Forum: Neutrality key to Cambodia’s future
CAMBODIA should be neutral, pragmatic, and focus on economic development as the country moves toward a fully digital economy, according to experts from different sectors who shared their views on what Cambodia would be like 20 years from now.
The opinions were expressed during a panel discussion organised by Future Forum think tank, Konrad-AdenauerStiftung Cambodia and the German embassy on March 4 to launch Cambodia 2040 – the third volume of the series which focuses on international relations and governance.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation secretary of state Chem Widhya said Cambodia would stick to a foreign policy of neutrality as stated in the 1993 Constitution. But the current neutrality is different from that of the 1960s, he noted.
“Our current neutrality is that we opted to join ASEAN in 1995. Why? Because we believe that peace on the inside could only be secured by peace on the outside, and that living together in a village is better than building a house in a forest,” he said.
Beyond ASEAN, he said Cambodia is looking outward to all countries near and far from China, Japan and South Korea to Australia, New Zealand and India. And further out to the EU, Russia, and the US. In terms of trade, Cambodia is looking to make inroads into Africa and Latin America.
Pou Sothirak, executive director of Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace said the country needs to be pragmatic, neutral and adjust itself to maximise national interests, but focusing on national interests doesn’t mean neglecting regional interests.
Cambodia should try to make sure that when it tries to maximise national interests that looking inwards doesn’t impede Cambodia’s national interests and global interests working together.
“Cambodia would be seen as a respectable member of the international community,” he said.
Young entrepreneur Heang Omuoy, founder and CEO of Camsolution Technology, said in 20 years from now, the Kingdom would be a fully digital economy.
“But realising that vision requires high quality education in Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics or STEM. It will need digital and technology entrepreneurship, a positive environment for investors, a strong technology infrastructure, and digital transformation,” she said.
German ambassador to Cambodia Christian Berger said economic development should be the priority in Cambodia as it is the key feature to success. Success in this area will be followed by success elsewhere.
“If you are economically successful, you will be able to mobilise funds for education, for digitalisation and health, and reinforce the system. Cambodia will be able to mobilise necessary and effective energy resources. The country can relieve pressure on natural resources. So, sound longterm economic development is very important,” he said.
He said Germany’s contribution to Cambodia is economic policy and maintaining industries that provide jobs for people, particularly in textiles. It is also about creating an environment for keeping this sector alive.
“Germany helps develop new sectors like mechanical engineering and digital economy. But to integrate Cambodia’s value-added agriculture into the international value chain was something that should be looked at systematically in the medium term,” Berger said.
POLICE on March 3 detained 10 people at two separate beauty centres in Phnom Penh after they were alleged to have secretly performed transgender surgeries. Illegally imported medicines were also found at the location following a search.
The Ministry of Interior’s Counter Counterfeit Committee (CCC) and officials of the Ministry of Health carried out raids on two transgender surgery locations on March 3.
The first location raided was the Dr Kang Beauty Centre located in Boeung Kak II commune in Tuol Kork district, Phnom Penh, and the second raid took place at the Gangnam Beauty Centre & Clinic near the Chinese embassy in Tumnop Teuk commune of Boeung Keng Kang district.
Tan Sokvichea, the head of the secretariat of the CCC, told The Post on March 4 that “the police raided both these locations and detained 10 people. The ringleaders are two Vietnamese. The police seized equipment used for [gender reassignment] surgery and some banned medicines. They also found [severed] penises stored in 49 bottles.”
He further said that the locations were raided following an investigation focused on their secret importation of large quantities of banned medicines from abroad.
A probe into the medicines led police to discover what the medicines were being used for – the performance of illegal transgender surgeries on a large scale.
Sokvichea added that the police are building case files on all of the subjects who have been detained for referral to court for prosecution on criminal charges.
Tuol Kork deputy district governor Teav Sam Oeurn said that after raiding the first location, police officers had seized some items as evidence and had soon identified a second location connected to it in Tuol Kork.
“All of the ministries and departments involved worked in cooperation with the police and the interior ministry’s CCC to get the job done. The first raid tipped us off to the location of a second clinic and we raided it right away – Dr Kang Beauty Centre in Tuol Kork.
“We seized more evidence from there and sealed it temporarily. Now we are questioning some of the suspects and their employees,” he said.
Cambodian E-commerce Federation president Ley Sopheap supported these law enforcement operations because underground or unlicensed clinics performing illegal surgeries are dangerous.
“I support this crackdown for the safety of our citizenry. I don’t support these transgender surgeries because these clinics are not licensed according to the law,” he said.
He also called on Cambodians to be very careful about having their genders changed at beauty centres.
SHINHAN Bank Vietnam on March 3 announced the appointment of Lee Tae-kyung as CEO. Since joining the Korean bank in 1992, he has been in charge of various functions like strategy, planning, risk management, and marketing.
He has been head of the global business division of Shinhan Bank Korea and is reputed to have a deep understanding of the bank’s global business.
He has worked in the US and Cambodia.
As CEO in Cambodia in 2019-2020, Lee has more than doubled the bank’s size in terms of assets, profits, number of branches and payroll.
He said at a function marking his assumption of office: “In the rapidly changing finance environment, customers’ needs change quickly. We must be a bank that keeps pace with customer changes.”
He underlined the importance of digitisation amid the uncertainty caused by Covid-19, calling on employees to provide quick and convenient services to customers through digitisation.
“Vietnam is the most important country in the global business of Shinhan Financial Group,” he added.
On December 23, Shinhan Bank Vietnam and Thac Mo Hydropower
JSC signed a credit agreement for 496 billion dong ($21.3 million) for funding a solar farm.
On the Korea Exchange, Shinhan Financial Group Co Ltd’s share price gained 400 won ($0.36) or 1.19 per cent to close at 34,050 won on March 4 for a market capitalisation of 17.59 trillion won, with 2.38 million shares traded.