(1) “Longer Roads with Less Money” – No More; NR 41 and 51 – King Ang Duong Access to Sea; NR 41 Runs Through Four Provinces and Ten Districts; China Built 30 Roads, More Than 3000 Km, and Nearly 2 Billion USD
[…] I would like to take this opportunity to first thank His Excellency Wang Wintien, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Kingdom of Cambodia, and through His Excellency, I would like to thank the Government of the People’s Republic of China for providing credit for the expansion and improvement of the quality of this road. As HE Sun Chanthol, Senior Minister and Minister of Public Works and Transports, mentioned, we had already built this road once in 2011 […] however, the condition of the road at that time, as I said in Sihanoukville, (was not up to high standard because) we were building “longer roads with less money.” The situation is not the same anymore. We need to have more construction, expansion and restoration for road quality improvement […]
On May 18, 2011, with the former Chinese Ambassador, Pang Guan Xia, we came to launch the groundbreaking ceremony and on June 2, 2015, we cut the ribbon to put the road into official use […] this road has been in operation for about 10 years, but it suffered damages that we had to rebuild it […] as far as the road line is concerned, we can see its connection in our history […] since the former Kings of all generations paid so much attention in building this road as an access to the sea. The roads 51 and 41 were built mainly under the reign of HM the King Ang Duong and has been called the Ang Duong Road ever since […] (according to the history) after the conquest of Phnom Penh, King Ang Duong did not set up the capital in Phnom Penh immediately. HM went to set up the capital at a place that we now called “the old royal palace” […]
As an access down to the sea, King Ang Duong built this road, which some called Road 41, some people still call King Ang Duong Road or Ang Duong Road. Thus, this clarifies the King’s vision of connection to the sea from the 19th century […] the road is now split into two sections – one side is called Road 51, which we have already poured concrete to connect to National Road 4 (and another side is Road 41). The road runs through four provinces – Kandal, Kampong Speu, Takeo and Kampot and via 10 districts […]
Rebuilding the roads is really very beneficial. That is why we are willing to spend capital on them. Previously, we spent more than US$ 46 million (on them), but now we have to spend US$ 67 million – the cost of building this road […] so far, our friend China has contributed to the construction of some 30 roads, with a length of more than 3,000 kilometers, at the cost of nearly two billion US dollars. They are roads that the constructions have finished. There are still three road lines that are under construction at the cost of more than 500 million US dollars. There are nine major bridges that are either have been built or under construction. On January 2, in Kratie province, we will launch the construction of the bridge across the Mekong River […]
(2) Cambodia-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Established Trust; It Was the Chinese Vaccines That First Came to Our Call; Cambodia-China FTA Enters into Force
The common destiny of the comprehensive strategic partnership between Cambodia and China has established trust, and in addition to providing grants, China has also provided concessional loans for Cambodia’s development. One can see through all the achievements. Our people have been traveling on the roads, on the bridges, going to schools, using hospital services, and getting water for irrigation. At the moment I am just talking about roads, but we have large-scale irrigation systems in provinces. There are other areas that Chinese friends have helped. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the People’s Republic of China for its assistance in our development over the years. In 2022, we especially have a lot of works to do together […]
For the year 2022, we have done a lot to promote our relationship. HE Wang Wintien reminded us of the exchange of delegations through the visit of our King to Beijing to participate in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic. Through this, His Excellency President Xi Jinping, His Excellency Li Keqiang, and I have communicated through video. Recently, His Excellency Premier Li Keqiang paid an official visit to the Kingdom of Cambodia, and attended various meetings. Foreign Minister Wang Yi also paid a series of visits to Phnom Penh, bringing with him a number of gifts, such as vaccines […] and we remember that it was the Chinese vaccine that we first gave to our people. It is through this vaccine that our people are given the opportunity to come out of the crisis, or perhaps out of the catastrophe. I have called for our people to join hand in preventing the catastrophe that we were on the brink of death […]
The Free Trade Agreement between Cambodia and China has entered into force, opening up opportunities for us to expand our export to the markets of the People’s Republic of China. Previously, some Cambodian goods left Cambodia but had to pass through the hands of third countries. China buys Cambodian products/produces, but through other countries. Now, through this agreement and cooperation, Cambodian goods such as fresh Cambodian fruits – bananas, mangoes, longans, and in the near future, Cambodian trout will be exported to the markets in China. That will provide a lot of benefits […]
(3) Four Disequilibrium Addressed in “Ten Years of the Cambodian Journey”; A Different Trend of the Four Disequilibrium; RCEP Comes into Force in 2022; Revenue and Expenditure – a Cash Surplus of USD 350 M
I have already mentioned in my book titled – “Ten Years of the Cambodian Journey,” I wrote for the 10th anniversary of the liberation of the country from the genocidal regime of Pol Pot 1979-1989, I hit on four disequilibrium or imbalances […] the first imbalance was between supply and demand, which, at the time, was differed from the present. We had only a few important needs and supplies that were imbalanced – especially related to food. We had population growth far quicker than food supply. We had to stimulate food production to meet the needs of our growing population in the sense that with a 1% population growth, it was required to have 3% of food growth […] in terms of education, there high demand for education but we lacked school buildings. There was high demand for clothing, for healthcare and treatment but lack the hospital, the lack of doctors […]
What is the second imbalance? The second disequilibrium at that time was between expenditure and revenue of the national budget. At that time, the income was low, while the need to spend was high. The third imbalance is between exports and imports. Our imports were big and exports were very small. What is the fourth imbalance? It is between currency and commodity. I wanted to talk about inflation – the purchasing power of the Riel. If I am not mistaken, I raised those issues, and not just in 1989, we still have to address those issues until the late 1990s and 2000 […]
As of now, what would those disequilibrium be? Imbalance between demand and supply has taken a different angle and dimension – there are too many cars but with narrow lanes. Previously, there was an imbalance between the need for travel and the lack of roads, the lack of vehicles. But now it is an imbalance between the demand for a lot of cars for traveling with small or lack of quality roads […] or the imbalance between export and import, […] has now come to too many products with the lack of market […] the situation has taken a reverse turn that requires the country’s leaders to have a flexible and movable plan and set goals according to the growth of the population […] we also entered into a free trade agreement with South Korea, through which we will promote exports to the country. We are urging some countries to sign free trade agreements because it provides benefits and opportunities for our people to produce and have markets […]
Speaking of production in Cambodia nowadays, the imbalance between the products available in Cambodia and the lack of market has had us on the search for ones. I am pleased with the signing of the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement, and the one with South Korea, in addition to the 15-partnering countries Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), which has entered into force in 2022. It is the pride of Cambodia that Cambodia was the country that made the announcement of the negotiations for the (Regional) Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement when I myself was the chair of ASEAN in 2012. RCEP enters into force in 2022 or ten years later in Cambodia. Cambodia has done a lot of work. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the South China Sea DOC, also held in Phnom Penh, after it was signed in 2002 in Cambodia. Cambodia has done a fair share to the ASEAN framework […]
The imbalance between revenue and expenditure is real and we are still struggling, but in terms of current account, at least between revenue and expenditure this year, for our current expenditure segment, we have a cash surplus of about US$ 350 million. In the past, before Covid-19 occurred, we had an annual surplus of no less than US$ 500 million. We were able to save money. We spent more than US$ 2,000 million in savings on combating the Covid-19. We have released our budget to build roads in Sihanoukville and in Siem Reap provinces […]
As for the disequilibrium between money/cash and commodities, we are struggling with a difficult situation. On the one, we had to combat with Covid-19, and on the one side, we had to deal with impacts caused by war and sanctions, bringing about global inflation impacts. The impacts have taken the course not just because of war, but also from the issue of sanctions, which not only affect the countries to be punished, but also the one to carry out punishment themselves […] it affects others like us […] as the price of oil goes up, so does the price of electricity. However, I have already forbidden increase the price of electricity as doing so would shake Cambodia altogether […] on this note I am seeking your understanding and cooperation not to waste electricity […]
(4) Expanding the Kun Kru Bridge on NR 41; 72% Students Passed High School Exams; Meet and Discuss the Operation of the 10,000 Beds Hospital; Seeking Chinese Army’s Assistance in Mines Clearing to Make Cambodia Free of Mines in 2025
The bridge (of Kun Kru or Thanking the Teachers) needs to expand […] we must begin to expand it further. We have to spend money for further construction. I would like to express my appreciation to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, the Ministry of Economy and Finance with the four provincial authorities and also ask the four provincial authorities to take responsibility to help protect the construction team in their jurisdiction of its responsibility […]
I congratulate the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, local authorities at all levels who have successfully administered the high school exams, also known as the Baccalaureate exams […] up to 72% of students passed the exams and more than 1,000 students came up with A mention. I would like to take this opportunity to speak to those who have passed the exams but with no A mention. That you passed the exams is a great thing already. Does not have to be an A mention, though those with A mention will meet with the Prime Minister, scheduled to take place in February […]
The seemed to have commentaries focusing too much on mentions. Last night, I commented in a profile named Eang Socheata, in which she said with a B mention of the exam, she has been humiliated. Let me tell you all, my children and grandchildren, to focus on the exam goal […] which is to pass the exam. Once you pass the exam, you will have the opportunity to go to college […] and I am appealing to students who do not pass the exam continue to study to take the exams again next year […]
This year can be said to be a lucky year for Cambodia because we chair ASEAN. We have a lot of work to do. On domestic affairs front – the reopening of the country without further disturbances from Covid-19, but that does not mean that we have abandoned the defense measures associated […] I will meet with the Ministry of Health and the Governor of Phnom Penh to prepare for the operation of a new hospital that we built with 10,000 beds capacity. In the era of Covid-19 explosion, we relied on the private sector, which lent us their facilities to house Covid-19 patients. We left no patient on the ground or lying in the streets. With this effort, we have built now a hospital for such emergency even if we do not have one as such now. We can use it for other general medical purpose […]
In January, I plan to visit the Maldives to start relations. The Maldives is a country in need of rice. We wanted to link together on tourism and rice exports. The Maldives is a small country, but there are needs there. It has a lot of tourists and our rice is good. The country can import rice from our country. I am planning to visit Laos too. It will be a state visit and a working meeting of both parties in February (2023). There is this upcoming SEA Games, and we are going to the polls too. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people of Kandal and Kampong Speu who voted for the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) in the last commune elections. I hope that the Cambodian people in general, and the people in Kandal/Kampong Speu, will continue to vote for the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) in the upcoming July 2023 elections […]
People have already seen that when the CPP (Cambodia) came to power, peace was happening all over the country. Now, places that used to be at war have become tourist destinations. We are speeding up the demining of the remaining mined areas. In the meeting with the Chinese Minister of Defense, in addition to the Chinese government’s assistance to demining, I asked the Chinese army to come to the Cambodian army’s assistance in clearing and destroying mines so that Cambodia will be free of mines in 2025 so that the Royal Government will be able to provide safe land for our people to grow crops […]
(5) Battlefields to Development Zones and Borderline of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation; CPP General Assembly in January 2023; Do Not Let Peace Slip Out of Hands
This is the goal that I set after implementing the win-win policy […] there are two big points (1) to turn all former battlefields into development zones, and (2) to turn the borderline with neighboring countries into a borderline of peace, friendship, cooperation and development. This is the second major goal. We have demined up to 95% of the areas where we used to have war activities. The remaining 5%, let us say so, we must complete the job from now to 2025. The day before, in the (CPP) Standing Committee (meeting), we set out a strategy to destroy landmines completely by 2025 – the strategy for leading the country for 2023-28. This January (2023), the CPP will open the general assembly to approve its policy guidelines for the next term […]
Hopefully our people will continue to support (CPP leadership). When the CPP is in power, people can go everywhere. I do not know what more could others demand since these days we have overflowing freedom […] or would it be freedom only when you win and arrest, and imprison (and/or) kill others […] how many parties in Cambodia are promising so and so with the people. What the people are really getting is peace in their hands. Do not let this peace slip out of hands […]
