The Phnom Penh Post
Ellie Dyer
Friday, 05 March 2010 15:03
ANZ Banking Group’s global chief painted a positive picture of Cambodia’s economic future during a key-note speech Thursday in Phnom Penh.
Speaking to the Australian Business Association at the capital’s Intercontinental Hotel, ANZ’s Chief Executive Officer Mike Smith predicted Cambodia would see 5 percent economic growth in 2010 after “a difficult” 2009.
The forecast is higher than the 4.25 percent GDP growth predicted for the Kingdom in December by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which warned that “risks are clearly tilted to the downside”.
The World Bank has estimated that Cambodia’s GDP was US$9.4 billion in 2008.
When quizzed about his estimate by a member of the 170-strong audience, who described it as “the most bullish we have heard”, Smith said: “I think we can be more optimistic.”
The financial heavyweight, who was once president and CEO of HSBC, said the Kingdom was experiencing infrastructure development and rising productivity in the agricultural sector.
He said he believes that an awareness of the need for nations within the Greater Mekong area – consisting of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam – to work together, coupled with “more significant” inter-country trade, will provide a boost for the economy.
“What made 2009 so difficult was the export dependency Cambodia had with the US and Europe. There is an opportunity now to focus on trade within the region,” he said, before pointing to statistics released last week which indicated that Cambodia and Indonesian bilateral trade rose 24 percent in the first 10 months of 2009 from the same period in 2008, increasing to $165 million from $133 million.
Smith’s confidence comes as Cambodia has entered into free-trade agreements with its fellow ASEAN member nations and China.
Both pacts came into effect on January 1 this year and ensure that the Kingdom will gradually decrease trade levies on many goods to zero by 2015.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Cambodia railway to be fully open by 2013
PHNOM PENH, March 5 (AFP) – Cambodia's rail network should be restored by 2013 with the help of millions of dollars in international aid, the country's finance minister said.
Trains have only run sporadically in Cambodia since the country's civil war ended in the 1990s, but finance minister Keat Chhon said workers will complete an overhaul of the rail system in the next few years.
''The project implementation started in 2007 and expects to be complete in 2013,'' Keat Chhon said during a ceremony in which the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Australian government gave more funds to complete the rail network.
Officials hope patching up Cambodia's railways will boost the country's economic growth and facilitate trade with other countries in Southeast Asia.
The total cost to reconstruct the 600 kilometers (373 miles) of rails, connecting them to highways and ports, is expected to be 141.6 million dollars, Keat Chhon said.
The minister made his remarks after receiving an additional loan of $42 million from the ADB and a grant of $21.5 million from Australia for the project.
The ADB has provided $84 million in total loans to restore Cambodia's railway, he said.
Another $13 million come from the OPEC Fund for international development, while Malaysia had contributed 106 kilometers of track worth $2.8 million, Keat Chhon added.
It has long been a regional dream to connect Asia by rail, and many of the gaps in the railway are in Southeast Asia, with only Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand operating cross-border links.
Trains have only run sporadically in Cambodia since the country's civil war ended in the 1990s, but finance minister Keat Chhon said workers will complete an overhaul of the rail system in the next few years.
''The project implementation started in 2007 and expects to be complete in 2013,'' Keat Chhon said during a ceremony in which the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Australian government gave more funds to complete the rail network.
Officials hope patching up Cambodia's railways will boost the country's economic growth and facilitate trade with other countries in Southeast Asia.
The total cost to reconstruct the 600 kilometers (373 miles) of rails, connecting them to highways and ports, is expected to be 141.6 million dollars, Keat Chhon said.
The minister made his remarks after receiving an additional loan of $42 million from the ADB and a grant of $21.5 million from Australia for the project.
The ADB has provided $84 million in total loans to restore Cambodia's railway, he said.
Another $13 million come from the OPEC Fund for international development, while Malaysia had contributed 106 kilometers of track worth $2.8 million, Keat Chhon added.
It has long been a regional dream to connect Asia by rail, and many of the gaps in the railway are in Southeast Asia, with only Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand operating cross-border links.
UN Set to Boost ICT Capacity of Cambodia
UN ESCAP
Launch of the Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders in Cambodia Opening Session at the Intercontinental Hotel, Phnom Penh, Tuesday 9 March, 8:30 am
Cambodian human resource capacity in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for socio-economic development is set to make a great stride with the launch of a United Nations ICT capacity building programme. High-level officials are to attend the inaugural National Workshop of the “Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders” (Academy), a core ICT for development curriculum developed by the United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (UN-APCICT/ESCAP), at the Intercontinental Hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 9 to 12 March. The event is co-organized by APCICT and the National Information Communications Technology Development Authority (NiDA) of Cambodia.
H.E. Leewood Phu, Secretary General of NiDA, and Dr. Hyeun-Suk Rhee, Director of APCICT will preside over the signing ceremony. Over fifty participants are expected to attend, including senior government officials responsible for ICT and or e-Government projects, officials from over twenty government ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Rural Development, and the Ministry of Women, as well as academics from numerous universities, and representatives from international development agencies based in Phnom Penh.
In identifying ICT for development as a national objective, Cambodian officials have targeted ICT human resource capacity building as a key priority. Equipping policymakers and project managers with the necessary ICT skills and knowledge to develop and deliver effective public services is the primary objective of the Academy. The Academy includes a comprehensive curriculum on ICT for development, currently with eight standalone but interlinked modules. The Academy has been adopted and institutionalized into national ICT human capacity building frameworks in a dozen countries in Asia and the Pacific since its official launch at the OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy in June, 2008. More partners are working with APCICT to roll out the Academy at the national level throughout Asia and the Pacific.
The launch event in Phnom Penh will be immediately followed by a four-day Academy training workshop. Three Academy modules will be delivered throughout the workshop: Module 1 – The Linkage between ICT Applications and Meaningful Development; Module 2 – ICT for Development Policy, Process and Governance; and Module 3 – e-Government Applications.
The workshop comes at a time when Cambodia’s recently established e-government system, the Provincial Administration Information System (PAIS) has grown to serve 10 out of the country’s 24 provinces. In coordination with ACPICT, NiDA will continue to implement and disseminate the comprehensive Academy training curriculum in order to increase ICT human resource capacity at various levels of the Cambodian government, secure sustainable funding for future training and ICT related projects and programmes and enhance e-governance capabilities.
Launch of the Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders in Cambodia Opening Session at the Intercontinental Hotel, Phnom Penh, Tuesday 9 March, 8:30 am
Cambodian human resource capacity in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for socio-economic development is set to make a great stride with the launch of a United Nations ICT capacity building programme. High-level officials are to attend the inaugural National Workshop of the “Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders” (Academy), a core ICT for development curriculum developed by the United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (UN-APCICT/ESCAP), at the Intercontinental Hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 9 to 12 March. The event is co-organized by APCICT and the National Information Communications Technology Development Authority (NiDA) of Cambodia.
H.E. Leewood Phu, Secretary General of NiDA, and Dr. Hyeun-Suk Rhee, Director of APCICT will preside over the signing ceremony. Over fifty participants are expected to attend, including senior government officials responsible for ICT and or e-Government projects, officials from over twenty government ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Rural Development, and the Ministry of Women, as well as academics from numerous universities, and representatives from international development agencies based in Phnom Penh.
In identifying ICT for development as a national objective, Cambodian officials have targeted ICT human resource capacity building as a key priority. Equipping policymakers and project managers with the necessary ICT skills and knowledge to develop and deliver effective public services is the primary objective of the Academy. The Academy includes a comprehensive curriculum on ICT for development, currently with eight standalone but interlinked modules. The Academy has been adopted and institutionalized into national ICT human capacity building frameworks in a dozen countries in Asia and the Pacific since its official launch at the OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy in June, 2008. More partners are working with APCICT to roll out the Academy at the national level throughout Asia and the Pacific.
The launch event in Phnom Penh will be immediately followed by a four-day Academy training workshop. Three Academy modules will be delivered throughout the workshop: Module 1 – The Linkage between ICT Applications and Meaningful Development; Module 2 – ICT for Development Policy, Process and Governance; and Module 3 – e-Government Applications.
The workshop comes at a time when Cambodia’s recently established e-government system, the Provincial Administration Information System (PAIS) has grown to serve 10 out of the country’s 24 provinces. In coordination with ACPICT, NiDA will continue to implement and disseminate the comprehensive Academy training curriculum in order to increase ICT human resource capacity at various levels of the Cambodian government, secure sustainable funding for future training and ICT related projects and programmes and enhance e-governance capabilities.
Japan's top forum an outlet for free speech, and hate
AFP – A man opens the the www.2ch.net website on a computer in Tokyo on March 4, 2010. Japan's top Internet … by Hiroshi Hiyama Hiroshi Hiyama
TOKYO (AFP) – Japan's biggest Internet forum, where anonymous netizens trade anything from cooking tips to death threats, has long been an anarchic zone of uninhibited free speech and a magnet for controversy.
This week the raw commentary on 2channel -- which with 10 million visits a month is one of the world's largest online bulletin boards -- saw tempers flare anew.
A massive hacker attack from South Korea crippled the site in retaliation for users' online slights against Olympic skater Kim Yu-Na, after she beat Japanese rival Mao Asada to take gold at the Vancouver Winter Games.
The site was attacked on Monday, the anniversary of a 1919 uprising in Korea against Japanese colonial rule, and shut down for two days.
Japanese web users counter-attacked by bombarding South Korean sites, including that of the presidential office, according to South Korea's JoongAng Daily, which called the tit-for-tat flaming "infantile".
The Japanese site, www.2ch.net, does not ask for personal ID details and hosts unfiltered views, in contrast to most chat forums where registration and vetting have become the norm in a bid to keep discussion orderly.
"This is a vast group of bulletin boards on everything from hacking to porn," the site tells users. It boasts about 1,000 topics, from politics to sport to manga comics.
"Sender information cannot be detected, so you can access it from your office, school or prison," users are told. "Please write as you like."
The site was launched in 1999 by a college student, Hiroyuki Nishimura, who has since written several books and is a regular on television shows.
Not counting online role-playing games, it is easily Japan's biggest bulletin board by number of users and page views, according to research firm NetRatings Japan.
The site has given space for discussion on touchy subjects, including Japan's royal family, and gay and lesbian life.
Companies and pollsters review the site to build marketing strategies and study the raw pulse of users and consumers.
At their best, the site's postings have spawned books and movies, including a passionate chronicle by a shy man known as the Train Guy who dated a woman and sought advice from fellow 2channel users.
But no-holds-barred messages also voice sexist, nationalistic and xenophobic sentiments, many targeting Chinese and Koreans.
South Koreans were furious recently when a writer said the mob killing of a Korean college student in February in Irkutsk was "Russia's good deed".
At times, users have threatened crimes on the site.
One of them was Tomohiro Kato, who sent messages from his cellphone shortly before he killed seven people in a stabbing frenzy in Tokyo's neon-lit electronics district in 2008, Japan's bloodiest crime in years.
Nishimura, who gave up control of the site last year but maintains interests in many Internet companies, is unabashed about the darker side of 2channel.
"Ten million people come to the site every month. There is no city in the world with a population of 10 million that has no crime," he said.
Tsutomu Kanayama, professor of journalism and communications at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, said 2channel laid bare the pluses and minuses of the social media revolution.
"Mainly because of the anonymity system, it has gone too far and is now full of offensive and meaningless comments," he said.
"But on the other hand, it's a positive trial for a future cyber-forum where anyone can pose real opinions freely. It has both a light and a dark side."
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