(1) Could not make it to the National Assembly Session for prior engagement
Today is the opening day of the national assembly sessions, which includes also the King’s message. I am taking this opportunity (to apologize) to the National Assembly (that because of prior engagement, I could not make it). I do not think, however, it was my fault because the parliament sent me the program in such a short time, only a week before the actual date, while my program has been prepared for more than a month. Hopefully, the National Assembly will be able to set a time and notify us sooner. I hope the National Assembly understand the works of the Royal Government. It is not to criticize the National Assembly, but to beg the National Assembly to decide on the session dates faster as the government has had a lot of works […]
(2) Human resources training carried out since the overthrow of the Pol Pot regime
HE Ith Sam Heng recalled the background of the National Institute of Business (NIB), which, in 1979, was established as the “Central Technical School of Business” under the auspices of the Ministry of Commerce. This indicates that focusing on human resources training was not just the focus of the present day. The fact that I went to teach at this school twice […] indicates the beginning where each institution had had their training programs. In running the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I oversaw the opening of a diplomatic training school. At the Ministry of Commerce, the then Minister HE Tang Sarim, had worked hard (to get training in this field going) […] more and more people are benefiting from the overthrow of the genocidal regime of Pol Pot, and later the ending of the war, and the making of peace that people are benefiting from the hard-won peace […]
(3) The peacetime youth receive training for socio-economic development
In present day, youth have plenty of opportunity. In comparison, the wartime youth not only lost their opportunities, but also their lives and/or were injured and disabled. They could not get training of any skills other than fighting […] if we look at the number of military technology Cambodia is rich with weapons from many sources […] (we must have human resource in) the defense sector […] we must know about how to fight, but we have made efforts to also possess skills. For example, in the 1980s and 1990s, until the year 2000, civil engineering was used in conjunction with the training of our troops […] the overall environment for our country is very different. In the past, they practiced how to fight, kill, and destroy each other. We are now training to strengthen human resources to participate in the socio-economic development of Cambodia […]
(4) NIB undergoes three transferences
Hopefully, what we established from 44 years ago will not be lost, especially this school, which needs to strengthen its technical base so that Cambodian youth can capture technological knowledge for their works, and participate in the development of the country […] I am satisfied with the progress of NIB of Cambodia, which has maintained the pace and momentum of growth since its transference. NIB was transferred in three stages – from the Ministry of Commerce to the Ministry of Education, and lately from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training. We need to speed up (our effort and) get ready to provide technical training to some 1.5 million people in the future. In that case, as far as the ancestral professions, maybe the Ministry of Culture needs help from the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training […]
(5) Warning of global economic downturn causes people to withdraw money from banks
[…] The (global) economy is declared to be in a state of emergency. People should not be so nervous as to withdraw money from the bank. The IMF, as well as the World Bank, has repeatedly warned of the risk of a global economic downturn […] it has become a psychological issue for people to withdraw money (from banks). Some US banks collapsed […] Cambodia has not yet reached that level. Despite warnings of a global economic downturn, (I am sure) the world hopes to find a way to control the economy further […] while the epidemic is a one matter, unilateral sanctions, combined with the war between Russia and Ukraine, has created a bad situation for the global economy […]
(6) Diseases, unilateral sanctions and war create a bad situation for the global economy
The plague is one thing, but the issue of unilateral sanctions, combined with the war that began with the war between Russia and Ukraine, has created a terrible situation for the global economy […] the Russian-Ukrainian war, as we all know, will end. It is just that nobody knows when it ends. Russia cannot destroy Ukraine and Ukraine cannot destroy Russia. Finally, it is clear that there will be negotiations to find a solution to end the war […] Even if war spreads to the whole of NATO, neither NATO nor Russia can destroy each other […]
(7) China’s peace proposal covers a peaceful solution to the Russia-Ukraine war
[…] Sometimes there are compromises to evacuate people and provide corridors for humanitarian aid, dialogue to exchange prisoners of war, etc. However, the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s proposal has a broader scope that covers the solution to peace […] the Russia-Ukraine war will end, we just don’t know when […] the most dangerous thing that does not end is the climate change effects. Nobody knows when it ends. Day by day, climate change has made huge impacts […]
(8) UN agencies – concerns about public health risks and rising elderly population
The most dangerous thing that will never end is climate change. We do not know when it will end. Day by day, the issue of climate change has made a huge impact […] the day before, we discussed with the UN agencies […] our partners, the UN agencies in Cambodia, mentioned their concerns about preparing in advance on two issues. The first is the public health risk and the second is the growing number of elderly populations. I replied that it is on this note that I had to build a hospital with a capacity of up to 10,000 beds […] we have not won the whole war of Covid-19. We have just won the battle of Alpha, Omicron, etc. we have to be prepared to respond to public health emergencies […] even in agriculture, we are worried about the heat. When the heat rises, do our rice varieties withstand the heat or not? […]
(9) From self-sufficiency to the commercial economy
Cambodia’s economy is not isolated. We have inter-related relationships. Let me give you an example – as far as textiles industry is concerned in Cambodia, we have imported raw materials from China, from India, from Pakistan, and the final products are in Cambodia. We then ship them from Cambodia to the United States, to Europe, to Japan. It is intertwined, which is called economic integration. Cambodia has now gone from being a self-sufficient economy to a commercial economy. We are talking about trade on everything […] we are in a phase of a market economy where the market acts as a judge. All of you have had education (and learnt about the law of economics) would not be fooled by the unfortunate propaganda of some people who are whispering that “the government does not set the price of electricity” […] they claimed to have hated communism but they forced the government to do economy the communist way […]
(10) From the youngest to the longest serving Prime Minister in the world
I am just sharing (some of the thoughts with you all) as a head of state. So far, I have broken the world records for the longest serving ones. Not to mention my times as the ministers and deputy prime ministers, I have been the prime minister for over 38 years […] no one in this world has been Prime Minister as long as Hun Sen? I broke the first record as the youngest Prime Minister in the world 38 years ago. Now I have broken another record by being the longest-serving prime minister in the world. Some say that Hun Sen is fighting to stay in power. Okay! I accept, but I wanted to ask you, what does it mean to seize power? I am just defending the power I have (been entrusted by the people). What wrong do I do? What about you who wish to come to power as the Prime Minister? If you do not want to do it (fight for power), then do not accuse others for doing so. You are in fact the one who wish to seize power as the Prime Minister. I am a defender of the power of the Prime Minister. Why can I not do it? […]
(11) Learning of the opposition’s wish from the Malaysian Prime Minister
The Malaysian Prime Minister visited (Cambodia). They were able to twist the words of the Prime Minister of Malaysia […] falsely suggesting that the Prime Minister of Malaysia came to (give Cambodia) guidance. You need to understand how to lead a country. They have their virtues. They have a principle of non-interference. I’m just sending you a message. When the Malaysian Prime Minister was in opposition, you could contact him – opposition to opposition. From being a former prisoner to becoming the Prime Minister of Malaysia, he has now become a partner to other rulers. I learned from him what the (Cambodian) opposition wanted to do on Malaysian soil.
I just wanted to make it clear to you […] that the Prime Minister of Malaysia already told me (about your plan), you should have hope that you can make a presence on Malaysian soil. Please forgive me, (Prime Minister) HE Anwar Ibrahim. I did not raise any thing about that, but he affirmed to me that so and so person wanted to come (to Malaysia) but he (told) not to allow the person to come. Some of his National Assembly members asked for him to come for a meeting. (HE Anwar Ibrahim said) he told those National Assembly members not to do it. I added to his word then, “if it were done (as suggested), it would be impossible for the states to look into each other’s eyes […]./.
