Without Concept of History, There Would Be No Future
HE Hang Chuan Naron, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, made a report to us about progress scored by the Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE) […] in the past I was also a lecturer in this university, administered then not by the Ministry of Education but by the Ministry of Interior […]. There might be some photos at SPK or anyone from the former State of Cambodia and even the former People’s Republic of Kampuchea. Those photos, if any, would help illustrate my participation (to the university) from the very beginning […] lately, I have been passing RULE twice a day, to and from work, and I have noted progress made compared to 1996 […]
Some have said that we play documentary movies about Phnom Penh when it was empty and in destructed condition. If we do not show our people what we came from, how could our people know where we are now? Some have been afraid what the comparison between when we first started and what we have achieved now would show. They do not want to see. They wish to hide our progress. In fact, there is nothing to be afraid. We should reflect our past as it was. We must remember them. Whoever has no concept of history would not know where s/he is now, and not even where to go […]
The 21st Anniversary of the Win-win Policy, Reconciling and Unifying Cambodia
On this coming 29 December 2019, we will celebrate the 21st anniversary of the win-win policy formulation and implementation leading to national reconciliation, which not only ended the war but unifying our water and land (territory), where there were many divisions before […]. As of 29 December 1998, Cambodia has no more internal war and the country is under one rule. That has provided our youth with chances to study. It is a diamond and gold opportunity for them […] since 1996 through to the present I have presided over 20 graduation and diploma presenting ceremonies already.
We did not have permanent building then, sometimes even under rain […] the building we have now is not big […] whatever size it is or they are we must preserve them […] people were talking about the more than 100-years-old bridge in Battambang, built under the French time, was to be demolished. Let me affirm now that anything with its age of fifty years and more left to us now we will make efforts to keep them. They are our achievements. We must fix it if it is not in good condition. The Battambang authority issued a news release so that people avoid using the old and poor-condition bridge for unforeseeable accidents. We must find a way to build more bridges there instead […]
Employment at 93.96% among Graduates; More Foreign Students
People may have noticed that I rarely put on a necktie. It was easy to understand. Firstly, I have gained some weight and my dresses have to alter. I could not even put on my necktie and I am thinking about whoever was the one inventing necktie […] many dressing ways from European countries imitated in Cambodia. Many Muslim countries in the Middle East keep their traditional clothes or dressing codes […]
I have two remarks to make to you today. Firstly, the employment rate among graduates stands at 93.96% […] 22.86% with state institutions, 1.91% with national non-governmental organizations, 1.15% with international non-governmental organizations, and 62.43% with private sector, in which 11.65% are self-employments […]. Secondly, we have many foreign students studying in RULE. There are 158 of them […] from Laos, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, China, France, US, Bangladesh, Morocco, UK, Mali, Gabon, Tunisia, and Ivory Coast […]
One-Time Cultivation of Dry Season Rice
Seasonal flood this year has receded fast. According to report of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the country harvested two million hectares over 2.7 million hectares of rainy season rice. I hope the remaining part does not affect by shortage of water. I have seen though that some area where people cultivate dry season rice already affected by water shortage. I have issued already a circular for people not to cultivate dry rice more than one time and they should diversify their cultivation to other crops that may require less water. From a bird eye’s view, I have seen in Prey Veng people cultivate sugar canes. I have instructed the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to conduct zoning study so that we are sure as to where to grow what and crops that may require less amount of water. Should we continue to grow just rice even there is not sufficient water, our economy would face with backwardness […]
Some Hate Communists but Like Communist Price Mechanism
The Ministry of Agriculture and concerned agencies have already explained why price of rice has gone lower. There are always reasons for everything. Rice of good quality would get same price while those with low quality would not […] I have a hard time understanding some people who on one hand hate communism but on the other appeal to or ask me to do it the communist way. How? They asked me to fix the price for rice. They scold us of being communists but they instruct us to implement communist model economy – the centrally planned economy, where the state would fix the price for everything […] let me tell them that all we can do is to make an appeal to the market mechanism but not to fix the price […]
Increase in Production, Fail Export Target
According to the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, HE Veng Sokhon, rice production has not been lower than three metric tons per hectares or 86 kg more than last year […] rice production has increased though we do not enlarge land for production. Surplus of this year is roughly over six million metric tons of rice. We will have to make efforts to export to outside markets. According to report, this year we sold to outside markets over half a million tons […] it is like was have gold but we do not have paper to wrap them. We have policy to increase rice production and to export one million metric ton of milled rice, among which we have succeeded in increasing the production, or we have a surplus of six million metric tons of rice. As for export, we did not accomplish our one-million metric ton of milled rice. We sold about 70% of the surplus rice to Vietnam and 30% to Thailand […] we are working to draw in investors as we are lacking drying silo, milling machines, and warehouses […]
Industry’s Two Major Objectives
As for industry, the first objective is to have processing industry working on agricultural produce available in Cambodia such as coffee, rubber, etc. Local and foreign SME would be able to carry out this objective because it would not take too big a capital […] before the Khmer New Year (in April 2020), I will meet with SME people and sportsmen/women […] the second objective of industry is to attract investments in high-tech industry. Though we are keeping interest in labor-intensive industry using more labor such as garment, we also need to absorb high-skill industry such as Minebea from Japan […] people have ability to purchase sports dresses and wears […] this has brought us a vision to bring our production into characterized world production […]
Rather Good News at Year’s End
Days ago, it was a good news that the three countries partner of ASEAN – China, Japan and South Korea met. They agreed to implement pluralism, which would reduce hardships from trade war between the US and China, or between the US and other countries. This should allow ASEAN to have some flexibilities as we are going to have this ASEAN plus countries […] that the three countries met in China was a good sign and I think it will have positive impact for regional economies […] and for Cambodia as well […]
The political message from the US President about the US moving so close to a trade agreement with China is even more positive. If it turned out to be true, where the two top world economies reduce their adversaries and replace it with a trade agreement, (it is a positive thing to look for).
Though there are still some bad issues about war in some countries, days now there is this news about trade disputes between Indonesia and countries in Europe […] where goods from Europe have been prohibited from entering Indonesia. European countries, in response, cause trouble to Indonesia’s palm oil […]
I am keeping abreast with this news about strengthening partnerships among Japan, China and South Korea, and those about the US and China moving closer to signing a trade agreement. If all go well, we would have a better situation for the world of globalization or multi-pluralism than unilateralism or protectionism. In days ahead, North Korea promised to give the US a “Christmas gift” which nobody would know if it is going to be a missile or a political negotiation […]./.
