Cambodia determined to take Oil blessing, not a curse

Oil is a tremendous resource for Cambodia that the government is determined not to allow to turn into a curse, Prime Minister Hun Sen told an economic forum in the capital Thursday.

He said Cambodia's as-yet untapped oil reserves were a way of "obtaining direct resources for production investment and poverty reduction" and push medium and long term economic growth.

Initial estimates tip off-shore oil reserves worth billions of dollars, which have the potential to reverse the country's current heavy reliance on aid.

However, critics have pointed to endemic corruption and a culture of impunity and warned that if the reserves are not properly managed the country has the potential to follow the disastrous path of other less developed oil rich countries like Nigeria.

"Of course I will try my best to ensure that our oil reserves realize a dream and not a curse," Hun Sen told the gathering of economists, politicians, non-government representatives and media.

2007 DPA