Separate surnames bill readied

Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009
Kyodo News

Legislation would allow married couples to keep family names

Justice Minister Keiko Chiba has decided to submit a bill to an ordinary Diet session to be convened in January to revise the Civil Code so that married couples can choose whether to have the same family name or keep their own surnames, sources said Saturday.

The envisioned bill is also likely to amend the current provision under the Civil Code that prohibits women from remarrying within six months of a divorce, the sources said.

Chiba has already conveyed her intention to the prime minister's office and begun discussions with other relevant Cabinet members, they said.

The government and the ruling parties are expected to start coordinating on the issue from the beginning of next year.

According to the sources, Chiba hopes to get Cabinet approval for the amendment around March, following consent from the Justice Ministry.

Under the planned amendment, the family name of any children of married couples who opt to have separate surnames will likely be unified with that of either of the parents, the sources said.

As for the provision barring women from remarrying after a divorce, the bill is expected to lower the period to around 100 days instead of the current six months, they added.

The Civil Code adopted the provision prohibiting women from remarrying within six months of a divorce to avoid possible confusion in determining the father of the child if the woman became pregnant during such a period.

However, the regulation has been criticized as outdated and discriminatory as men are free to remarry anytime after a divorce.

The planned revision is also likely to scrap another discriminatory provision in which a child born out of wedlock is entitled to receive only half the inheritance that a child born in wedlock can, the sources said.

In 1996, the Legislative Council, an advisory panel to the justice minister, recommended that the government introduce a system allowing married couples to choose separate surnames.

Although the Justice Ministry once compiled a bill to revise the Civil Code, it abandoned the idea of submitting it to the Diet due to opposition from the then ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan, to which Chiba belongs, repeatedly submitted to the Diet when it was in opposition an amendment bill to allow for separate surnames for married couples, but it was scrapped each time.

South Korea grillings

Justice Minister Keiko Chiba said Friday she will visit South Korea next month to inspect its system of recording the interrogation process of crime suspects.

South Korea introduced visual and audio recordings of the interrogation of suspects in January last year.

During her visit from Jan. 6 to 8, Chiba will exchange views with South Korea judicial authorities at the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Justice.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/26/world/asia/26cherry.html

The New York Times
Original text by AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: December 25, 2009

TOKYO (Agence France-Presse) — Japan’s weather agency said Friday that it would stop forecasting the start of cherry blossom season, an annual headache that has embarrassed forecasters in the past.

The agency has been trying since 1955 to predict when the cherry trees will bloom, a rite that draws millions who picnic under the petals. In 2007, the chief weatherman was forced to bow in apology after a wrong forecast. The agency will continue observing cherry trees to declare the official opening of the flower season, an official said.

Where Gods and Soldiers Tend the Border in Cambodia

Visitors, including Buddhist monks, make their way along a stone-paved pathway at Preah Vihear Temple on a mountaintop in northern Cambodia. (Photo: Daniel Robinson)

Cambodian soldiers guarding the Thai border are based near Preah Vihear Temple. (Photo: Daniel Robinson)


December 27, 2009
By DANIEL ROBINSON
The New York Times
Explorer

IN the wet season, the roads through the northwestern region of Cambodia turn into an undulating sea of muck, with potholes the size of cars and ruts as deep as truck axles. To figure out which routes were least likely to leave me wet, muddy and stranded, I buttonholed a dozen long-distance taxi drivers before settling on the toll road from Dam Dek, which had the added attraction of passing by two out-of-the-way Angkorian temples, Beng Mealea and Koh Ker.

My destination was an even more remote Angkor-era complex: Preah Vihear Temple, awesomely perched 1,700 feet above Cambodia’s northern plains, near the country’s border with Thailand. Designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2008 — not without some international controversy — it makes an adventurous alternative to far-better-known Angkor Wat. While several thousand foreign tourists visit the temples of Angkor on a typical day, Preah Vihear Temple gets, on average, just five.

I was traveling with my friend and driver, Hang Vuthy, in a 1991 Toyota Camry with a surprising New York past: according to a window sticker, it had once belonged to a member of the Yonkers Police Captains, Lieutenants and Sergeants Association. Imagining the car in a mid-Atlantic blizzard, it occurred to me that wet-season driving in outback Cambodia is not entirely unlike navigating unplowed snowy side streets. Indeed, for much of our journey we avoided the most treacherous stretches of mire and snaked around potholes of indeterminate depth by religiously following a single serpentine track rendered navigable by earlier cars and trucks.

Preah Vihear Temple — the name means Mountain of the Sacred Temple — is the most spectacularly situated of all Angkorian monuments. Built from the ninth to the 12th centuries atop a peak of the Dangkrek Mountains, it occupies a triangular plateau rising from the Thailand border to a prow-shaped promontory.

An ever-changing architectural, mythological and geological panorama unfolds as visitors progress along the temple’s 2,600-foot-long processional axis, up a series of gently sloping causeways and steep staircases through five gopura, or pavilions, each more sacred than the last.

I began my visit at the bottom of the Monumental Staircase, which, according to the Angkor scholar Vittorio Roveda, “symbolizes the laborious path of faith needed to approach the sacred world of the gods.” The 163 gray sandstone steps, partly carved into the living rock, are flanked by statues of lions and, near the top, two magnificent nagas (seven-headed serpents) facing north toward Thailand. Also intently watching Thai territory were several AK-47-toting Cambodian soldiers in camouflage.

The first structure I came to, called Gopura V by generations of archaeologists, was an airy cruciform construction once topped by wood beams and a terra-cotta tile roof. Many of the stones have tumbled over, but the delicately balanced eastern pediment has survived to become Preah Vihear’s most recognizable icon, appearing on publicity posters, patriotic T-shirts and the new 2,000-riel banknote.

In centuries past, this pavilion was where pilgrims from the plains of Cambodia, having just climbed the steep, mile-long Eastern Staircase (mined and inaccessible for decades but soon to reopen), met their counterparts from what is now Thailand, who had completed a rather less-taxing ascent from the Khorat Plateau.

Alongside a group of saffron-robed monks, I continued north on a majestic, sandstone avenue, 800 feet long, to Gopura IV. There, I came upon a particularly vivid bas-relief depicting the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, a Hindu creation myth in which gods and demons churn the primeval waters to extract the ambrosia of immortality.

Although most of the splendid decorative carvings at Preah Vihear, including this one, depict Vishnu, the temple was originally dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. In later centuries, it was converted to use as a Buddhist sanctuary, and today many of the visitors are Buddhist pilgrims.

As I continued my ascent, I walked under exquisite lintels and tympanums depicting more scenes from Hindu epics like the Mahabharata, and beneath richly carved double pediments adorned with finials and upturned gable ends — calling cards of Cambodian and Thai architecture to this day. Ancient inscriptions in Khmer and Sanskrit, bearing cryptic details about the history of the temple and the Angkorian kings who built it, were hidden here and there under a patina of lichen.

The temple’s culminating point, geographically and symbolically, is Gopura I, whose mandapa (antechamber) and Central Sanctuary, now a jumbled pile of carved sandstone blocks, are surrounded by galleries that call to mind a French Gothic cloister, except that here the windows are rectilinear and the galleries covered by corbelled vaults. (The Khmers, for all their architectural genius, never mastered the keystone arch.)

The entire structure is inward-looking, its outer walls almost devoid of openings despite the sweeping views just outside. Scholars speculate that while the site was considered holy in part because of its spectacular situation, the ancient architects may have believed that picture windows would distract both priests and pilgrims from their sacred tasks.

As I approached the rocky tip of the promontory, just beyond Gopura I, a breathtaking panorama came into view. Cambodia’s verdant northern plains extended majestically toward the horizon, and in the distance I could just make out Phnom Kulen, about 65 miles to the southwest, where the Khmer Empire was founded in A.D. 802. (Angkor itself lay hidden in the haze, 88 miles away.)

To the east, toward Laos, and the west, the Dangkrek Mountains stretched into the distance in a series of serrated bluffs. Looking north, almost everything I could see was in Thailand, rendered remote and mysterious by its inaccessibility.

Thailand ruled much of northwestern Cambodia, including Preah Vihear Temple, from the late 18th century until 1907, when the French colonial administration forced the Thais to withdraw to the current international frontier; Cambodian sovereignty over Preah Vihear was confirmed by the International Court of Justice in 1962.

Thailand, despite unresolved land claims, initially supported Cambodia’s Unesco bid for World Heritage status, but the temple soon became a pawn in Thai and Cambodian domestic politics, unleashing nationalist passions in both countries.

In July 2008, according to Cambodian authorities, Thai soldiers intruded into Cambodian territory near the temple. The Thai government denied that any border violations had taken place. Since then, a total of at least seven soldiers from both sides have been killed in intermittent exchanges of fire, according to local news reports. At the time of my visit, though, the frontier had been quiet for several months.

Curious about what the standoff actually looked like, I asked my guide, conveniently a moonlighting army officer, if I could get a glimpse of the Thais. He took me to the bottom of the Monumental Staircase, where I could hear the distant sounds of war — air-raid sirens and shooting — but the combat was taking place on a tiny television, which off-duty soldiers were watching with rapt attention.

We walked along a forest trail past a volleyball court and trenches, passing soldiers in hammocks with their wives stealing a moment of intimacy in an encampment with little privacy, to a forest clearing with a bamboo table at the center.

About 20 yards in front of us stood a line of neatly built bunkers; uniformed men could be seen among the dark green sandbags. “So those are Cambodian soldiers?” I asked, trying to get my bearings. “No,” my guide answered, “those are Thais. Over there” — he turned 180 degrees and pointed to a line of bunkers 20 yards in the other direction — “are Cambodians.” The table, I realized, marked the midpoint of no-man’s land.

The Cambodians’ front-line bunkers, made of disintegrating sandbags sprouting grass, were shaded by blue and green tarpaulins and surrounded by orderly gardens. Their raised observation post, topped by a thatched roof, looked as if it might have been on loan from “Gilligan’s Island.” I was in the middle of a very un-Korean Panmunjom, a laid-back, tropical version of Christmas 1914 on the Western Front.

I soon learned that the Cambodian soldiers stationed there call the site Sambok Kmom, or beehive, because, they say, the area’s many wild bees leave Cambodians unmolested but set upon any Thai who encroaches on Cambodian land. Moved by national feeling, domestic tourists wearing krama (traditional checked scarves that serve as something of a Cambodian national symbol) wandered by, distributing cigarettes and other morale-boosting gifts to the soldiers who were deployed to help the bees protect Cambodian sovereignty.

Around the clearing, soldiers from both sides, unarmed and without body armor or helmets, were relaxing in front of their own front-line bunkers. Cambodian officers seemed to find the bamboo table, shaded by trees tall enough to let breezes through, especially congenial. A few paces away, the Thais had strung a hammock between trees, and one soldier, lounging in a white T-shirt, black combat pants and black military boots, was engrossed in a cellphone call.

Despite the apparent tranquillity, I knew that if the order were given, the men on both sides of the invisible line would not hesitate to shoot. In fact, many of the Cambodian troops stationed around Preah Vihear are battle-hardened former Khmer Rouge fighters. For now, though, relations are casual and, I was told, some wary friendships have developed.

The best staging point for a visit to Preah Vihear Temple is Sra Em (also spelled Sa Em), 19 miles by road from the temple. Two years ago, it was a sleepy crossroads hamlet with a single grimy restaurant and one rundown guesthouse. These days, in the wake of the area’s military buildup, it feels like a Gold Rush boomtown, with haphazardly parked four-wheel-drives instead of tethered horses; karaoke bars sporting pink fluorescent lamps and colored lights, instead of saloons; and the gleanings of Cambodia’s recently doubled defense budget, instead of gold nuggets glinting in the stream. Armed men in camouflage uniforms abound.

Sra Em’s accommodation options are rudimentary, to put it politely. My room’s star amenity was a cold-water spigot for filling the plastic bucket used both to bathe and to flush, and below the cheap plastic mirror and its public access comb, dust bunnies had formed around the hair of guests past. Each time I returned to my room, I found a dead cricket, a new one every day, hinting, perhaps, at the presence of some sinister insecticide.

Preah Vihear Temple is, obviously, not quite ready for mainstream tourism. During the two days I spent at the temple in October, I saw only four other Westerners, including an unhappy German couple whose day trip from Angkor Wat had been rather more trying than expected, and perhaps 50 or so Cambodian tourists. But intrepid travelers who brave the diabolical (though improving) roads, substandard accommodations and alarming government travel advisories are richly rewarded.

For 40 generations, Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims have trekked to this temple, seeking to ascend toward the holy and the transcendent. Today, the awe-inspiring nature of this Angkorian masterpiece, accentuated by the challenges of getting there, confer on every trip the aura of a pilgrimage.

NAIL-BITING TAXI TRIPS AND A VOLCANO AT YOUR TABLE

GETTING THERE

With the visa-free crossing from Thailand closed for the foreseeable future, getting to Preah Vihear Temple requires battling Cambodia’s famously potholed roads, which are at their worst during the wet season (about June to October).

Share-taxis, which have no set schedule and depart when full, link Sra Em with Siem Reap via the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng ($7.50 a person; 130 miles; three hours) and with the provincial capital of Tbeng Meanchey ($6.50; 65 miles; two hours). The U.S. dollar is widely accepted.

The taxis, usually “jacked-up” Toyota Camrys, carry six or seven passengers in addition to the driver, so if you want the front seat to yourself you’ll have to pay two fares. Ante up six times the single fare and you’ve got yourself a private taxi.

From Sra Em, a ride to Kor Muy on the back of a motorbike will run about $3.75. Then the three-mile ride up the mountain to Preah Vihear Temple, on a concrete road whose gradients will impress even San Franciscans, is $5 by motorbike or $20 to $25 by four-wheel-drive pickup.

WHERE TO STAY

Glassless windows, sinkless bathrooms, towels with the absorptive capacity of a plastic bag, fans that run only when a generator is sputtering outside your window (usually from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.) and laissez-faire housekeeping are, alas, the norm in Sra Em’s guesthouses. I should have stayed at the 25-room Tuol Monysophon (855-99-620-757), which opened this year. A brown, barn-like structure topped with a red tile roof, it has basic rooms downstairs with private baths, mosquito nets and wood-plank floors, for $10; smaller upstairs rooms with shared facilities are $7.50. To get there from the triangular crossroads, head west (toward Anlong Veng) for 500 yards.

WHERE TO EAT

The Preah Vihear area’s best restaurant, hands down, is Sra Em’s Pkay Prek Restaurant (855-12-636-617), an unpretentious complex of open-air, fluorescent-lit pavilions with plenty of geckos. The specialty is phnom pleoung (hill of fire; $3.75), a meat and veggie feast you grill yourself at your table on an aluminum “volcano” suspended above glowing coals.

SAFETY

Before setting out to Preah Vihear Temple, check the Phnom Penh Post (phnompenhpost.com), the Cambodia Daily or other reliable sources to make sure that Thai-Cambodian tensions are not rising.

According to the Cambodian Mine Action Center (www.cmac.org.kh), the immediate vicinity of the temple is now safe, having been cleared in recent years of more than 8,800 anti-personnel mines. However, nearby areas are still heavily mined, so do not, under any circumstances, wander off the footpaths.

WHAT TO READ

The most useful guidebook in English (and Thai) to the temple’s architecture, symbolism and history is “Preah Vihear” by Vittorio Roveda (Bangkok: River Books, 2000), but it may be difficult to find.

Japan to gain by helping region upgrade

25/12/2009
Nareerat Wiriyapong
Bangkok Post

Japan is offering Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations financial and technical assistance to develop logistics infrastructure, aiming to help Japanese companies operating in Asean to lower their logistics costs by half within five years.

The financial aid would be provided in terms of soft loans for Asean countries to build infrastructure such as roads, bridges and tunnels to develop intra-region links, said Techa Boonyachai, who chairs a capacity-building committee for drafting the national Logistics and Supply Chain Policy.

Most of funds would be located to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, while Thailand would receive a smaller portion of the supports he said.

The financial and technical offers are aimed in part at enhancing the speed of Japanese firms in completing business transactions. About 3,000 Japanese companies operating in Thailand would be the beneficiaries of this strategy, said Mr Techa, who is also vice-chairman of the Thai National Shippers Council (TNSC).

Under Japan's comprehensive logistics policy adopted by the cabinet in July 2009, the country has outlined measures to develop an efficient logistics system for the period of 2009 to 2013, in which green logistics is a core element.

The Yukio Hatoyama governments' pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25% in the next 10 years from 1990 levels is a very challenging target, Mr Techa said.

According to the Transport Ministry, exact amounts of financial aid have not yet been finalised. Details will be updated when Japanese and Thai transport officials meet again next year.

Mr Techa said the technical assistance from Japan to Thailand for green logistics would include eco-friendly driving, and models for inter-city and urban transport. Some developed countries, for example, have started using cleaner vehicles such as electric vans for short-distance transport in big cities to lower emissions.

Mobile TV service to be testrun in Cambodia with S korean help

Source: Xinhua
2009-12-23 11:59

Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB)technology first developed by South Korea will be launched in Cambodia on a trial basis, said the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) Wednesday.

The KCC, South Korea's telecommunication regulator, officially announced in a press release that the start of its test run with Cambodia's national broadcaster TVK on delivering terrestrial DMB services in the country at a ceremony held in Phnom Penh Tuesday.

The Cambodian government will decide on converting the trial program into a full-scale service in the first half of next year, the KCC said.

Prior to this announcement, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on DMB service cooperation last October, the regulator said.

In order to expand the DMB service to overseas markets, the KCCis also in the process of promoting full-scale services in Egypt and Malaysia, after conducting pilot programs last year, it added.

DMB is a service that allows users to receive multimedia such as TV, radio, and data-casting directly to their mobile devices.

The breakthrough technology was originally developed in South Korea and the world's first official mobile TV service started in May 2005.

Govt calls on Japan to increase business ties

The Phnom Penh Post
Thursday, 17 December 2009 15:01 Chun Sophal


Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh says Japanese firms can benefit from new agreement offering minimal tariffs on exports

SPEAKING to Asian business officials visiting Phnom Penh, Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh Wednesday singled out Japan, encouraging firms from the country to do business and invest in Cambodia to take advantage of a recent trade deal.

On December 1, the Cambodia-Japan Free Trade Deal went into effect offering foreign firms that invest in the Kingdom access to the Japanese market with 98 percent of duties eliminated.

“Japanese companies should … take the chance to do business and invest in Cambodia to produce goods for duty-free export,” Cham Prasidh told the gathering of business leaders and officials.

According to the agreement, exporters to the world’s second-largest economy must produce a certificate proving country of origin.

Some Japanese companies are already taking advantage of tax breaks in the Kingdom. Ajinomoto, the world’s largest producer of monosodium glutamate (MSG), started building a packing factory at the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone this quarter and has previously suggested it may expand operations further. However, there are markedly fewer Japanese companies operating in Cambodia than elsewhere in the region.

Hiroshi Hattori, an expert from the Japanese Overseas Development Corporation, said Wednesday that 3,000 firms from Japan operate in Thailand and 1,500 in Vietnam.

Last year, Japanese investment totalled just US$7.82 million, about a tenth of that from Singapore or Thailand. The figure will almost certainly drop this year, given that only $4.76 million was invested by Japan in the first 10 months.

Hattori said that numerous obstacles remain for Japanese companies considering doing business in Cambodia, namely the high price of electricity and the still-bureaucratic administrative system.

“Japanese companies spend a long time planning before starting businesses or investments,” he said, adding that firms from Japan are usually looking to the long term.

Doing Business, part of the World Bank Group, ranked Cambodia 145th out of 183 countries surveyed in terms of ease of doing business, six places lower than the 2009 position. For starting a business, Cambodia was at 173, falling two places on the 2009 survey result.

The project found that it took an average 85 days to start a business in the Kingdom, more than double the Asia Pacific average of 41 days – and was one of the main obstacles to launching investments here.

Cambodia faired much better in the category that measured how well investments were protected, ranking 73rd overall.

Cham Prasidh’s call to Japanese firms Wednesday echoed comments made earlier this year when he likened Japan to an economic magnet that could drag firms from other countries to invest in Cambodia.

Immigration officer held over bribery

Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009
Kyodo News

An immigration officer was arrested Friday on suspicion of receiving about ¥6 million in bribes from a man who runs pubs in exchange for favors involving residence permits for foreign women working as bar hostesses, police said.

Masashi Ogura, 54, a senior immigration officer at the Narita Airport District Immigration Office, allegedly received the bribe from Shingo Ito, 46, in 2007 regarding applications for certificates of resident eligibility, the police said.

Dozens of Filipino women who came as dancers have made the illegal entry through the scheme, and were working in Ito's pubs.

Both Ito, who was also arrested Friday, and Ogura have owned up to the charges, according to the police.

Ogura served as a senior immigration officer at the Yokohama District Immigration Office, part of the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau, at the time of the bribes.

According to police, Ito had approached Ogura after hearing rumors that the Yokohama immigration office was lax in checking the certificates. Ito allegedly wined and dined Ogura as well as taking him to golf courses and handing over ¥200,000 a month.

Ogura received ¥5.8 million for the favors he gave Ito.

Cambodian pepper farmers set to gain from 'champagne' status

Dec 4, 2009
By Robert Carmichael
DPA

Kampong Trach, Cambodia - On a small plot of earth 10 kilometres outside a dusty provincial town in southern Cambodia, farmer Nuon Yan tends his crop.

Like most farmers in Cambodia, Nuon Yan grows rice. But today he is tending his other crop: Kampot pepper. The final product - spicy black peppercorns that enliven dishes across the world - will soon become the first Cambodian product to benefit from Geographical Indicator (GI) status.

GI is more familiar as a concept than a phrase, and most famously with champagne: Only sparkling wine grown in a certain region of France which conforms to the quality standard set by its members may be called champagne. The advantage for growers is a better price; consumers benefit knowing that they are getting a quality product.

Cambodia's farmers are a key pillar of the country's economy, and widespread rural poverty means better prices for their crops are essential. UN figures show agriculture employs more than half of the 8-million-strong labour force and generates one-third of the kingdom's gross domestic product.

Kampot pepper, which is named after Nuon Yan's home province near the border with Vietnam, has an excellent name regionally and is highly regarded by some chefs in Europe. But a good name is not enough: in a world of imitations, protecting that name is critical.

Var Roth San is director of the intellectual property department at Cambodia's Ministry of Commerce. He says attaining GI status typically boosts the value of a product by at least 20 per cent.

'We want to create jobs, and we want the poor to get more money from their jobs in the rural areas,' he said. 'GI is one thing that will help the poor.'

Nuon Yan is a member of the newly formed Kampot Pepper Producers' Association, which will market and promote his crop.

It is a cooperative of more than 100 farmers, along with a handful of middlemen. It will ensure the Kampot pepper its members grow comes only from certain areas and meets quality standards. By early 2010, only the pepper produced by its members will be able to use the name.

Jean-Marie Brun, an advisor at the French agricultural non-governmental organisation GRET, said members of the World Trade Organisation are obliged to protect GI-status products. Once a product earns the name and is registered, it can easily be protected.

GRET was involved in the establishment of the cooperative, whose members defined the geographical growing area and quality standards.

'The stakeholders decided on the delimitation of the area, how it should be produced, and the quality criteria for Kampot pepper,' Brun said.

Kampot pepper is not the only Cambodian product in the running. Others vying for GI status include regionally produced palm sugar, honey, silk and possibly even durian fruit.

Brun says the main benefit for the small-scale farmers who comprise the bulk of the cooperative is financial. The current gate price for black pepper is 2.5 dollars per kilogram, but that should double once the GI status is confirmed.

By the time Kampot pepper gets to Europe, where it will be sold in packets of 20 to 50 grams, it can retail at an equivalent of 100 euros (150 dollars) per kilogram.

'Importers of Kampot pepper in Europe know it has a name and they are willing to pay a higher price for that,' Brun explained. The extra profit will allow for increased marketing expenditures.

Protection of the brand rests initially with the association, whose simple office is based in a shady grove outside Kampong Trach town in Kampot province. This is picture-postcard Cambodia: green rice fields, sugar palm trees and karst hills, with wooden carts drawn by white oxen along dirt roads.

The vice-president of the association, En Trou, is a farmer with 150 pepper vines, each providing 1 kilogram of peppercorns per year. En Trou said the total output of the members this year will be 14 tons, but he predicts that will double over the next five years.

En Trou said members have in the past encountered difficulties trying to sell their crops for a decent price, but is optimistic that GI status for Kampot pepper will help.

Four kilometres from the association's office along a series of ever-narrowing dirt tracks, Nuon Yan keeps an eye on his 300 pepper vines. He earned 400 dollars from his crop last year, but aims to double that next year. So what will he do with the extra cash?

'I will put some in the bank, and I will use the rest to buy more pepper vines,' he said.

The vines take three years to mature, so it is no short-term measure. But for Nuon Yan the benefits from ensuring his pepper meets the GI requirements make it worthwhile to invest more time and money on growing Kampot pepper for the kitchens of Europe.

Industry Urges Trade Benefits for Cambodia

Tuesday December 01, 2009
By Liza Casabona with contributions from Kristi Ellis
WWD Business

WASHINGTON — Apparel brands, retailers and Cambodian officials are urging duty free benefits for Cambodia, the eighth-largest apparel supplier to the U.S., arguing the move would help the country stay competitive at a crucial time.

During a program last month marking the 10th anniversary of the Better Factories Cambodia project, an initiative to improve labor compliance in the Cambodian garment industry, speakers said the competitiveness of the country’s apparel industry is threatened by the economic environment as well as the lifting of quotas last year on garment imports from China and the conclusion of the Vietnam monitoring program, also last year.

The quotas and the monitoring program “gave Cambodia room to breathe” as the country built its garment sector, said Cham Prasidh, senior minister and minister of commerce. However, the end of those programs “started an onslaught.” Dozens of factories have closed and more than 50,000 jobs have been lost as a result of production shifts to other countries, Prasidh said.

Apparel imports from Cambodia dropped 23 percent to $1.41 billion this year, according to the most recent statistics from the U.S. Commerce Department.

A significant portion of the volume lost by Cambodia has shifted to other countries, including many that “do not share Cambodia’s commitment to improving respect for workers’ rights,” said Michael Kobori, vice president of supply chain social and environmental sustainability for Levi Strauss & Co.

Kobori urged apparel buyers to reward responsible sourcing behavior by supporting “trade preference legislation that provides further incentive to countries like Cambodia that are committed to improving workers’ rights.”

A group of apparel brands, retailers and an entertainment conglomerate called on congressional leaders last month to treat Cambodia as a “special case” and grant it duty free status immediately.

Gap Inc., J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Jones Apparel Group Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., Nike Inc., American Eagle Outfitters Inc., Columbia Sportswear Co., Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. and The Walt Disney Co., which all have significant investments in production in Cambodia, urged U.S. lawmakers to help the country halt the decline in imports and reverse the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in the apparel sector.

Congress is unlikely to grant Cambodia duty free status this year, but could do so next year in the context of a broader reform and expansion of trade preference programs.