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Kingdom of Cambodia
Address By
Samdech HUN SEN
Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia
to the Inaugural High Level Regional Meeting
for the World Summit on Sustainable Development
Inter-Continental Hotel, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
28 November 2001
Excellencies,
National and International Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great honor and pleasure for me
to be with you today at this very important meeting. On behalf
of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) and on my own behalf,
I would like to extend a warm welcome to distinguished delegates
from countries within the region, especially the participants
from the UN agencies, the Asian Development Bank (ADB),
International Organizations (IOs), and the donor community.
Cambodia is proud of having the honor to host many international
conferences. Today is another important event for Cambodia in
hosting this historical meeting. It reflects Cambodia's efforts
to integrate itself into the international community. This
policy is one of the important elements of the Royal Government
of Cambodia (RGC) “Triangular Strategy.”
Let me begin by expressing a
deep gratitude to ESCAP, UNDP, UNEP, ADB and the Government of
Japan for providing a valuable and necessary support in
organizing this important meeting. This meeting gives us an
opportunity to review regional accomplishments made during the
past ten years, to draw lessons and experience, and as well as
to discuss and find resolution to emerging issues. I would
suggest that the meeting discuss the issues to formulate a
vision for sustainable development, which will be implemented
through a “war against poverty” in the region. I think
that this vision will be crucial for the forthcoming World
Summit on Sustainable Development (the Rio+10 meeting) to be
held in Johannesburg
next year.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In 1992, when the world leaders
met in Rio de Janeiro to discuss sustainable development and
produced the extensive Agenda-21, Cambodia was preoccupied with
the efforts to promote national reconciliation and to put an end
to the protracted civil war. The UN-sponsored election in 1993
resulted in the establishment of a coalition government but did
not end the internal turmoil in Cambodia. Only in the early
1999, for the first time in many decades, the Cambodian people
could achieved national reconciliation, enjoying full peace,
political stability and security throughout the country, due to
the “win-win policy” and the political will and
commitments of the RGC and Cambodian people without the prodding
of external forces.
Maintaining political stability
and peace is a necessary and fundamental prerequisite for the
country's march towards democracy, poverty alleviation and
sustainable development. The people of Cambodia are firmly
striving to enter the mainstream of the regional and global
economy. The country is making intensive reconstruction and
rehabilitation efforts to eradicate poverty and improve the
people living standard. We are undertaking these tasks in an
era in which the themes of “sustainable development” and
“environmental security” have come to the forefront of
the global consciousness. The hosting of this significant event
is both a challenge and a source of national pride for Cambodian
people, especially given the recent history of the country, as I
stated earlier.
The RGC envisions a peaceful,
stable and synergetic Cambodian society free from all forms of
fear, hostility, and violence. To achieve this vision, the RG
has taken strides in successfully implementing its "Triangular
Strategy", which consists of three key components: (i)
restoring peace and stability and maintaining security for the
nation and people; (ii) integrating the country into the
international community; and (iii) promoting sustainable
economic and social development through implementation of key
reform programs namely military demobilization, public
administrative reform, judicial systems reform, economic and
financial reforms, including stringent measures taken to improve
sectoral performance, such as forestry and fishery reforms, land
management, environmental protection and social sector
development.
The first two strategies were successfully implemented. For the
first time in four centuries, Cambodia is at peace, without
separatists and rebels or internal strife and begun to fully
embrace regional and international affairs. We have
significantly contributed to the cooperation and integration
within the ASEAN, the ASEAN plus three frameworks, and the
Greater Sub-Mekong Region (GMS). Our efforts now are
concentrated on the third side of the triangle, namely, to
deepen our reform agenda aimed at promoting sustainable
development and poverty reduction.
We strongly believe that
sustainable development including the sustainable use of natural
resources cannot be achieved if poverty issues are not fully
addressed. At the same time, successful poverty reduction takes
some time. It also requires that comprehensive and realistic
policies, action plans and programs be put in place with broad
participation of the society, coupled with strong political will
in order to achieve the objectives. In this regard, the RGC
prepared an “Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (IPRSP)”
and the “Socio-Economic Development Plan II (SEDPII) for
2001-2005”, which serve as a vital political platform to
combat poverty. Three key strategies were defined to combat
poverty: (i) accelerating long-term sustainable economic growth,
(ii) ensuring equitable distribution of the economic benefits,
and (iii) managing and using natural resources with
sustainability and environmental protection.
I am sure you have noticed that
the RGC gives high priority to natural resource and
environmental management and social development that are the
keys for sustainable development. However, I would like to
elaborate further on development efforts and political
priorities of the RG within these particular sectors.
Immediately after the UN-sponsored elections in 1993, Cambodia
started establishing comprehensive legal, policy, and
institutional frameworks aimed at promoting sustainable
development of the country. The new Constitution requires the
state to ensure a rational use of natural resources and
environmental protection. Legislations, Decrees, and
sub-Decrees have been enacted namely the Law on Environmental
Protection and Natural Resources Management, Land Law, Mineral
Law, Pollution Control Sub-decrees, and Sub-decree on
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Others are under
preparation such as Forestry Law, Fisheries Law, Wildlife Law,
and Law on Protected Area Management. The 1993 Royal Decree on
the Creation of Protected Areas established 23 protected zones
with a total area of approximately 18% of the country’s surface
area in the Kingdom of Cambodia, one of the largest percentages
in the region and we plan to increase that area up to 25% by
2005 by establishing additional forest reserves in the country.
Cambodia has made significant
efforts in building institutions to promote sustainable
development. In 1993, the Ministry of Environment was
established with a broad mandate of promoting environmental
protection and conservation of the national natural resources.
Other related ministries with direct mandate of supporting
rational use of natural resources were created after 1998,
namely Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology and Ministry
of Land Use Management, Urbanization and Construction. To
ensure effective and successful implementation of sustainable
development related programs, the RGC has also established a
number of National Ministerial Committees in charge of
biodiversity, protected areas, coastal and marine management,
and management of the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve.
Recently, the RGC established a
National Committee to conduct a preparation of national
assessment document on the country's accomplishments, efforts,
and view on sustainable development. This assessment, which
will be completed by early 2002, focusing on four main areas: (i)
good governance; (ii) sustainable use of natural resources and
environmental management; (iii) education and human resource
development; and (iv) health including HIV/AIDS.
The first National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP, 1998-2002)
has been prepared to guide the integration of environmental
concerns into national and local development policies, economic
decision-making, and investment planning. This NEAP focus on
selected priority areas such as agriculture, forestry,
fisheries, energy development, and waste management. At the
same time, we are in the process of finalizing the National
Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan to address Climate
Change. The goal of this NEAP is "to use, protect, and
manage biodiversity for sustainable development in
Cambodia”.
The Government clearly
recognizes the need for a broad and radical reform in key
natural resources management sectors such as forestry;
fisheries; and land, which are the major assets of the nation.
The RGC has chosen the Global Witness -- our most energetic
critic -- to monitor illegal logging, reflecting the
government's commitment to eliminate corruption in forestry
sector in order to ensure sustainable management of forestry
resources. This government's action is crucially needed to
preserve forests and to maintain the ecological and biodiversity
balance for our future generations. In this regard, we are
proud to declare that despite the increasing market demand and
pressure from development activities, the percentage of
Cambodia's forest area remains one of the highest in the region
with the average annual deforestation rate of 0.6% (relatively
low compared to other regional countries) between 1990-2000.
The RGC has taken actions to strengthen forest management
through establishment of community forestry, improving
concessional forest management, and enforcing reforestation.
We have embarked on a new
revolution in the fisheries sector by reducing the size of the
auctioned fishing lots and increasing an access by the poor to
these vital resources. This is a significant contribution to
our efforts to alleviate poverty and to improve equitable
distribution of benefits. Community-based fisheries resources
management is being introduced and expanded through
establishment of community fisheries.
Recently, the Royal Government started
implementing a land reform with the focus on land distribution,
management, and administration. The core program of land reform
includes: preparing a national land development policy,
improving the state’s land management, initiating the land
registration system, tax reform, creating the legal framework
for property rights, and developing a land use master plan.
This reform will support and protect the poor by providing land
and land ownership and strengthening traditional land use
rights.
Improving social services is
another high priority of the RGC reform agenda. We have
initiated “a new social policy agenda”, which envisions
creation of a socially connected, educationally advanced, and
culturally vibrant society in Cambodia. This requires dealing
with the problems of poverty, illiteracy, and disease through
the implementation of a Poverty Targeted Program to address the
needs of poor populations living in remote outback areas,
especially the problem of malnutrition among the population. To
implement this «New Social Policy Agenda» for Cambodia, the RGC
is pouring a massive proportion of our budget into the priority
sectors - education, health, agriculture and rural development
-, which provide foundation for future growth, equity and
progress. We are pursuing reforms in the educational system and
promote other avenues of human capital formation to make
Cambodians more productive and competitive in the global
economy. The RGC is waging a war against deadly foes such as
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, through the implementation
of the health sector reforms in order to improve disbursement to
finance referral hospitals and health centers at the district
level and the implementation of Advanced District Development
(ADD) and the Priority Action Program (PAP) programs.
The RGC considers the civil
society and the private sector as its strategic partners, who
can play a complementary role in implementing the above reform
agenda and achieving our sustainable development objectives.
Moreover, both national and international NGOs in Cambodia are
contributing actively and significantly to poverty alleviation
and environmental protection.
Excellencies, Ladies, and Gentlemen,
We
all recognize clearly that sustainable development cannot be
achieved in isolation. There is a need for working together
with neighbors and other countries around the globe to address
common challenges such as transboundary environmental impacts
and pollution; use of shared natural resources such as water,
marine fisheries, and oil and gas. The re-inauguration of the
Mekong River Commission (MRC) in 1995 indicated the commitments
of its member states to implementing sustainable utilization and
management of water and water-related resources in the Mekong
River basin. Within the framework of the Mekong River
Commission, we are now preparing an ambitious Mekong basin
development plan and a comprehensive water utilization program.
Since 1992, Cambodia has played a crucial role in the
cooperation within the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS), which
has been supported by the ADB and other donors, with an aim of
facilitating sustainable economic growth and improving the
standard of living of people in this sub-region. Cambodia is
very supportive of development projects especially
infrastructure systems, agriculture, transportation, energy,
ecotourism and cultural tourism projects, and small and
medium-scale industries for the sub-region.
The RGC is strongly committed with all ASEAN and Asia and the
Pacific countries to implementing the “Regional Environmental
Action Plan for 2001-2005” and the “Kitakyushu initiative
for Clean Environment”, which were endorsed by the
ministerial meeting in Kitakyushu, Japan in late 2000.
At the international level, the
RGC is very concerned about the grave and serious global
problems such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Although
Cambodia has many urgent short-term development plans in social,
economic and environmental sectors, we are fully committed to
the international efforts to safeguard the global environment.
In 1995, the country signed the two major international
conventions on climate change and biodiversity, one of the major
outcomes of the 1992 Rio Summit. In addition, Cambodia is a
signatory to most of the major international agreements for
global environment protection such as CITES, Desertification,
Ozone Protocol, Persistence Organic Pollutants, Basel
Convention, and Ramsar Convention.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Despite the RGC’s efforts and
commitment to sustainable development and global environmental
protection, as one of poorest country, Cambodia has been facing
many constraints and obstacles in implementing sustainable
development program and fulfilling its obligations under
international conventions. Our limited resource and capability
do not allow us to fully realize the national and global
programs. We do feel that there is a need for improving law
enforcement and coordination among all stakeholders to ensure
effective implementation of sustainable development programs.
The current poverty predominance
among rural people has been forcing them to exploit natural
resources to meet their basic needs in an unsustainable manner.
We clearly recognize the inter-linkage between poverty and
environmental degradation. The existing limited level of access
to information and underdeveloped information technology in the
country plus insufficient understanding about the importance of
the environment and sustainable development concept among the
general public also contribute to degradation of natural
resources and are the serious barriers to formulating a rational
development plans. To overcome this issue, we have delegated
authority and responsibility to rural community to participate
the process of preparing project plan and programs in order to
improve resource management at the local level.
The frequent flood and drought
occurrences in the last ten years have become serious obstacles
for us to successfully implement our socio-economic development
plans. We have to divert our scarce resources from development
programs to meet the urgent needs for rehabilitating our damaged
infrastructure and helping the most vulnerable people to
mitigate the impacts of floods and droughts.
Moreover, land mine is another
typical problem for Cambodia. Today, millions of mines remain
throughout the country land from Cambodia's civil war in the 70s
and 80s. Cambodian people are still killed or maimed each month
by landmines while up to 40% of agricultural land is mined.
There is a close link between land mines, poverty, environmental
degradation and social inequity. Land mines limit access by
rural people to natural resources, cause economic migration of
rural people to cities which in turn leads to undesirable rapid
urbanization, environmental and socio-economic concerns. Many
of the poorest, who are already the most vulnerable, have no
option but to risk their lives by working in mined fields.
Therefore, the Government of Cambodia, with assistance from the
international community and donors, has made tireless and
significant efforts in clearing land mines for agricultural and
other development purposes.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Our development experiences after more than three decades of
civil wars have taught us some lessons, which we would like to
share with you.
First,
peace and stability are the determining factors for successful
implementation of sustainable development program
(socio-economic development, poverty alleviation, environmental
protection, etc.). None of the nations in the region have
suffered as the Cambodian people have from wars and internal
conflicts. The protracted wars have taught us to appreciate the
real value of peace and social stability, as well as the
concessions needed for national reconciliation. Peace and
stability provide a golden opportunity to the people from all
walks of life with favorable conditions and adequate time to
devote their physical, intellectual and mental energy to
national reconstruction and improving their own living
standards.
Second,
the civil society and the media can positively contribute to
achieving sustainable development objectives. Our government
considers NGOs and the media as important partners who can help
us correct our course while implementing our sustainable
development programs. There are hundreds of NGOs currently
operating in Cambodia in various sectors: health, agriculture,
environment, education, human right, gender, etc. Their
contribution to socio-economic development of the country is
considerable.
Third,
donor's technical and financial assistance to developing
countries should be realized with an emphasis on human resource
development, in particular by using learning-by-doing
approach, phasing out the “do to help” and phasing in the
“help to do”, to ensure sustainability and ownership.
Needless to repeat the old wisdom "Teach how to fish rather
than give the fish".
Fourth,
sustainable development requires a new paradigm that benefits
majority and increase well-being to an acceptable level. This
new paradigm has to be based on age-old human “values”, away
from the narrow ones now driven by stock-market prices and
wallets. At the same time, a good vision for the future is the
“sharing concepts” that exists since Stone Age of human being.
This development paradigm means more transfer of financial
resources and technology and providing opportunity for poor
countries to fully participate on equal footing in the free
trade through preferential arrangements and improved market
access without any trade barriers or subsidies from developed to
poor counties. Moreover, more grants should be consider instead
of loans from developed to poor countries so that the poor
countries would be able to build minimum requirements for
implementing development programs.
Fifth,
community participation in development activities is crucial.
Our experience has shown that key players such as women and
religious groups can positively contribute to sustainable
development. Currently, Cambodian women are playing an
increasing role in our society's important areas such as
politics, education, health, culture, etc. These groups' roles
are complementary to those of the government in achieving
sustainable development objectives.
Sixth,
we need to understand that there is no uniform model of
development. Although sustainable development ideas are
universal, sustainable development programs should be
country-specific. Some theoretical strategies and models have
been used in the past only successful for some countries or for
specific circumstances and can meet only current human needs.
Sometimes these theories and strategies event create problems,
which we have to face it in the future, due to the colossal loss
of non-renewable resources, environmental degradation and
pollution, which threaten human existence over the longer run.
Fast economic growth and growth in demand for goods and services
in some counties in the world could not distribute to millions
of people who live in the poor counties.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The end of the cold war has
erased the ideological differences and provided tremendous
opportunities for all countries to build a fair and prosperous
world and to live in harmony. Unfortunately, not everything has
happened as we wished. Despite significant progress made after
the Rio Summit, continuing social, economic and environmental
problems remain a serious obstacle towards sustainable
development. With over a billion people in poverty, our final
goal is still sometime away from sight. More nations and people
are in the less privileged and deprived category compared to the
few who have excesses, and the gaps or the economic-divide
between the haves and have-nots have not narrowed. The gaps and
inequities are increasing - between the North and the South and
within countries. Natural resource degradation, especially
forest, and pollution remain serious. Internal conflicts,
including ethic and religious-based ones, remain critical
barriers for many governments in implementing their development
program.
The 1997 financial turmoil
resulted in large-scaled tragedies that cannot be gauged;
pushing millions of people to the brink of poverty. Moreover,
the September 11 terrorist act increased what were already
significant downside risks to the global economy, which has not
yet out from the 1997 Asian financial crisis. This has made the
challenges related to the economy, education, health and food
security become even more serious. Under such circumstances, the
poor is the most vulnerable.
All these issues require that we
should accept the opportunities created by the dawn of the new
century to make careful evaluation of accomplishments obtained
and the price that we have to pay to get them. We should also
think about the eventual disasters which could happen in the
future and propose measures aimed at establishing a new world
order, by strengthening a new partnership between the North and
the South, as well as between developing and developed
countries. It is my conviction that this would save our planet
and ensure prosperity, sustainability and equity over the long
run. We will be able to achieve this important goal by
strengthening our cooperation. Although Cambodia still
experiences weak institutional capacity, we are very much ready
to participate in these global efforts.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I hope that this meeting will be an
excellent opportunity for us to assess the status of the
implementation of Agenda 21, review sustainable development
issues and goals and prepare new proposals for the forthcoming
World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in
Johannesburg in late 2002. Our presence here today demonstrates
our common commitments to cooperate and to move toward
sustainable development and clean environment in our region. I
would suggest that Fight Against Poverty theme be a
cornerstone of the «Phnom Penh Declaration», the most important
outcome of this meeting.
Once again, let me wish our honorable
delegates from all countries and organizations every success in
this meeting and have a pleasant and memorable stay in Phnom
Penh and Cambodia.
Thank you for your attention,
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Keynote Address
by His Excellency Dr. Mok Mareth
Minister of Environment of the Royal Government of Cambodia
at the High Level Regional Meeting for the World Summit
on Sustainable Development, Inter-Continental Hotel, Phnom Penh,
Cambodia, November 27, 2001
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·
Your
Excellency Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary of ESCAP,
Under Secretary General of the United Nations
·
Professor
Aabito
·
Your
Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates
·
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
A very
good morning and welcome to Cambodia !
Today, it
is indeed a great honor and privilege for the Royal Government
of Cambodia, her people and for myself, to have the great
pleasure of hosting this significant event. Therefore I would
like avail of this opportunity to express, on behalf of people
of Cambodia, the Royal Government of Cambodia headed by the
Prime Minister, His Excellency Samdech HUN SEN, and on my
behalf, my profoundest appreciation for your presence and
participation in this High Level Regional Meeting for the World
Summit on Sustainable Development in our Green Kingdom of
Cambodia.
Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,
Today, we
are here to undertake jointly a very important task. We are
here, to review the progress our region has mad towards
sustainable development in the last 10 years. We are here to
remind ourselves that the global commitments, which were echoed
almost 10 years ago to ensure a holistic growth based on
principles of sustainable development and environment
governance, are as significant now, and even more urgent now,
than they were a decade ago. We are here to forge together, our
collective paths, based on wisdom and mutual experience to
discuss and propose stronger initiatives to achieving the
objectives that were set out by Agenda 21 for achieving
sustainable growth. In the Asia Pacific region, as you know a
number of conferences, meetings and round-table discussions have
been conducted at national and sub-regional levels with this
regional meeting being the final culmination for producing a
regional platform and therefore a unified voice in preparing for
the Johannesburg Summit next year.
I look
forward to Your Excellencies, honored delegates and development
partner active participation in the dialogue, information
exchange which will build further on the achievements of
previous meetings at national and sub-regional levels. The
outcomes of this meeting shall provide an affirmative platform
of consensus for the high level meeting tomorrow.
Our region
is unique in many aspects. It is the most diverse region in the
world in terms of geography, political systems, economic
development level, culture, language, religion, and so on. All
these imply that. Although all countries in the region have
common sustainable development goals, every country has its own
country-specific issues, needs and priorities towards
sustainable development. In this regard, different paths may be
applicable for reaching the same common objectives of
sustainable development. For example, while small island
countries of South and Central Asia. Therefore, along with
regional commitments to address collective issues such as
trans-boundary issues, there is a need for an adaptive approach
to address sustainable development problems at the national
level.
The Royal
Government of Cambodia considers poverty reduction based on
principles of holistic growth as a key priority. This means a
growth which is multi-sectoral, pro-poor, gender sensitive,
broad-based encourage participation, and environmentally sound
decision. Recognizing the strong complementarily between
economic growth, social development and environmental
governance, the Government has defined the 21st
century as the environmental century.
In the
decade since the Rio Earth Summit of 1992, we have learned much
about "Sustainable Development " than at that time, but our
action is not in accordance with that knowledge. I see that
there is still a greater need for placing environment issues at
the top of national and international agenda and for linking
environment more strongly with economic growth. The global
agenda 21 has inspired countries to come up with their own
specific country plans for sustainable development. It may even
be said that we have the scientific and technological and
economic resources to achieve sustainable development. Millions
of dollars are spent on identifying problems and these problems
are not being solved. The real test then is in asking ourselves
and more importantly, committing ourselves to policy and program
mechanisms that care for the health of our planet and also
address the vulnerability, poverty reduction and income
enhancement issues of the poor people in our region.
And now,
Ladies and Gentlemen, is when we have the opportunity to make
this affirmation to the spirit of Sustainable Development. Never
more, has it been more urgent to bring environment at the fore
of the development agenda, as every day, more people are added
to this planet, more resources such as water and forest dwindle
and are degraded, and the culture of consumerism is expanded. In
fact, the very health of our planet and future of our off
springs is at stake.
The
coastal areas, the seas and oceans of Asia and the Pacific are
of great socio-economic, cultural and ecological significance to
the people of this region. Unfortunately coastal and marine
environmental conditions in most parts of the region are in a
severe state of degradation. Environmental stresses have begun
to impact on human health, reduce the productive capacity of the
resource systems, and impede economic growth.
The
general inability of countries in the region to effectively
arrest the deterioration of the coastal and marine environment,
despite ongoing efforts at the national and global levels, is
well recognized. Ten years after Rio, there is little evidence
of attaining the sustainable development goals.
There is
also inadequate commitment to resolving structural problems such
as external debt, financial aid for development and
environmental programs, green technology transfer. We need here
a new dialogue between North-South, we are seeking a new kind
global and clean environmental partnership. We need to establish
innovative partnership between government, private sector and
civil society for financing for development. Industrialized and
developed countries must be sympathetic towards the needs of the
much poorer developing countries.
A new
approach to regional environmental and natural resource
governance is seen as an essential stem-one that brings together
the visions, mandates, skills and resources of local, national,
regional and international stakeholders into a collaborative
regional framework.
We must
recognize the interconnectivity between environmental
degradation and economic and social stresses, and respond with
appropriate strategies, policies and actions. We need a
functional collaborative framework for intergovernmental
cooperation on transboundary issues and, at the same time for
promoting the synergistic relationship and linkages of national
and local governments, UN agencies, international organizations,
the private sector, NGOs, academia, communities and other
members of civil society and catalyzing their roles in
addressing national and local concerns.
Part of the reason, as noted earlier, is
that Governments from third world countries are confronted with
what they believe to be bigger problems, such as financial
economic crises, low employment rates, food security, poverty,
population growth, peace and order. There is a clear lack of
recognition of the interconnectivity between environmental
degradation and economic and social stresses, which are
increasingly evident throughout Asia and the Pacific region.
Within the
overall coordinating framework, other innovative tactics aimed
at institutionalizing sustainable development practices with
regional environmental and natural resource governance in the
next decade include:
·
implementing international and regional instruments in an
integrated fashion;
·
innovative
partnership for financing for development;
·
engaging
local authorities to act and resolve local issues that have
regional and global implications;
·
forging
local, national and regional partnerships for environmental
management among governments, the private sector and
non-governmental organizations, each with an identified
responsibility;
·
recognizing linkages between the environment, the economy and
equity and promoting measures that contribute to broader
governance issues;
·
identifying and promoting opportunities for investment in
environmental facilities and services, as a means of achieving
self-sustaining environmental programs across the region;
·
revitalizing commitments to sustainable development;
·
increasing
national capacity to address international communities;
·
defining
priorities for the next decade;
·
raising
the profile of issues addressed insufficiently by RIO 1992
(Earth Summit);
·
establishing a common and action-oriented approach for the
regional eco-development.
As I am
touching the poverty issue, I am very sure that many of you
would have many ideas and concerns related to this matter in you
country. I, therefore, hope we can find some measures and/or
mechanism to tackle this issue in our region of how we can
overcome or minimize this problem rise in the next 10 years if
we seriously want to ensure the Sustainable Development for the
region and the whole world. So I fervently hope that we, the
Asia-Pacific region, must be united to win the war against
poverty. And we hope that both developed and developing
countries will work together in areas of technology development
and the transfer of skills required for sustainable
development.
Your
Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Once
again, I would like to express my gratitude to you for coming to
this important event and to your value contribution to the
success of this round table platform meeting of which I
personally hope that it will lead to a consolidate output for
the Phnom Penh Declaration, prior to the input for the upcoming
WSSD summit in Johannesburg, South Africa 2002.
While you
are staying in Phnom Penh, the heart of our Kingdom of Cambodia,
you are encouraged to experience and enjoy the simple and easy
life of the city. Last but not least, may I wish you all a good
health, and a pleasant stay in our Green Kingdom.
Thank you
for your attention. |
