two central banks are working together to develop interoperable QR Code for payments and real-time remittance to facilitate cross-border retail payment services between Laos and Thailand.

“Our financial institutions have been collaborating to offer cross-border QR payments to enable easy and convenient payments for Lao and Thai tourists, as well as for SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] in both countries to receive payments in an efficient, convenient way. Progress was also achieved in the area of corporate funds transfers between the two countries using blockchain technology,” said a BOT statement.

Thanachart Bank (TBANK) has already joined the initiative for cross-border QR payment. TBANK has partnered with BCEL (Banque Pour Le Commerce Exterieur Lao Public), the largest commercial bank with the biggest market share in electronic banking in Laos, to launch QR payments for Lao tourists visiting Thailand.

“The two banks will officially launch QR payment services for Thai tourists visiting Laos,” said Anuwat Luengtaweekul, executive vice president of TBANK.

The Thai central bank also agreed to cooperate with central banks in Cambodia, Malaysia Myanmar, Philippines and Singapore on financial connectivity.

Banks and non-bank operators in Asean have joined the bandwagon.

“Today, we have witnessed collaboration among banks, non-banks and card companies to develop cross-border payment services using modern technologies, ranging from interoperable QR Code, Blockchain technology, Application Programming Interface [API], and card networks. These new services can serve the needs of different customer segments; improve efficiency of the regional financial system; facilitate business transactions and international trade; reduce the cost of service providers and customers; and enhance financial inclusion for a broad range of Asean population,” said Veerathai.

“The cooperation will cut the cost of exchange-rate risk and streamline financial transactions,” said BOT assistant governor Siritida Panomwon na Ayudhya.

Currently, migrants who send money back to their hometowns face high service fee for remittances. For example, people in Thailand transferring US$500 (Bt16,000) out of the country are charged a $36.40 service fee while the fees in Singapore and Malaysia are $16 and $15.50 respectively, she added.

Among Asean financial institutions, CIMB Group is already providing a cross-border money transfer service. CIMB has introduced the so-called SpeedSend for some years and plans to aggressively expand this market segment this year.

The group’s money transfer service uses API technology. It is an international remittance service offered at affordable fees and attractive rates, the group said. Not only does SpeedSend connect the 10 Asean countries, it also connects Asean with 31 other countries worldwide. This has been achieved through the adoption of API technology and establishment of partnerships and strategic alliances with financial institutions and other money transfer operators.

Currently, the majority of transactions originating at CIMB Thai are money transfers to Philippines.

“Customers will enjoy speedy delivery with our vast network and can collect the money in just minutes. Our large network base and same-day delivery for cash-to-cash service will enable your family and friends to collect money within 10 minutes, with service fee starting at Bt150 per transaction ” said Paisan Thumpothong, executive vice president at CIMB Thai Bank.

U Kyaw Kyaw Maung, governor of Myanmar Central Bank, said migrant Myanmar workers – estimated to number 3 million in Thailand – would benefit from the remittance service provided by Krung Thai Bank and Myanmar-based Shwe Bank.

Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said that Thailand and Singapore will next year link Thai PromptPay and Singapore’s PayNow, which are payment systems that tie bank accounts with mobile phones, allowing customers to use mobile application for financial transactions.

Facebook still leads social media, but sees slower growth among young users

2014-01-01T17:25:00.000+07:00

This is not your father’s Facebook. It’s your grandfather’s.

Facebook’s strongest growth over the past year came from users over age 65, who have signed on to the site to keep in touch with their friends, children and grandchildren, according to a Pew Center for Internet and American Life survey released Monday.

The survey found that 45 percent of U.S. seniors who use the Internet are on Facebook, up from 35 percent the previous year. The site saw usage grow for all adults over 30, and it is used by 71 percent of Americans, an increase from 67 percent last year.

Use among teens, however, has stagnated at 84 percent. The percentage of those between 18 and 29 who use the site fell two percentage points compared with last year, according to the survey. That’s in keeping with growing concern that Facebook is seeing lower engagement with the younger users who drove its early popularity, something that the company has acknowledged.

Facebook may be a victim of its own success after nearly 10 years as the country’s leading social network, Pew senior researcher Aaron Smith said.

“It’s hard to get more than 85 percent of anyone doing anything,” he said. “A lot of the easy converts in the younger group, or even in the older and middle-aged group, are already on the site. The senior group is the only area that has any substantial area for growth.”

Facebook is seeing an uptick in teen use on Instagram, which it bought for $1 billion in 2012, giving it another avenue for growth. Facebook could not be reached for comment on the study.

Still, Pew’s survey supports a recent study from researchers at University College London that found that some British teens are leaving Facebook because of the influx of older users.

An ethnographic study of 16- to 18-year-olds north of London found that teens are migrating to private-messaging services such as WhatsApp and Snapchat to communicate with their friends. In many cases, the study said, teens stay on Facebook at the behest of their parents, who have made it a tool for keeping track of their children.

“You just can’t be young and free if you know your parents can access your every indiscretion,” wrote Daniel Miller, a professor of Material Culture at UCL who ran the study.

In other words, teens are using Facebook but not for the same reasons they once did. And that fits in with a larger trend in the social media space: Americans are diversifying the social networks they use. More than 40 percent of Americans, Pew found, maintain multiple social network accounts for different purposes.

Facebook, which has more than 1 billion users, seems to be the “default” social network, Smith said, while Pinterest skews more heavily toward women, LinkedIn to more educated or wealthier users, and Twitter to young adults and African Americans.

Users go to specific sites based on what they’re trying to do, Smith said, and engagement for many of the smaller sites are on par with Facebook. Fifty-seven percent of Instagram users, for example, return daily to the site to check for updates, compared with 63 percent of Facebook users. Nearly half of Twitter’s users, 46 percent, also make the site a daily habit.

Pew researchers surveyed 1,800 adults in English and Spanish via landlines and cellphones. The survey interviews were conducted in August and September.

Follow The Post’s new tech blog, The Switch, where technology

Increase Cambodia organic rice to US

2014-01-01T16:49:00.004+07:00

The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC), an agricultural enterprise, exported 114 tonnes of organic jasmine rice to US in the first quarter of this year, a 30 per cent increase compared with the same period last year.

A representative of CEDAC said that this is a good sign and encouraging for farmers of organic rice.

“We aim to transform farmers into organic rice farm entrepreneurs or commercial organic fragrant rice producers,” CEDAC president Yang Saing Koma said. “We can generate extra funds for social development through the business with our international partners.”

During the first three months, CEDAC exported 59 tonnes of organic jasmine brown rice and 55 tonnes organic jasmine white rice to the US.

As a result, hundreds of organic rice producers in Takeo, Kampong Chhnang and Kampong Speu provinces have benefited, a press release said.

Experts within the sector say Cambodia has the potential to become an important organic rice producing country in the region.

Srey Chanthy, an independent agricultural analyst, told the Post yesterday that compared with most Asian countries, Cambodian farmers use relatively few chemicals on their fields.

On average, Cambodian farmers apply just 23 kilograms of chemical fertiliser per hectare with application rates especially low in the wet season (mid-May to early October), he said.

Nevertheless, he said if Cambodia really wants to develop its organic rice production, it would have to put in place a new institutional framework to ensure quality and grade standards to build trust from international buyers.

“Boosting organic rice exports is easier said than done,” said Srey Chanthy. “We need to be patient and overcome all obstacles because there is so much potential benefit.”

CEDAC has been actively encouraging farmers to adopt organic techniques.

By 2022, CEDAC plans to support up to 100,000 farmers, producing more than 400,000 tonnes a year of organic fragrant paddy to supply the markets.

organic rice grows

2014-01-01T16:45:00.005+07:00

In a sign that demand for organic rice is increasing, Mekong Oryza Trading yesterday became the first private company in Cambodia to agree to export the product abroad.

Phnom Penh-based rice exporter Mekong Oryza signed the memorandum of understanding with agricultural non-profit CEDAC, which introduced the concept of organic rice farming in 2004, and became the sole exporter about five years later.

Organic rice is produced without modern synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers. From beginning to end, the process needs to follow a clear step by step system in order to receive certification.

While demand is on the rise, the market is still puny compared to Cambodia’s staple milled rice product. On the strength of more interest in the US and EU, CEDAC estimates it will export 320 tonnes of organic rice in 2013, compared with 100 tonnes for all of last year. In the first 10 months this year, Cambodia exported nearly 300,000 tonnes of non-organic rice.

As part of the agreement, starting in early 2014, Mekong Oryza Trading will provide funding to farmers and help scout potential markets. Speaking at the signing at the Rural Development Bank in Phnom Penh, Hun Lak, managing director of Mekong Oryza Trading, said that Cambodia should capitalise while it can.

“[Producing] organic rice is our great opportunity,” Lak said.

Yang Saing Koma, president of CEDAC, said there are 5,000 households applying organic rice methods on their farms.

EU clarifies rice comments

2014-01-01T16:45:00.002+07:00

While the European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht never told the Ministry of Commerce that Cambodian rice was “30 per cent” mixed with the same product from Vietnam, he did say Cambodia had to better ensure that its harvest was homegrown and not from another country, a spokesman for the commissioner said yesterday.

“Rice exports from Cambodia have been rising very fast in recent years,” said John Clancy, spokesman for the trade commissioner, in an email.

The original comments date to an article last week in industry publication Oryza. In the report, the commissioner also says that Cambodia risks losing its Everything But Arms (EBA) status with the EU.

Cambodia’s rice exports for the first 11 months of the year totalled more than 332,000 tonnes, almost doubling from the 171,000 tonnes during the same period last year, and dwarfing the 2009 total.

Cambodia, unlike Vietnam, benefits from an EBA agreement with the EU, which gives developing nations duty-free and quota-free shipping on products excluding armaments to all European countries.

European Union nations accounted for more than 60 per cent, or 200,000 tonnes, of Cambodia’s total rice exports as of November 2013. Poland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and Germany imported more than 47 per cent of the total figure.

The EU’s ambassador to Cambodia, Jean-Francois Cautain, said the dramatic rise will be closely monitored as the sector and rice-producing EU countries are sensitive to increased imports and potential market disturbances.

“In that respect the origin of the Cambodian rice should be fully ensured. The EU is in contact with the Cambodian authorities on this matter,” he said.

Mey Kalyan, senior adviser to Cambodia’s Supreme National Economic Council, called on the government to investigate the issue of rice origin contamination amid fears that changes to the country’s EBA status could have consequences.

“We need to get to the bottom of the issue, find hard evidence and take corrective measures,” he said. “Removing Cambodia’s EBA status could have disastrous effects on the whole rice sector, future exports to the EU, our pride as an emerging exporter, our trust in doing business, our branding as a world-class rice exporter, and we may not reach the one-million-tonne rice export target of 2015.”

In response to the trade commissioner’s concerns, the Alliance of Rice Producers and Exporters of Cambodia (ARPEC) will form a Code of Conduct in a bid to protect the country’s rice exports.

ARPEC said in a statement released yesterday that all Cambodian rice exporters had taken note of the views and would sign the Code of Conduct with the Ministry of Commerce to self-regulate exports.

ARPEC deputy secretary David Van said the issues raised in the Oryza article were informal and emanated from rumours within “EU circles”.

“As far as the rice exporters are concerned, we maintain that until clear evidence is produced by the EU, we do not condone their claims,” he said.

In response to suggestions that some Cambodian rice could be contaminated during transit to Vietnam-based milling facilities, Van said the external process does not mean the two rice origins are mixed. He added that the low supply of Cambodian milling facilities producing the country’s rapidly increasing harvest forces farmers to send their rice to Vietnam for milling.

“But all rice grown, harvested, milled and exported in Cambodia is 100 per cent our product,” Van said.

IMF: How to grow Cambodia

2013-05-09T11:40:00.000+07:00

Cambodia’s economic take-off has been truly impressive. With peace and stability, and the government’s focus on export-led development, growth has averaged about 8 per cent in the last decade, doubling per capita income and halving the poverty rate.

Cambodia is now poised to enter the next phase of its development and with aspirations to soon join the ranks of emerging markets, the focus now, understandably, is on the continuity of that take-off.

That prompts some deeper questions: What is the recipe for igniting and sustaining take-offs in developing countries? What can Cambodia learn from the previous generation of countries on how to navigate the next phase?

With over one-third of Cambodians below 15 years and the vast need for job creation, these questions and their answers have profound real life implications for so many.

Researchers at the IMF have analyzed precisely these questions in the April 2013 World Economic Outlook, which has been published worldwide and presented to policy makers in Phnom Penh a few days ago.

The research project has sifted through the experience of more than 60 low-income or developing countries over the last 60 years. To add to that, it has featured Cambodia as one of the impressive growth stories since the 1990s.

Before we highlight the main findings, let’s touch a bit on the global growth context.

In recent economic history, there have been two waves of growth take-offs among low-income countries over the past 60 years. The first wave started around the 1960s and 1970s; the second around the 1990s.

Cambodia has solidly been a part of the second wave.

Here is some good news: growth take-offs are now more likely and longer-lasting.

What explains the higher probability of take-offs? It is mostly due to better structural and macroeconomic conditions, findings the policy makers in Cambodia can fully relate to.

Unfortunately, the promise of the first wave fell short as many take-offs fizzled out, when the global economy turned sour in the late 1970s and 1980s.

In fact, one-third of take-offs prior to the 1990s ended with a currency, debt, or financial crisis, and some countries even saw reversals in per capita income levels within 15 to 20 years after take-off. That’s why understanding the shared features of successful take-offs is so critical.

Although many roads lead to growth take-offs, they usually involve strong investment and export growth, underscoring the importance of policies to improve the investment and business climate and foster trade integration in developing countries.

Furthermore, recent take-offs have been supported by stronger FDI, higher education levels, lower regulatory burden for businesses, lower income inequality and more stable political conditions. Fortunately, many of these are outcomes of policy choices, not accidents.

What are the lessons for Cambodia?

Cambodia’s open trade and investment regimes, and proximity to some of the most dynamic economies in the world, have served it well and provided immense opportunities to continue to attract foreign direct investment and deepen trade links in regional and global markets.

This will further improve productivity and support activity. But to get there, it has to address many policy challenges.

First, removing infrastructure bottlenecks, most urgently with respect to power supply and roads, and improving the business climate will remain critical for continuing to attract private investment and further diversify its economy.

Second, in light of the rapid growth of Cambodia’s banking system and the introduction of new financial instruments and markets, such as the stock exchange in 2012, it is important to keep in mind that financial deepening must continue without compromising financial stability, one critical lesson from the first wave of take-offs.

That will require managing financial deepening by enabling market participants to better manage risks, and continuously upgrading prudential supervision and regulation. This is especially important in a system like Cambodia’s that is also marked by a high degree of dollarisation and capital account openness.

Third, mobilising fiscal revenue will help build fiscal buffers and generate the resources necessary to cushion the economy against adverse shocks and meet the country’s development needs.

The latter concerns in particular human capital development through improved health and education, a goal the government has also embraced.

It is worth noting that the IMF’s regular policy dialogue with Cambodia has over the years led to a convergence of views on these lessons and has also guided the IMF’s technical assistance in Cambodia, from financial supervision to economic statistics to fiscal management.

An old Khmer proverb advises us to “negotiate a river by following its bends”. Cambodia is fast approaching the proverbial bend of the river of development – transitioning from a developing to an emerging market economy.

One efficient way to navigate the bend would be to internalise the lessons from the sustained growers and design policies accordingly.

The IMF is happy to be a part of that journey and to think together with Cambodia’s policy makers on how best to get ready for the next phase.

Sons of the party anointed

2013-05-06T22:38:00.000+07:00

At least eight candidates standing in the upcoming July election are sons of high-ranking Cambodian People’s Party officials, a CPP registration list released yesterday confirms.

The list puts an end to speculation concerning the children of a number of party stalwarts. Previously, the names of only a handful of scions had been released by the party, which has created an unprecedented push to exploit family ties come July.

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An’s son, Sok Sokan, 30, becomes the latest child of a member from the party’s upper echelon to be confirmed as a CPP candidate, and will run for a seat in Takeo province.

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s youngest son, Hun Many, 31, and his son-in-law, Dy Vichea, 32, will run as lawmakers in Kampong Speu and Svay Rieng, respectively. Sar Sokha, 31 – the son of Interior Minister Sar Kheng – will run in Prey Veng.

Say Sam El, 34, son of Senate deputy president Say Chhum, is to stand in Kampong Cham, and Dith Tina, son Supreme Court president Dith Monty, in Kandal. Royal Cambodian Armed Forces deputy commander-in-chief Kun Kim’s son Kim Rithy, 33, will run in Kandal; senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap’s son, Cheam Chansophoan, 40, will run in Battambang.

Ban Srey Mom, 39, the wife of Pailin provincial governor Y Chheam, is running along with five others believed to be the children and nephews of high- and mid-ranking CPP officials.

Puthea Hang, executive director of the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free Elections in Cambodia, said the CPP’s push to stand so many of its members’ children – though unique in this election – followed a long political tradition.

“It’s a habit of politicians in Cambodia,” he said. “We have seen that people who have no family line have lost opportunity [over time].”

The opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party has not yet registered, and it is unclear how many, if any of its members’ children will run.

CNRP vice president Kem Sokha said yesterday he did not have the names yet of candidates and couldn’t say whose children were running. Personally, he said, his would not be.

Speaking at a pagoda opening last week, Hun Sen defended the CPP policy, insisting that there was no nepotism involved and saying it was an important way to ensure continuity of the party.

Source: Phnom Penh Post, 06 May 2013

By Meas Sokchea

Export growth to US slows

2013-05-06T21:46:00.001+07:00

Cambodia's exports to the United States, the Kingdom’s largest market, were valued at $695 million for the first three months this year, a rise of only 0.2 per cent from $693.3 million in the corresponding period last year, according to statistics from the US Department of Commerce.

Experts attributed the slow growth in exports to the gradual recovery of the US economy as well as Cambodian efforts to focus on other international export markets.

“Even though the US economy is recovering, it is still slow,” said Doung Poullang, senior economics officer at the Asian Development Bank.

“Also, the slow increase of consumer demand makes the volume of exports to the US grow slowly.”

He added that Cambodia is attempting to diversify its export destinations instead of relying largely on the US market as it had in the past.

The Kingdom’s exports to European and Asian markets such as China and Japan are on the rise, he said.

Cambodia sold mainly garments, textiles and footwear, milled rice and agricultural products to the US this year, according to data from the US embassy in Cambodia.

Data from the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) shows that the Kingdom exported about 27.5 per cent fewer garment products to the US market, a decline from $501 million in the first three months of 2012 to $363 million in the same period this year.

“The major reason behind the decrease of exports is because we have got less orders from the US market,” Ken Loo, GMAC secretary general, told the Post yesterday.

In 2012, Cambodia exported goods worth about $2 billion to the US market, which totalled 36 per cent of the Kingdom’s export market value of $5.5 billion, figures from the Ministry of Economy and Finance show.

The bilateral trade volume between Cambodia and the US reached $758.3 million in the first quarter of this year, a slight rise of 0.8 per cent

compared with $752.4 million in the corresponding period last year.

The total volume of Cambodia’s exports reached over $1.65 billion in the first three-month period of this year, a jump of 21 per cent from the goods exported during the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce’s export data.

Source : Phnom Penh Post, 06 May 2013

By Hor Kimsay

Toll Royal Railways expands

2012-10-13T21:33:00.002+07:00

Toll Royal Railways signed two freight logistics agreements with Siam Concrete Group and United Logistics and Distribution at their offices in Phnom Penh’s Central Railway Station yesterday.

SCG Cambodia contracted TRR for the transport and warehousing for bagged cement from Touk Meas in Kampot province to Phnom Penh, said David Kerr in a press conference yesterday.

Kerr believes January 2013 will bring an additional opportunity for TRR to transport SCG’s bagged cement to Sihanoukville.

“It’s been announced that the line will be open through to the port of Sihanoukville in January 2013,” he said. “This opens up further opportunities for us to work with SCG in the transport of domestic bagged cement to Sihanoukville and the import of up to 8,000 tonnes of coal per month.”

Beyond the line to Sihanoukville port, Kerr spoke of possibilities for transport to the north for mining products, oil and bitumen.

He also mentioned the transport of rice into Thailand when the rehabilitation of the “missing link” between Cambodia’s border crossing at Poipet and Thailand’s Aranyaprathet is completed. However, dates for when these lines will be in operation are not yet known.

Lia Giang, ULD’s general manager, expressed similar sentiments.

“ULD Cambodia looks forward to further development on the railway service, in particular the transport of salt and rice with the support of Toll Railway.”

The agreement with ULD is for the transport and warehousing of bagged salt from Kampot to Phnom Penh and of bagged rice from Battambang to Phnom Penh and Kampot. The first trainload of salt under this agreement was moved on September 24.

Kerr commented on the commitment from the government and the private sector to transporting goods via railways and roads.

“The interest in Cambodia has been strong with people being interested in signing 30-year contracts,” he said. “We have a 30-year concession with the government and people are that committed to the project that they’re looking at extended terms.”

Penny Richards, Ambassador of Australia to Cambodia, was in attendance yesterday due to Australia’s involvement in the railway rehabilitation project in Cambodia. Also in attendance were Chan Sothy, director of the Department of Investment and Cooperation in the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Kerr mentioned the importance of railways to realising the government’s goal of exporting one million tonnes of rice by 2015. When asked about how railway transport will fit with waterways also being developed for the same goal through foreign investors, Kerr said he sees a lot of potential for cooperation.

“Where roads aren’t high developed, [the products] can come in through feeder vessels into the new river port and then they can be distributed either by waterways or by rail.”

Source: The Phnom Penh Post, Friday, 12 October 2012 by Erika Mudie

Officials trained on fake goods

2012-10-13T21:23:00.000+07:00

Cambodia lacks the resources for implementing intellectual property rights, while relevant officers lack skills to monitor the import of counterfeit products, according to an official.

Var Roth San, Head of the Secretariat of National Committee for Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) and Director of the Department of Intellectual Property Rights in the Ministry of Commerce, said Cambodia, among the least developed countries, faces many problems in monitoring conterfeit goods, distinguishing those from genuine products and implementing the intellectual property rights.

During a training course on identifting counterfeit products, organised by law firm Tilleke & Gibbins yesterday, Var Roth San said Cambodia lacks finances, human resources, materials and other techniques to monitor and identify fake goods.

Seventy officials from Customs, Camcontrol, the police, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Department of Intellectual Property Rights, public prosecutors and judges conevened to learn how to identify and verify genuine and counterfeit goods, according to a press release issued by Tilleke & Gibbins.

Var Roth San said Cambodia produces few counterfeit goods, but many are flown in from neighbouring countries.

“We bring counterfeit goods from Vietnam; we bring them from Thailand and China in huge [amounts]," he said.

"China can produce everything. Anything we want to order, China can produce,” he said. Var Roth San said most faked goods are clothing and cosmetics.

Alan Adcock, deputy director of the Intellectual Property section of Tilleke & Gibbins, which has offices in Vietnam and Thailand, said: “The production of counterfeit goods doesn’t only happen in Cambodia or in Asia. It happens all over the world. To resolve this problem, clients need the right contracts with manufacturers.”

source from The Phnom Penh Post,

Friday, 12 October 2012

Rann Reuy

Cambodia to get more benefits in Mekong Region trade: ADB

2012-10-13T10:27:00.001+07:00

Cambodia could benefit more from trade in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) by implementing time and cost, cutting measures and removing constraints on exports, according to a new book by the Asian Development Bank.

“Cambodia’s exporters are well-positioned within the GMS to grow and expand,” Peter Brimble, senior country economist and author of one of the book chapters, said in a news release.

“Policy adjustments can help reduce cost and transport times, making Cambodian exporters more competitive and enhancing their credibility.”

During a media briefing yesterday, Brimble said logistics costs in Cambodia were high compared to other countries in the region. Using the GMS Southern Economic Corridor, which links Bangkok, Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City, as a case study, he identified factors contributing to higher costs and delays in cross border trade.

According to the news release, transport costs in Cambodia are US$9 per tonne per 100 kilometre from Bangkok to Phnom Penh and $13 per tonne per 100 kilometres from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City, compared to $6 in Thailand and $7 in Vietnam.

With $19 to $20 per tonne per 100 kilometres, logistics costs for the Cambodian section are almost double the costs for the Thai and Vietnamese sections.

To overcome trade constraints, the book recommends nine policy measures, prioritizing an increase in the availability of information about agreements, laws, rules and regulations; minimizing checkpoints along the corridor and expediting issuance of certificates of origin.

“If certain improvements are made, we can cut the costs and time down significantly in Cambodia,” Brimble said during the briefing.

The book, jointly produced by AusAID, also looks at export constraints in Cambodia’s private sector, covering garments, rice and wood exporters.

Based on interviews with enterprises and export companies in the private sector, the book identifies a lack of reliable energy supply, shortages of labour with sector-specific skills, financing limitations and government regulations among the challenges.

“If you get trade and logistics right in countries, it not only allows the Cambodian private sector to grow and flourish but also allows for foreign direct investment,” said Gordon Peters, manager at Emerging Markets Consulting and author of one of the chapters.

The book says despite export growth, Cambodia’s share in the total 2009 trade share of the GMS5, excluding China, accounted only 2.2 per cent.

source from The Phnom Penh Post,

Friday, 12 October 2012

Anne Renzenbrink

Officials trained on fake goods

2012-10-13T10:22:00.003+07:00

Friday, 12 October 2012

Rann Reuy

Former detention site to become genocide research centre

2012-10-11T19:19:00.000+07:00

Youk Chhang (C), director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, and Minister of Education Im Sothy sign an MoU, yesterday, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012. Photograph supplied

The Documentation Center of Cambodia and the Ministry of Education signed an agreement yesterday granting the historical research non-profit body an empty plot of land on the former Boeung Trabek detention centre site for a museum, school and research centre, said DC-Cam director Youk Chhang.

According to the project’s website, the Sleuk Rith Institute – whose name is a reference to the papyrus-like leaves once used by Cambodian scholars to record history – will be situated near Boeung Trabek High School, and will set out to be “the leading centre for genocide studies in Asia”, in addition to housing facilities through which DC-Cam will continue its work of recording the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge.

In addition to its school of genocide, conflict and human rights and its genocide museum, the institute, said Chhang, will be involved in examining and recommending national policy.

“DC-Cam has always been engaging the government on all issue[s] through research,” Chhang added.

Leng Bun Hong, secretary-general of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association – which has raised concerns over the project in the past – said the union feared the institute would displace students, if not now, then in years to come.

“I think that for my idea, the [number of] students will increase more in the future, so the government and ministry should keep the school’s land to balance with student’s growth,” Bun Hong said, noting that “some areas must be preserved”.

Chhang, on the other hand, insisted the project would represent a net gain for education.

“We will build a school, museum, research centre not only for both teachers and students at Boeung Trabek High School, but [for students] all across Cambodia,” he said.

source from the Phnom Penh Post,
Thursday, 11 October 2012
Sen David and Stuart White

Positive outlook for Cambodia's economy

2012-10-11T19:12:00.000+07:00

Chan Sophal, president of the Cambodia Economic Association (CEA), talks to the i’s Deputy Business Editor May Kunmakara about Cambodia’s economic performance this year and the effect of the global economy during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Annual Meeting in Tokyo.

How do you see Cambodia’s economic performance up to now?
Well, I do agree with some international financial institutions such as the IMF, World Bank and the ADB as well as the government’s projections of 6.5 to 7 per cent on Cambodia’s growth projections for 2012. However, I would like to point out this figure is a projection for the average growth. The highest projection is between 9 to 10 per cent.

We can easily achieve this average rate via our opening economy with the opportunity to export to foreign countries, the flow of foreign direct investments coming in due to the amount of land to be cultivated or developed and our cheap labour force. We also notice participation from the private sector contributes to the surge to boost economic growth.

Frankly, if the government can improve more policy, Cambodia can achieve the higher growth rates starting from 10 per cent or even higher. But, we’re a bit late in improving and restructuring the policies leading to an average growth of between 6 to 7 per cent.

Why is government a bit late in improving their policies for achieving sustainable economic growth?
There are two things to say. First is the physical issue regarding development of infrastructure, our transportation costs, electricity costs and the high production costs that are still high compared to our neighbours. The second issue is the institutional and regulation framework.

There’s a lot of work to be done. We still see corruption and a slow implementation of the laws. What is important is that the public service is still limited due to low government officials’ salaries which leads to low morale making them ineffective workers.

These are things the government should concentrate on if they want to achieve an equitable and sustainable economic growth which can benefit all and not just a specific group.

What are the main factors for the country’s economic growth?
We see four main pillars of economic growth: garment export, agriculture, tourism and construction. They are improving due to the space we have for growth. In the agricultural sector, we’ve got huge potential for development because we’ve got plenty of farming land to attract more investors to come although our irrigation does not cover all agricultural areas.

The construction and real-estate sector is also on the surge. We see that as a potential area for growth of the economy.

We have a lot of demand for building developments, for office space and housing. At the same time, the tourism sector has big potential for economic growth as we have a lot of cultural and eco-tourism sites – especially Angkor Wat temple to attract not only tourists in the region but also from the West.

The garment sector is still the main manufacturing industry to induce more investment flow because the government gives investors a lot of incentives. At the same time, the industry also enjoys a lot of foreign markets with duty free and quota free on the exports.

Despite this, exports have decreased this year due to the slowdown of the economy in the United States and the European countries. However, the demand is still there.

How do you feel about the inflationary rate?
I don’t have much concern over the inflationary rate. Actually, we take around 5 per cent annually that is not of concern. Why do we have a low inflation rate while some of our neighbours are high? The thing is that we got an open economy with a free flow of goods.

This year, we see our inflation is very low which is around 3.6 per cent because some of our main importing countries also have low inflation rates.

You have joined many meetings during the IFM-World Bank Annual meetings here. Can you foresee the effect of the spillover from the West’s economy to our economy?
The global economy projection is very low due to the Euro zone crisis so that definitely affects our exports such as garments and agricultural products such as milled rice, rice paddy, cassava and corn are also dependent on the foreign markets.

But, if we take a look the production capacity, we’ve got an increase, especially agricultural production.

If based on what they projected about food prices being high in the upcoming years, I do believe that some of our producers will profit.

This will attract more and more investment flow.

Source from Phnom Penh Post,

Thursday, 11 October 2012

May Kunmakara

International Business Chamber moves to Phnom Penh Tower

2012-06-30T10:06:00.003+07:00

Members of the International Business Chamber of Cambodia pose for a group photograph at the company’s office in Phnom Penh yesterday. Photograph: Pha Lina/Phnom Penh Post

The International Business Chamber of Cambodia opened a new office yesterday on the 12th floor of the Phnom Penh Tower.

IBC Chairman Brett Sciaroni said the move demonstrated a trend of business associations giving more visibility and presence for companies that operate in Cambodia.

“This is one more indication of the professionalisation of business associations in Cambodia,” he said.

“As the IBC has increased its range of activities and its commitment to the public-private dialogue process in Cambodia, we needed more staff and facilities. Phnom Penh Tower is a leading address in Phnom Penh. We chose this location to show the significance of the IBC as a leading business association and we’re not the only business association that’s located here,” he said.

IBC executive committee member John Brinsden said the location reflected what the members deserved.

“This is a dream come true and the reason is the IBC over many years has had loyal members and we on the executive committee felt very concerned that we weren’t really giving our members the prestigious location and facilities they deserved.”

The IBC has more than 80 members, organised by company, and the people who attend are representative of those member companies, including many global brand names.

“This is something we’ve been thinking about for a long time: a prestigious office to serve our members. We provide our members and potential investors in Cambodia with a chance to meet in one place.

We’re here with an address; we’re in the yellow pages. Visiting foreign investors, people having a look around Cambodia can come and talk to our staff and get some basic information and contacts they can use,” Brinsden said.

IBC Vice Chairman In Channy, CEO of ACLEDA Bank, said the new location was a place where members could meet and get information. The IBC’s new executive director, Audrey Tugendhat, who runs the office on a day-to-day basis, said members of the public could visit and receive updates on the IBC social events calendar.

“For instance at the next regular general meeting which will take place at lunchtime on July 4 atRaffles Hotel, our members can bring potential candidates for membership.”

Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority shuffle no surprise

2012-06-30T10:04:00.000+07:00

Officials and securities firms yesterday showed little distress at the imminent retirement of Ek Sonn Chan, the man credited with straightening out and preparing the capital’s public water utility for its initial public offering in April.

A letter from the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) obtained yesterday by the Post said the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority general director will leave his position on July 1 after a nearly 20-year tenure.

Sim Sitha, the director of Sihanouk Water Supply, will replace him.

One insider compared the changing of the guard at PPWSA to the death of Apple’s Steve Jobs.

“All changes here will slightly impact the price of the company. You know that when Steve Jobs passed away, it had some impact on the price of Apple. So I think it’s the same here. I would say the fundamentals of PPWSA are very good so the price will be going up and the investors will understand,” said Min Kyoung-hoon, deputy director general of the Cambodia Securities Exchange.

“It might have an impact [on PPWSA’s share price] or it might not.”

The MIME letter, signed by minister Suy Sem, painted the general director-designate as a highly trained, multilingual professional. It also said the move was necessary to ensure the success of the company.

Svay Hay, director of Acleda Brokerage Firms, said Ek Sonn Chan’s replacement was a matter of age, and would enhance PPWSA’s productivity.

“The change will not cause any crisis or problem. It’s regarding the old age of the general director. This does not only happen in government institutions, but also in private companies. They still set the age for retirement,” he said.

Ek Sonn Chan is in his early 60s. He will become an under secretary of state at the ministry, according to the letter.

The shuffle, which insiders said would be officially announced today, did not represent internal conflict within the company and the ministry, Tan Sokchea, an official at the ministry’s clean water department, said yesterday.

“It’s not relevant to any kind of corruption. Normally, when we come to the age of retirement, we should follow because now the government is really strict about that,” he said.

Tan Sokchea also recognised Ek Sonn Chan’s contribution to the company. “Frankly speaking, he possessed excellent leadership.”
(source from Phnom Penh Post,

Friday, 29 June 2012

May Kunmakara)

MFIs still seeing significant growth

2012-05-17T21:30:00.002+07:00

Outstanding loans and deposits in 28 of Cambodia’s microfinance institutions rose between 30 and 40 per cent year-on-year in 2011, official data from the Cambodian Microfinance Association indicated.

The CMA’s data showed outstanding loans rose 41.5 per cent from US$916.3 million with 1.3 million borrowers in 2011, compared to $647.8 million with 1.22 million borrowers a year earlier.

Deposits grew by 32 per cent to $1.26 billion with 1.1 million depositors, compared to $952.2 million with 36,776 borrowers in 2010. MFIs in the Kingdom first began to take deposits in early 2010.

Non-performing loans (NPL) declined from 1.3 per cent of the loan total to 0.4 per cent. Officials and insiders said a strong macro-economy performance and clear regulations were responsible for the shift.

National Bank of Cambodia director general and spokeswoman Ngoun Sokha recognised the favourable direction the economy was heading, especially in the agricultural sector, which she believed was responsible for the rising demand for loans.

“The government supports the agricultural sector, especially the export of milled rice. So we promoted the adoption of MFI loans for agriculture and actually received a lot of growth in that area, adding up to more than 50 per cent of all loans,” she said.

Bun Mony, director of CMA and chairman of Sathapana Microfinance, told the Post that loan portfolios at Sathapana rose about 65 per cent to $94.6 million compared to $57 million in 2010. The number of borrowers grew from from 43,565 to 55,001.

“There was a high demand for loans as business activities continue to grow, and we don’t even seem to have any problems with repayment,” he said, adding that the NPL rate declined to from 0.93 per cent to 0.22 last year.

Sathapana provides loans to all sectors, with 40 per cent going to retail and small businesses, and more than 20 per cent to the agricultural sector.

The country’s biggest MFI, Prassac Microfinance, reported that by December 2011 its gross loan portfolio was $151 million, an increase of 43.6 per cent, with active borrowers increasing 10.9 per cent to 125,127.

“In general, I think that the industry performed well last year because all MFIs grew their portfolios while the NPL rate decreased,” Sim Senacheert, president and CEO of Prassac, said.

Prassac loans to the agricultural sector accounted for 33 per cent of its total portfolio, with trading and service making up 47 per cent.

Hout Ieng Tong, general director of Hattha Kaksekar Microfinance, reported that loan portfolios rose 70 per cent to $75 million with 62,703 borrowers, from $44 million with 47,952 borrowers the year pior.

He added that NPL declined from 0.9 to 0.07 per cent, and that agricultural loans accounted for 35 per cent of total stocks at his compay. Sathapana Microfinance’s total deposits rose 129.4 per cent from $39 million to $17 million, while Hattha Kaksekar’s total deposits grew more than 160 percent to reach $15.78 million compared with only $5 million the year before. Prassac reported smaller increases, as its operations just began in mid-2011.

The successes are tempered, however, by the uncertain economical fates of the EU and US, where much of the industry gets its primary funding. “We are a bit worried,” said Bun Mony.

“We see the EU in a crisis, and think there could be some slight impact on us, specifically regarding investments.”

Ngoun Sokha suggested a solution, saying, “We try to teach MFIs good governance, and to strengthen their internal capacity for infrastructure, so that they will be able to easily seek a source of funds domestically rather than just looking abroad.”

PM pushes edible exports

2012-05-15T18:48:00.001+07:00

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday urged Cambodian food and beverage companies to look to export markets.

The call, made at the opening ceremony of the Khmer Brewery, came in the wake of similar exhortations from international organisations for Cambodia to diversify its exports.

“Now, we are not only expanding our locally made products in the domestic market. We have to promote export products and beverage abroad,” Hun Sen said. “The big problem for us is to make sure that we what produce is good quality and affordable at that segment of the market.”

In 201, the food and beverage industry contributed about US$1 billion to gross domestic product, 40 per cent of it from the brewing industry.

Khmer Brewery, one of six breweries in the country, planned to export its Cambodia Beer brand, company chairman Leang Khun said yesterday.

“We will soon start exporting Cambodia Beer to developed countries such as Japan, the US and the European Union,” he said.

The $60 million local investment has produced beer since late last year.

Yesterday was the official opening of the factory, which is located in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district.

Ngov Heng Fish Sauce Cambodia exported its sauce to the US until 2009 when the company ran into some capital constraints, owner Chan Sitha said yesterday.

He said more government support was needed for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to succeed on the international market.

“We did not have any problem with our exports to [the US] in terms of quality, something that was recognised as being good. But, the problem for us was the money. This business takes time and more money,” Chan Sitha said. “Of course, I plan to resume my exports but now I need to seek more capital. The government should help us if they want SMEs to export more.”

General director at the Men Sarun Mee Yeung noodle factory Linh Thorn told the Post earlier this year that his factory would look to export to the United States and Europe in the near future.

Cambodia’s domestic food and beverage industry was strong, Suy Sem, the Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy, said at yesterday's ceremony.

When the country’s garment industry was ailing during the global financial crisis in 2009, the value of the food and beverage industry had continued to rise, he said.

The Phnom Penh Post,

Mom Kunthear Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Will pressure make Chinese aid more transparent?

2012-05-15T18:45:00.000+07:00

Critics have long characterised China as a secretive donor in economically poor but resource-rich countries, funding infrastructure construction in an unspoken bid for business deals and access to natural wealth and land.

While China disburses aid with a scant paper trail, analysts say strong-arming its government to boost transparency – and aid efficacy – may hurt countries in need.

Chinese-funded projects have become ubiquitous in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, countries once passed over by traditional donors.
In river-rich Laos, a government development plan calls for 55 new dams to generate hydroelectric power, many of them funded by Chinese state-owned companies.

Media there reported that China’s government recently signed five agreements pledging more than US$30 million to build government offices.

Prime Minister, Hun Sen inaugurated one of the largest Chinese construction projects in the Cambodia in December 2011, a dam in Kampot province. This project comes on top of $1.2 billion the Chinese government pledged to Laos in 2010 - more than any other bilateral or multilateral donor.

Officials also welcomed Chinese aid in August 2011, when the World Bank suspended new loans to Cambodia after finding that a Bank-financed land-titling project failed to secure property rights for residents facing eviction.

Cambodian leaders – including the prime minister – have repeatedly stated they are not worried about losing World Bank loans because they prefer “no strings” Chinese aid.

Elsewhere in the region, media have reported ongoing talks between the Burmese government and the China Power Investment Corporation to restart construction of the US$3.6 million Myitsone Dam, which Burmese president Thein Sein suspended in September 2011 over concerns about transparency and environmental damage.

Despite the chronic tensions between China and Myanmar over drug trafficking, refugee outflows and ethnic conflicts along their shared border, the Chinese government is one of Myanmar’s largest investors.

“China’s aid is focused on infrastructure, which is badly needed in developing countries,” said Wang Yong, director of the Centre for International Political Economy at Peking University in Beijing. “By comparison, US aid is more driven by strategic and political objectives.”

With almost no information available about China-funded projects in the public domain – including their potential environmental impact – EarthRights relied on company press releases and government statements. Other NGOs in the region have complained that environmental impact assessments are often not open to local communities or there is too little time to comment.

Chinese aid is disbursed in line with its policy of staying out of other countries’ governance, as laid out in its April 2011 aid position paper.

“It might interfere in other ways, like currying favour and obtaining sweetheart deals for its companies…Their Ministry of Commerce determines the aid, which tells you just what’s driving their considerations,” said Sophal Ear, a California-based political economist specialising in aid and governance.

China’s estimated US$3.18 trillion in foreign exchange reserves can be enormously” transformative for poor countries, Ear added.

Pressure pitfalls

Aid watchdog NGOs like the London-based Publish What You Fund use publicity to urge China to be more forthcoming with its aid figures, hoping such scrutiny will help money get to the people who need it most.

The NGO lists China as “very poor” in aid transparency, ranking it the third least transparent donor out of 58 ranked last year.

Its position was determined by 38 indicators, such as the passage of freedom of information laws and participation in the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), a London-based group of donors and NGOs that have set aid disclosure standards.

“The problem is that China is not systematically releasing its information,” said Karin Christiansen, Publish What You Fund’s director.

While transparency is a good route to achieving aid effectiveness, pressure may not work, said Ear. Strong-arming China into transparency will lead to a “backlash” of even less transparency, he added. “They value their sovereignty more than most countries. They see it [as] inviolable.”

Still, said Christiansen, the group’s approach is credible because it does not require “changing what they [China] are actually doing, but about becoming more transparent on the approaches they are already taking”.

South-South rules

The country is increasing aid transparency at its own pace, say observers. Last December, China publicly declared transparency a principle it upholds when it signed an agreement at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness held in Busan, South Korea.

The word “transparency” appears four times in the document, which includes a pledge of “zero tolerance for all corrupt practices”. It also notes that “the nature, modalities and responsibilities that apply to South-South cooperation differ from those that apply to North-South cooperation”, and the complexity of “new actors”, who may still face poverty at home but want to share lessons and experiences along the way.

Unfavourable attention may have prompted China to become more public about its aid policy, said Wang. “The Chinese government does care about its international image and the international media.”

Even with the will to boost aid transparency, China still faces a “diplomatic dilemma” in enforcing it: to meet compliance both sides must be willing and able, and recipient countries with weak governments often have poor aid oversight.

“To carry out this principle [transparency] is not so easy in practice because it is influenced by circumstances of the governance structures of recipient countries and diplomacy, sometimes requiring some form of confidence,” Wang said.

The Phnom Penh Post, IRIN Tuesday, 01 May 2012

PPWSA stock to list today

2012-04-18T13:16:00.002+07:00

Investors, along with the next two companies expected to list on the Cambodia Securities Exchange, will watch carefully this morning the action on the country’s first initial public offering, nine months after the CSX officially opened.

After a book-building process that was 17 times over-subscribed, Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority shares will sell at about a penny below the maximum bidding price originally set by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia.

PPWSA was valued at 6,300 riel, or US$1.57, a share in late March, and 514 investors bought 474,143 shares during book-building.

Investor behaviour today would have a significant impact on the listing of Telecom Cambodiaand Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, the two state-owned companies also expected to list this year, Tong Yang Securities (Cambodia) managing director Han Kyung-tae said.

Tong Yang is the underwriter for PPWSA and Telecom Cambodia.

“Everybody is excited to see the movement of the price, and it will definitely have an impact on the other companies,” Han Kyung-tae said.

The price today will be allowed to fluctuate upward by as much as 50 per cent, and downward by 10 per cent, although some analysts have said the price is already high for a public utility.

From tomorrow, prices will be allowed to rise or drop by five per cent in a given trading day.

Despite shares being valued at the high end of the spectrum, strong annual growth at the water monopoly and a diversified base of retail and institutional investors would allow for price increases, Han Kyung-tae said.

The Lao Securities Exchange, which launched in January last year, saw an 86 per cent increase during the first three weeks of operation, but shares in its two listed companies have since fallen by about 50 per cent.

“If the market has many speculators, the price will boom for a while, then drop sharply,”ACLEDA Securities president and managing director Svay Hay said, pointing to the Lao and Vietnamese exchanges as an example.

“Cambodia learned a lot from those two markets and other markets in the region.”

But high demand for PPWSA shares would contribute to stable trading and reasonable price fluctuations, Svay Hay said.

With a $1.57 share price and expec-ted 2012 earnings of $0.08 a share, the stock would trade at an 18.7 price-to-earnings ratio – a sizeable jump over comparable companies researched by SBI Royal Securities in March.

A trial run incorporating all elements of the CSX system had not yet been carried out, a source close to the bourse, who did not have authority to talk to the media, said yesterday.

Although no technical errors are anticipated, the lack of testing has generated some unease among brokers.

“There’s a lot of things that haven’t been tried out yet. When trading starts tomorrow, the system has not been completely tested. Anything could happen.”

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Electricite du Cambodge was slated for an IPO this year. In fact, it was Sihanoukville Autonomous Port.

Cambodia’s Song Saa Islands: An Isolated Eden

2012-04-17T12:03:00.000+07:00

A few nautical miles from the scabrous Cambodian port of Sihanoukville lies a little pair of islands known in Khmer as Song Saa, “the sweethearts.” Among the 60 islands of Cambodia’s secretive coastline, they are, as brochures put it, lost. No one would know they were there were it not for the motor launch that leaves in the afternoons from the Sihanoukville port laden with the odd solitary millionaire in a linen hat and Prada espadrilles.

The sweethearts are uninhabited. They are Koh Ouen and Koh Bong, now occupied by a single “resort”—though the word seems over-hustled for a place that remains quietly separated from a coast that war and civil war have preserved in a state of beautiful ruin. A place made beautiful, if you like, by failure.

When I was living in Phnom Penh, I used to come to Kep, the old French provincial capital further along the same coast. The islands have much the same aesthetic: the French houses standing in isolate and magnificent desperation, the mangroves and narrow beaches and slopes of rainforest bristling with cashew trees. Ravaged by the Khmer Rouge, Kep had not yet recovered. But its charm was invested in a slow-burning decay, which expressed its isolation from an outside world that could never—in its imagination—separate Cambodia from her genocide and her unwilling role in the Vietnam War. While Thailand rushed to despoil her islands, Cambodia was left to abandon hers.

Pol Pot had the Cambodian islands evacuated in 1977. For a time they were home to Khmer Rouge fighters and no one else. On Koh Rong, a larger island next to Song Saa, with its rainforests the size of Hong Kong, they set up their base camps and gun emplacements. (In an obscure incident of that time, 25 American Marines were killed in an ill-timed island fire-fight.) But history moved on. The fishing families returned, and 30 years later an Australian couple, Melita and Rory Hunter, stumbled upon the sweethearts, like a vision—if you’ll forgive the cliché—from the movie Castaway.

The Hunters had founded a company called Brocon, which pioneered the renovation of French colonial buildings in Phnom Penh. Brocon set out to create an island resort that would, like its developments in Phnom Penh, hold together the fragile texture of Khmer society. For one thing, they nobly decided to create a marine reserve inside which the locals were no longer permitted to fish by dropping cyanide into the water to stun their prey. But what did the Western rich really want when they ventured down to the seascapes of a country like Cambodia? What were they looking to escape from, and what did they want to intrude into?

The Perfect 100 Travel Spots

The oceanfront villas in splendid solitude., Sunya Thadathanawong

Americans know the Tom Hanks film version of Castaway, made by Robert Zemeckis in 2000 (alas, because the earlier, Nicolas Roeg version is far better). The original novel, however, was published by a young Englishwoman named Lucy Irvine in 1983. The 25-year-old Irvine had answered an ad in a London paper placed by a middle-aged adventurer named Gerald Kingsland asking for a “companion” to go live with him on a deserted island in East Asia. Kingsland and Irvine spent a difficult year together on the island of Tuin in New Guinea. It was the Crusoe fantasy with a sexual edge. The human couple forced together by their isolation, by the material magic of a tropical island from which there was no easy escape. It is, on rereading, a beautiful and haunting book, and it holds the clue to a peculiarly contemporary longing: a yearning for a temporary but primitive solitude defined by the sea. That, and a much-needed simplification of sex.

There have been so many versions of this myth—Swept Away is another—that one wonders if industrial society’s unhappiness is leading it to search further afield for a release that now has to be contrived with the aid of technology. The original title of Lina Wertmüller’s 1974 original was Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August. Here, the paradise island was a rougher place that stripped men and women down to their biological roots. Yet all the time I was on Song Saa I thought of those Wertmüller landscapes. The rocks, the deceptive waves, the somnolent forests, and a subtle strangeness—a kind of species memory—emanating from them. Islands represent something mysterious to us because they offer the hope that we can be human in our original Eden, but without other humans. We know that this is neither true nor possible but, wonderfully enough, we are poetically indifferent to our own realism.

From each ocean-facing villa one sees nothing but the silhouette of Koh Rong. From mine, I watched coconut palms along beaches that must have remained unchanged for thousands of years, the forests of uncataloged butterflies and rare pythons rising behind them. There was no commotion but the shrimp boats from the village, whose green lights shone on the waters at night underneath tremendous rainless thunderstorms. Yet one is not alone. An invisible staff caters to every whim.

Lift the telephone and you can order fresh oysters, Khmer beef lok lok and salt-cured fish around the clock. Everything is delivered by beautiful boys carrying pole baskets. Nevertheless, there is no money on the island. Guests are never presented with a bill; they never sign for anything. They can eat whatever they want, but since everything has been paid for in advance it seems to all be weightlessly “free” and separated from the wearying friction of hard cash. This is so unlike real life that one sinks into a voluntary trance. Could life ever be like this, a series of sweet barters and gifts arriving out of nowhere? We are, in fact, programmed to both disbelieve in Utopia and to accept its premise.

I walked across the wooden walkway that now connects the two sweethearts. It is lined at night with a row of bamboo lanterns set to steer the loner. There seemed to be no one there, though at the far end lay a wide designer sofa with dark gray cushions and a table with silverware waiting for the Three Bears.

There is a sultry return to boyhood implicit in being alone in a place that looks after you but that leaves you unmonitored. The island’s effortless enchantment, not to mention the curious lack of flies, also made my dreams more vividly intimate and terrifying: my dead mother came every night and sat on the end of my bed. In one of these, she was eating peanuts from an ashtray and talking to me in Khmer. In another, she was covered with a funereal white suncream. But why here?

In the hot afternoons, meanwhile, I took a boat around Koh Bong. Exhilarated lemon-colored butterflies came out to greet us. They seemed to be winging their way out to sea in pursuit of the squid boats, but who knows what butterflies can smell, or how they wish to die. On the far side of this wild isle there was also not a single man Friday footprint in the sands. The rainforest comes up to the little dunes but does not cast any shadow onto the beach. The resort accordingly sets up a shaded lunch with an icebox, and you sit there like a Crusoe who doesn’t have to shoot his own food. It is solitude with crisp ice on hand. One dissolves and seeps away, and before long it occurs to you that you are going to die somewhere in a place far less perfect than this.

Nights on Song Saa are more uncanny than the luxury. Lightning and thunder like distant artillery barrages, the tiny striped fish jittery in the dark waters. I found that on many evenings I could be walking through my own thoughts as much as through a carefully honed construction intended to create a luxurious solitude, a secure ease with nature. How strange, then, that one has to pay so much money for something so simple. For this very condition, of comfortable isolation, now has to be crafted by many hands. It is no longer spontaneous, and we don’t want it to be. Even the wretched backpackers who sometimes appear like beaded ghosts on the supply boats from Sihanoukville seem aware that they are stumbling into something that they don’t deserve. They have a nervous, stunned look, like thieves who have not yet made off with the jewels.

I never tired of Song Saa. I only wondered what it would be like to be there with a woman, like the unhappy tormented souls of our fictional islands. Yet there was no need to wonder this, because even as I roamed around the sand tracks and jetties and walkways looking for someone to talk to, even as I felt myself tipping into gourmet monasticism—a unique “lifestyle concept,” you’ll have to admit—I was happy not to find anyone to talk to. The tiresome, exhausting conversation that one has with oneself was deflected outward—toward the silvery tumuluses piling up in slow motion on the horizons, toward the Khmers immo-bile in their long-tails, patient nets in their hands and filled with a glassy curiosity about this extraterrestrial dressed in creased tennis whites, toward the curve of the island itself, the place that holds you for a few days inside a chilled emptiness, a suspension of disbelief, and then keeps you alive.

Lawrence Osborne is the author, most recently, of Bangkok Days.

Technology comes to the classroom

2012-04-06T23:07:00.002+07:00

Tucked away behind a high wall on Mao Tse Tung Boulevard is a collection of brash red, white and blue buildings, home to one of the most recent additions to Phnom Penh’s English-language schools, the American Education Center.

The Director of the AEC, the aptly named Janet English, says what the school offers its students is different from most schools.

AEC DIRECTOR JANET ENGLISH

“The AEC was set up to do something different from the traditional language teaching. We’re computer based, using technology, and then the students go into the classroom and do activities based on what they’re learning on the computer, using the same language structures. So we have no textbooks, although some students wish they had them,” she says.

Originally from Edmonton, in the west of Canada, English says the opportunity to work in Cambodia was too good to miss. “I spent nine years in China, all over, the last four years in Beijing. But I felt I’d been in China for a long time, and Cambodia presented a lot of opportunities. This school was opening and looking for someone experienced to run it, and I had the background as a director of studies. And I’m very much enjoying being here.”

The focus of the school’s teaching is less on academic achievement, and more on communication. “We have different programs, hospitality English programs, and we do a writing program. Our basic set-up is that we try to teach listening and speaking first, the same way we all learn our first language.” However English stresses that the teaching is as rigorous as possible, and of an international standard: “If somebody goes through and gets through to the advanced level, they should have no problem passing their IELTS (International English Language Testing System), their test of English language proficiency.”

All of AEC’s teachers are foreign, except for at a very basic level, where they use Khmer, and the school goes to a great deal of trouble to pick the right staff. “We like to find teachers that are fairly stable and set up here. We’re very selective about who we hire, so that can present difficulties, but we do have very good teachers.”

While the school’s innovative use of technology is different from other establishments, it is proving popular in Cambodia. “We’ve been open about nine months. We now have about 300 students. It’s growing. It takes time. We take students from 10 years old all the way up: we’ve even got some students who are in their fifties.”

Is she optimistic about the educational future in Cambodia? “Oh yes,” she replies. “People are hungry to learn. We have students here who’ve just enrolled for their fourth term, they’re realising that they can speak easily now, and their listening is much better when they’re talking to foreigners, and they’re very enthused by that.”

English would eventually love to roll out the AEC concept across the kingdom. “I’d love to see us do that, not least because I’d love to travel to places like Siem Reap and Battambang, and live there for a while, but I think it’ll probably take us a while to get a really firm base here. But we can do sessions using Skype, for students from around the country, which works out really well, and we’ve got some really enthusiastic students.”