Selected Comments of Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Cambodia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) [Unofficial translations]
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(1) Cambodia becomes a low-middle-income country and one of the promising in Asia
As of present, Cambodia has become a low-middle-income country, and one of the promising in Asia. Where does this (situation) come from? It is not born of chance or of angels being kind to us. It comes from setting clear policies and a long-term vision. In her speech, the Minister of Trade, Ms. Chamnimol, stated that we joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2004 […] (the process seeking accession had) taken a decade from the beginning of the negotiations in 1994 […]
As the war ended in 1998, and the country embarked on it first stage strategic direction of the country’s development in the Triangular Strategy, […] laid down from 1998 to 2003, where are three angles – one angle is to build, strengthen and sustain the recently won peace […]; the second angle is to implement full fledge integration. The third angle is to promote national development and reduce poverty […] with which we became a member of ASEAN in 1999 and joined the WTO in 2004. We have joined regional and global mechanisms and have reaped numerous benefits for the country […]
(2) Accession to WTO not just for formality but transforming from diplomatic and economic isolation to multilateral mechanism integrations
More than 100 people from different institutions participated in the negotiation of (accession to) WTO membership for the benefit of the people […] Cambodia at that time was difficult to meet the required conditions, but the political will demanded that we must accomplish it […] We enter the WTO not just for formality. Should we pursue that line of action, it would have been a loss. That means we would have achieved only formality but not real results […]
In the last 20 years, the results have been (demonstrated) by (the fact that Cambodia has been) transforming from diplomatic and economic isolation to integration with multilateral mechanisms, a process of which has made Cambodia prosperous […] we have attracted investment (to the country). Opening a business is a two-way process. That we put in motion the outflow of products (to the outside world), we should also anticipate the inflow of products, in addition to technology and investment capital, (from outside) […] the flow of technology and (goods) is what enables us to build human resource capacity, infrastructure capacity, and investment climate capacity […]
(3) The competition in the trade battle is to strengthen the internal capacity
There have been some who asked, if we Cambodians are poor, why else should we join the WTO? How could we expect to win the competition […] well, a vision for integration is “we are making ourselves strong” […] primarily, our market is small […] and secondarily, the door is for entry and exit. We cannot open the door to work with them only when we are sure that we are strong, but when it comes to what we are weak, we would close the door not to let them in. The same goes for other countries […] the competition to strengthen ourselves in the trade battle is to strengthen the internal capacity […] whereas our aim to open this market is not just to widen it, but to raise the standard since we bring our products to those markets in the countries with high standards requirement.
Therefore, it is required that our local producers have certifies their (products) standards […] to ensure the sustainability, stability and continuity of the correct policies […] we cannot separate our country from this bloc to join other blocs. We must continue to implement and strengthen the policy of neutrality based on the rule of law, independence, national interest, cooperation with all countries and further integration in the world organizations […]
(4) Being a prosperous country means the per capita income is high
It takes time and effort to take care of the positive achievements that have achieved before. We are moving on. The method may be slightly different, but we are on the same direction. The approach to expanding integration (may be different) as the world situation keep changing, and the geopolitical competition intensifies, and spreading to trade competition […] the UN Committee for Policy Development has made an assessment that Cambodia […] can leave the status of one of the least developed countries (LDC) in 2029. We have not only met the conditions require but also achieved more […]
Leaving the status of one of the least developed countries, what will we face? We will lose certain favorable principles in trade and finance, etc. […] however, we have no choice but to strengthen our independence and ownership by leaving the LDC status to further strengthen ourselves […] being dependence is uncertain. It makes us lose effort. If we do not face difficulties, we would remain stagnant […] A prosperous country does not refer to a rich state, but to a GDP per capita, meaning that the per capita income is high. How can it be wrong as the Royal Government sets a goal to uplift the living standard of each and everyone […]
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(5) Growing global competition requires constantly modernized internal investment conditions
(Trade) negotiation is not easy. Once the agreement is reached, follow-up will start […] this is the key to our success […] the fact that we can export a lot, especially agricultural products, is because we have been able to guarantee the standard that proves our responsibility as this is a very sensitive matter. Many countries, especially European countries, have high criteria that require us to regularly monitor and inspect product quality. Opening a port is difficult, but maintaining this port is very difficult, and business is no different from selling products. You must always win the trust of customers, otherwise credit will be damaged and it will be difficult […] growing global competition requires us to constantly modernize our internal investment conditions […], sharpen internal reform standards […], and increase the use of technology to reduce costs and complexity […]
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(6) Cambodia does not join any mechanism with a political agenda to compete with or oppose to any bloc
The Royal Government certainly continues the policy of integration […] the other day there was a suggestion for us to examine the possibility of participation in some mechanisms. There are now many mechanisms in place in the region, especially some that are not related or less relevant to the economy but more to the security policy nature and that could affect our neutral policy […] Cambodia does not join any mechanism with a political character set up to compete with or oppose any bloc. We join a bloc (or mechanism) that aims to maintain harmony, peace, prosperity in the region, promote joint development in the region, and especially the economy and mechanisms that maintain peace in the region. Cambodia needs peace […] internal peace must be maintained, whereas regional peace is necessary because it involves us […]
We continue to seek mechanisms whereby we can expand ourselves, expand the possibilities in all areas to interconnect. We continue to do so on a regular basis. The relevant ministries and institutions are still working on this. It is not just a trade mechanism. Whether they are mechanism for national defense and/or security, as long as it is in the nature of keeping peace, stability and transboundary crime zones, we will say yes to it. If those mechanisms are formed to oppose so and so, we will not participate at all […] we remain a member of the United Nations as well as ASEAN, an active group that maintains peace, stability and development in the common interest […]
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(7) Negotiation on improvement of north-south rail and examining the possibility of the rail from Phnom Penh to the east
We are planning and negotiating more on the road infrastructure system, the highway system, and beyond that, the railway system. We have a north-south railway to negotiate. I have given the principle to the relevant ministries and relevant companies to negotiate to reach an MOU by the end of this year. It has been stuck for decades. We can no longer leave it at that. In the future, we can examine the possibility of connecting the railway from Phnom Penh to the east to helps in transportation and reducing costs […]
About the waterway, the (soon to be the Funan Techo) canal will connect the sea to the (areas along the) river. Now we are looking for river rehabilitators, especially in the upper part […] in order for our waterway to connect, we will build the 50C road from Kampong Thom to Kampong Chhnang province where there will be a multi-purpose port […] which will increase attention to the principles of strengthening infrastructure to reduce total costs […] including electricity, fertilizer, water, transportation to compete with outside […] we have some budget to study the railway, but the negotiation has not yet completed. We had to wait […]
We have 300 million yuan that China has provided as a grant for this railway. As negotiations have not yet come to a conclusion, (we cannot yet move on with it.) Therefore, we must get the job done and make sure that we start upgrading our north-south rail […] and continue to attract direct investment, internal investment, and strengthen what we have, both air, waterways, land and railways […]
(8) Central and provincial chambers of commerce should act as representatives of the private sector working with the state
To my mind, the central and provincial chambers of commerce should act as representatives of the private sector working with the state. Now we have the Oknha Association, the entrepreneurs, SMEs, and various representations, to work directly with the state. Anyway, they can meet with me personally, because sometimes meeting at the relevant ministries and institutions may have been useful, but they may not be able to deal with so many complex issues. Sometimes, a meeting with me would bring about a clue how to deal with the issue […]
One of the tasks is to monitor and help solve the problem […] if the government does not succeed, who would be in difficult situation? People and the private sector. Therefore, we have to be flexible. I am not going to do the job on behalf of His Excellency and Lok Chumteav, ministers. I can only encourage you to do the job. Sometimes, I help you so that you can help me back. Talking about that, who do we all help? We help the nation, the people, and our private sector so that he can help the farmers, help our people by creating jobs and business […]./.
