Cambodia plans to clear 28 mln sq m of mined areas in 2007

Cambodia plans to clear mines in 237 villages covering an area of 28 million square meters in 2007, said an official of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) on Thursday.

CMAC Deputy Director General Heng Ratana told a dozen officials from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and 10 delegates from eight African countries, who came here to draw experience of mine clearance and weapons collection.

The center expects to demine 28 million square meters of land this year, at the cost of 11.44 million U.S. dollars, he told the deputies from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Uganda.

Meanwhile, he said, in 2006, CMAC, the kingdom's flagship demining organization, cleared around 26 million square meters of land and found 35,745 pieces of anti-personnel mines, 1,062 pieces of anti-tank mines and 113,296 pieces of unexploded ordinances (UXO).

In addition, he said, from 1992 to 2006, CMAC has cleared 170, 988,776 million square meters of land and found 346,735 pieces of anti-personnel mines, 6,573 pieces of anti-tank mines and 1,141, 172 pieces of UXO.

Later on Thursday, CMAC officials took the delegates to a demining field in Chrey Tom Village, Kdol Tahen Commune, Bor Vel District, where they listened to Ratana's introduction and witnessed the detonation of a detected mine.

The deputies came to Cambodia to attend the six-day workshop on Asia-Africa Cooperation on Peace Establishment in Africa, which was started in Phnom Penh on Wednesday under the sponsorship of JICA, co-founder of CMAC.

According to CMAC, there were more than 400 human casualties over mine and UXO explosions in 2006 in Cambodia, or 50 percent decrease over the average number of the previous six years.

Due to 30 years of armed conflicts, Cambodia has become one of the world's most heavily mined countries with an estimated four to six million of such "hidden killers" buried underground in areas as extensive as 2,900 square kilometers.

All the mines and UXO may take another 150 years for the kingdom to clear out, statistics said.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Japan, Cambodia to join hands in conserving ancient temple complex

Cambodian and Japanese students studying archeology will excavate, restore and conserve the old sites at the Sambo Prey Kok temple complex in Kompong Thom province from 2007 to 2012, local press reported on Thursday.

An agreement for restoring the temple complex was signed by Hem Cheim, acting minister of Culture and Fine Arts, and Mr. Nakaga Watakesi, head of Washida Japan Organization on Tuesday, the Raksmey Kampuchea Daily reported.

Nakaga said that the Preah Vihear temple in northern Cambodia will be counted in the World Cultural Heritage this year, and the Sambo Prey Kok temple will copy the model from Preah Vihear temple too.

According to statistics, there are about 288 temples in Sambo Prey Kok temple complex, Nakaga added.

"Sambo Prey Kok temple represented the old history of southeast Asian countries before Angkor Wat period," he said.

Cambodian and Japanese students have already found that Sambo Prey Kok temple is as big as 10 square km and it was built in the 6th-7th century, said the report.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Cambodia, Japan hold talks on investment treaty

Cambodian and Japanese government officials in Phnom Penh on Friday held their first round of talks to hammer out a bilateral investment agreement which aims to pick up the latter's investment speed in the kingdom.

"We want Japanese investors to invest in the sectors of copy machines, television sets, spare parts for cars and others, which they have already invested in other Southeast Asia countries," said Sok Chenda, Secretary General of the Council for Development of Cambodia.

Cambodia needs the investment from Japan to increase its employment and speed up the economic growth, said Chenda, adding that both prime ministers have been pushing the technical officials to reach the agreement as soon as possible.

Currently, Japanese investors have over 20 projects like bank, hotel resort, mansion construction, trade company and island development in Cambodia, Chenda told reporters after Friday's talks were wrapped up in the Council of Ministers.

"Investment in Cambodia is liberal. But the agreement we talk about this time is more complicated than the others. We need to be more detailed," he said.

Meanwhile, Mizukoshi Hideaki, Director of Asian Division of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, said that Cambodia is a country that strongly attracts Japanese investors.

"Cambodia is stable now and we encourage Japanese investors to invest in Cambodia," he told reporters.

"The labor price is low and we focus on garment, all kinds of spare parts, agricultural production and other sectors," he added.

According to official statistics, from 1994 to 2005, Cambodia attracted 5.49 billion U.S. dollars of agreement-bound foreign direct investment.

Japan, as the kingdom's largest aid country in recent years, is not among Cambodia's top 10 foreign investment countries.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Cambodia: Progress in Khmer Rouge but ‘major issues’ remain: UN spokesman

26 January 2007 – A judicial review committee in Cambodia, looking to resolve differences that have stalled the long-awaited trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders, accused of mass killings and other horrific crimes during the 1970s, has made progress over the last two weeks but several “major issues” still need to be resolved, a United Nations spokesman said today.

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) Review Committee concluded its two-week session in the capital Phnom Penh earlier today, on the draft Internal Rules for the court, Farhan Haq told reporters in New York. The UN is funding most of the $56.3 million three-year budget for the Khmer Rouge trials.

“Solid progress was made during the two-week session of the Review Committee, significantly narrowing differences on a number of issues. Nevertheless, there remain several major issues to be fully resolved,” he said.

“Such as the way in which Cambodian and international law can be integrated into the Internal Rules to ensure a transparent and fair registration process and full rights of audience for foreign defence counsel,” he added. A further meeting of the Review Committee is scheduled for March.
In a press release from Phnom Penh, the Review Committee said it was “acutely aware of the urgent need to ensure fair and open trials for the benefit of the Cambodian people,” adding that it was “committed to achieving that goal” and had been working constantly since November on the various disagreements.

Judges and prosecutors for the trials were sworn in last July. Under an agreement signed by the UN and Cambodia, the trial court and a Supreme Court within the Cambodian legal system will investigate those most responsible for crimes and serious violations of Cambodian and international law between 17 April 1975 and 6 January 1979.

The UN will pay $43 million of the $56.3 million budget for the trials, with the Government of Cambodia providing $13.3 million.

At a pledging conference in 2005 to support the UN assistance to the trials, former Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that the crimes committed under Khmer Rouge rule “were of a character and scale that it was still almost impossible to comprehend,” adding that “the victims of those horrific crimes had waited too long for justice.” Read more!

Cambodia's Landmine Legacy Pervades Present

Carmen Gentile
26 Jan 2007 World Politics Watch Exclusive

SIEM REP, Cambodia -- Twelve-year-old Van Nak remembers like it was yesterday the force of the blast that took his right arm and his father."It hit me here," he says tapping his chest with his only hand, "and knocked me over."

Van was just 6 years old when he accidentally triggered a landmine near the Thai-Cambodian border while planting rice with his now deceased dad, one of the tens of thousands of victims of subterranean explosives that litter the countryside.According to the government-run Cambodian Mine Action Center, anywhere between four and six million mines and pieces of unexploded ordnance are still laying in wait.

Others estimate the real number to be much lower, around one million."How many are really out there? Pick a figure, because no one really knows," said one landmine activist here.

The use of landmines in Cambodia dates back to the 1960s, though their usage reached truly staggering proportions during the following decade, when the ruling Khmer Rouge planted mines throughout the country to thwart invaders from neighboring nations and eliminate dissidents from within.But by the year 2000, with the bloody Khmer regime long dismantled, the country's current government had ratified an international treaty banning the use of mines and, along with several non-government organizations, was tackling the seemingly Herculean task of de-mining the country.

The international organization Mine Action Committee (MAC), for example, claims to clear about 4,500 mines a year, as well as 18,000 unexploded bombs dating back as far as World War II, when the Japanese invaded Cambodia. While the government claims to remove thousands more per year than any independent agency, some anti-mine activists say Cambodia could be doing a much better job of ridding the country of the deadly explosives."We're making some progress, though the job is far from over," said Rupert Leighton, program manager for MAC.

Leighton predicted that by 2012 Cambodia would be landmine free if the current rate of clearance continues, a prediction based on the one-million-mine estimate. Others predict it could take several decades, perhaps even a century, to rid the country of all explosives. That's bad news for Cambodia's farmers and rural residents who make up the majority of victims.

Hoping to curtail the number of those killed every year, landmine groups have reached out to communities to teach landmine removal and avoidance, particularly to children, who make up a large percentage of the victims. The program is working, Leighton said. In 2005, 850 reportedly were killed by mines. But the following year, that number declined to around 400. But some Cambodians still aren't satisfied with the progress made by the government and NGOS and have taken mine-clearing matters into their own hands.

A self-taught mine clearer who spends weeks at a time roaming the Thai-Cambodian border looking for explosives, Aki Ra claims to have cleared 20,000 himself over the last decade or so.

Aki also operates a landmine museum on the outskirts of Siem Rep, home to Cambodia's internationally acclaimed Angkor Wat Temple. The outdoor museum is little more than a smattering of photos and a collection of deactivated mines and bombs, though it's impact on visitors is monumental. Visitors who came to take in the splendor of Angkor Wat peruse in somber silence the stacks of mines from Russia, China, the United States and several European countries. Watching over the testimony to the terrors of landmines is Aki's wife Hourt, who has joined her husband on landmine clearing expeditions."Sometimes I worry about him, but since he taught me how to clear I know how good he is at his job," said Hourt. Others though, aren't as confident in Aki's skills and motivation for mine clearing."He's not a certified clearer so he shouldn't be doing it. . . . One day he might end up getting hurt or hurting someone else," said Leighton. Read more!

[VIETNAM]Samsung keen to raise investment in fast-growing Vietnam market

Samsung Electronics Co. is increasing its presence in Vietnam, one of the world`s fastest growing economies. Its Vietnamese operation Samsung Vina Electronics Co., shortly called SAVINA, has achieved 15-30 percent annual growth rates for the past several years.

Vietnam is now responsible for 5 percent of Samsung Electronics Southeast Asia region sales, but the country`s portion is expected to become larger, according to Samsung Electronics Southeast Asia Pacific president Park Sang-jin.

Southeast Asian regional revenue hit $10 billion in 2006, up from $8.7 billion in 2005. Samsung aims to earn $11.7 billion from the region this year and $20 billion in 2010.

In case of LCD TVs, sales recorded 250,000 units in 2006, up six times from 40,000 units in 2005. Figures are not available as a single business unit in Vietnam but in larger Southeast Asia Pacific market, according to the company.

President Park said during an IR seminar held late last year in Singapore, "We`re trying to give a little bit of changes in our Southeast Asian market strategies, as the ASEAN Free Trade Area or AFTA pact is to take effect in 2008."

"As the first step, we positively consider building an IT plant in Hanoi, Vietnam."

Plan for IT plant

The newly envisioned plant in Vietnam will be optimized to mass produce PC monitors and printers, as Samsung`s current Ho Chi Minh City plant is rolling out TVs.

Park added that the company`s Southeast Asian businesses will be clearly divided into TV/white-color home electronics in Taiwan, audio/DVD players in Indonesia, TVs in Vietnam, LCD TVs/PC monitors in Malaysia.

Samsung has the lion`s share of the Vietnamese market in products such as flat-panel TVs, digital light processing or DLP TVs, side-by-side refrigerators, MP3 players, DVD players and mobile phones.

The company has sticked to its premium strategy in the market, as Vietnam, with 8.4 million population, shows high economic growth rates approaching 8 percent annually.

Demands are almost explosive in Vietnam`s most populated areas such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Danang.

"No country can hardly catch up with Vietnam for the next 20 years, as the country excels in labor productivity. An average Vietnamese works 48 hours a week including Saturday, and there are only eight holidays in a year. About 54 percent of its workforce is under the age of 30, out of a total of 84 million population," said Yom Sang-youl, general manager at Samsung Vina Electronics.

Samsung recently slightly changed its marketing strategies to include low-end segments as well. It now sells mobile phones priced below $100 in the Vietnamese market.

The regional demand for their CDMA and GSM-compatible handsets is so overwhelming that there is a perennial supply shortage, officials said.

Samsung`s handsets are being supplied via S-Telecom, under the brand name "S-Fone," where Korea`s largest wireless carrier SK Telecom has a 86 percent share.

The country, now with about 20 percent wireless penetration rate, has a promising outlook, officials said.

Samsung`s liquid crystal display TVs are also enjoying growing popularity. The LCD TV lineup includes 26-, 27-, 32-, 37-, 40-, 46- and 52-inches with the brand names of Bordeaux, Mosel and Sonoma.

The Bordeaux TV series, whose shape resembles that of a wine glass, particularly sell well in the region as the Vietnamese puts more and more value on design, officials said.

The new TV lineup was completed with softer lines and transparent materials, enhancing their clean-cut design.

"We think Southeast Asia as key for the growth of our home electronics business. The market actually grows about 20 percent every year," said Hwang Jin-oh, an official at the company`s public relations team.

"We are riding on the Hallyu or Korean wave which draws many Vietnamese to Korean pop culture, which leads to an increased brand recognition," he said.

As its recent feat, the electronics maker won the "Vietnam Quality Award" in the manufacturing sector in November last year.

Quality award

The award, given by the Directorate for Standard Measurement & Quality under the Vietnamese ministry of science, honors enterprises` achievements in quality and performance, meaning the top-notch privilege and honor, Samsung said.

The annual Vietnam Quality Award, modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award of the United States, is given to businesses - manufacturing and service, small and large - that apply and are judged to be outstanding in seven areas such as management results, process management, management leadership and customer satisfaction.

About 500 domestic and overseas companies participated in the competition for the award this year.

The jury recognized Samsung`s efforts on the management process, ranging from manufacturing to service, which is systemized and can be rightly translated into concrete data, according to Samsung.

Further, as part of its social contribution activities, Samsung is helping Vietnamese children suffering from heart diseases and aftereffects of defoliant in the Vietnam War.

Samsung Vina Electronics, along with Samsung Medical Center, plans to fund $250,000 for children`s heart operations and medical equipment by 2007. Read more!