Foreign donors, Cambodian officials meet over aid dialogue

 PHNOM PENH, April 20, 2011 -- Cambodian government officials, representatives of foreign development partners and  civil society met here on Wednesday to revise the development progress Cambodia has made last year under the foreign aid pledged by those donor countries and to hear Cambodia’s needs for 2011.
  Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 18th meeting of the Government-Development Partner Coordination Committee on  Wednesday, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon, minister of finance, said that most of the activities for 2010’s  social and economic development have been implemented and achieved the goals despite some challenges in resource constraints, complexity of issues and capacity levels.
  “Cambodia is on the right track to develop its economy,” he said. “It expected to see more than six percent growth in 2011  with almost all sectors contributing to the growth and private sector will play a leading role in delivering these benefits.”
  The World Bank Country Manager, Qimiao Fan, who is the lead development partner facilitator in the meeting, said:     “Development partners are pleased to note that the majority of the Technical Working Groups are on track to achieve their Joint  Monitoring Indicator (JMI) targets and the overall good performance of the JMIs.”
  Meanwhile, Qimiao Fan stressed most of his remarks on forced evictions with unfair compensations.
  Cambodia has the potential to maintain sustainable, long-term growth at 7-8 percent a year and the government has an  opportunity to shape the future and to make the future of inclusive and sustainable growth a reality by following its comparative  advantages, he said.
  “One of Cambodia’s comparative advantages is its abundant land and land, as we all recognize, is also one of the most  challenging issues in Cambodia,” he said. “With rapid urbanization, the resumption of fast economic growth and the increasing  interest from investors in large-scale commercial farming, land issue will become only more challenging.”
  “Good land planning, land tenure security and a fair and transparent framework for resettlement are critical if Cambodia is to  benefit from this comparative advantage,” he added.
  He added that the development partners believed that it is in Cambodia’s best interests to establish national policies which  ensure that resettlements follow due legal processes and provide fair compensation and support to enable residents to be resettled  such a way that does not cause additional harm and indeed helps to improve their living conditions.
  “Development partner stand ready to assist Cambodia in addressing this and other challenging issues facing the country’s  development and we look forward to a positive response from the government in tackling these challenges,” he added.
  Donors pledged 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2010 for Cambodia’s social and economic development, it is unknown how much the  aid pledge will be this year from those donors to Cambodia.
  The government has sought financial support from donors to ensure sustainable financing and effective implementation of the National Social protection Strategy for the Poor and Vulnerable (2011-2015), which passed by the government last month.