"Population and Development.. Priority Issues For Cambodia"

Jointly organized by

The Ministry of Planning, and UNFPA

Hotel Intercontinental, Phnom Penh

17 July 2002

Excellency Sok An;

Excellencies;

Distinguished Guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen!

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the National Stakeholder Workshop to discuss the priority issues on population and development in Cambodia. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to H.E. Sok An, Senior Minister and Minister in charge of the Council of Ministers, for honouring us with taking his busy time to preside over this important workshop, and I am very grateful to Mr. Richard Leete, Representative from Technical Services Division at the HQ in New York, Ms. Sheila Macrae, UNFPA Resident Representative in Thailand, and Ms. Yoshiko Zenda for taking the time off from your busy schedule come to this meeting.

This workshop is being organised by the Ministry of Planning (NIOP) in collaboration with the UNFPA to provide an important forum for a wider stakeholder discussion of a significant document, which was commissioned by the MOP to examine the population situation in Cambodia with regard to development strategies. The UNFPA provided the MOP with the services of Dr. Adrian Hayes from the Australian National University to write the document. This document provides background material for several important activities of the Royal Government of Cambodia, namely the second Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDPII), the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and the development of population and development strategies for the country. The findings of the document have been incorporated in SEDPII and the nine population issues for Cambodia, identified in the document, are being considered in the formulation of action plan matrices of several sectoral strategies on poverty reduction. These matrices will form integral parts of the Royal Government's PRSP.

The overriding goal of the Second Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP II) is to reduce poverty of the people of Cambodia. The Royal Government of Cambodia is also committed to incorporating population variables into development planning and establishing the institutions to formulate a sound population and development strategy that will stand the test of changing socio-economic and political situations. The financial and technical assistance from UNFPA through its Population and Development Strategies Sub-programme provides an ideal platform for setting up the process that will see the formulation of a population and development policy for Cambodia.

Excellencies,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Because the document under discussion today is so important and valuable for Cambodia, I believed that it was only proper to share it with our partners in the development of Cambodia. It is my earnest hope that the document, when finalized in the light of comments and suggestions received from you, will serve as one of the basic documents for Cambodia's development planning. Therefore, I urge you to share with us your knowledge and expertise through your discussions so that we can fulfil our objective.

I wish to extend my sincere thank to Dr. Adrian Hayes for preparing this excellent document and to the UNFPA for providing the funds to enable Dr. Hayes to write the document and enable us to organise this workshop today.

I wish you a most fruitful day of interesting and stimulating discussions and sharing of knowledge.

Thank you.

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