Kingdom of Cambodia

Nation Religion King

Remarks by

H.E. Mr. KEAT CHHON
Sr. Minister, Minister of Economy and Finance

At the

Signing Ceremony of Loan Agreement for
the Sihanoukville Port SEZ Development Project
at the Ministry of Economy and Finance
 

Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 20th, 2006, at 11:00

Your Excellency Fumiaki Takahashi, Ambassador of Japan to Cambodia
Your Excellency Akihiko Furuya, Senior Executive Director of JBIC and members of the Delegation
Your Excellencies Ambassadors,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen .


Today, it is a great pleasure and honor for me to represent the Royal Government of Cambodia to sign, with HE. Mr. Akihiko Furuya , Senior Executive Director of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) ,the Loan Agreement for the Sihanoukville Port Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Development Project. On behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia , I would like also to express our deep appreciation to all of you for your presence here today, which is indicating your support for our policy and program in private sector development .

This Loan Agreement of three hundred eighteen million yen (JPY 318,000,000) is the 4th one from JBIC, since the 1st Loan had been singed in September 1999. It covers the First phase of the development of Sihanoukville Port SEZ, which is designed to develop a Master Plan with preliminary and detail design, legal and organizational framework of SEZ in view of facilitating Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the area and throughout Cambodia, as well as to create new employment opportunities for the Cambodian people, and thereby contribute to the economic growth and poverty reduction in Cambodia.

The establishment of this SEZ in not a Government’s accidental strategy. It is in deed a long-term strategy of our Government to promote private sector participation in the Cambodia’s development process. This policy provides us the opportunity to mobilize all our potential resources to diversify and sustain strong base of economic growth and to create job for our people, especially in the current context of our country. We strongly believe that this project will help attract more foreign investments and make Sihanoukville become one of the dynamic regions and the engine of growth in the country.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Taking this opportunity, I would like to brief that Cambodia has been trying to develop SEZs for nearly 10 years. The development of SEZs was initially proposed to Prime Minister during the Keidanren Mission to Cambodia in 1996. The suggestion was accepted and a plan for development of a few industrial parks (SEZ) in the Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh area was considered. Therefore, at the request of the Royal Government of Cambodia (Ministry of Commerce), in 1999, Japanese Government agreed to dispatch a JICA study mission on SEZ. The study was done by Japan Development Institute (JDI) and a development plan had been formulated by the mission called " Cambodian Economic Revitalization Program: Historical Chance for Cambodia: 2001-2010 “. The study had suggested carrying out regional development studies for Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville Corridor.

Following the study, the JICA growth corridor study was initiated in 2002 and completed in 2003. This JICA study suggested the development of about 8 SEZs along the growth corridor (6 SEZs in Sihanoukville region and 2 in Phnom Penh area). As an Urgent SEZ project, the Sihanoukville Special Promotion Zone (SPZ) was recommended for immediate implementation from 2005 as well as the formulation of a SEZ Act and SEZ institution.

The SEZ Authority Organization is a “One Stop Service “which organizing for very competitive pricing and eradicating the persistent administrative red-tape and possible corruption on pre-investment, Investment and post-investment stages.

Today we witness the step going forward by the recommendation made, to initiate the development of Sihanoukville SEZ as a pilot project. If the Sihanoukville SEZ is successful and SEZ model is expanded to other areas with net land area of about 1,000 ha, employment creation can be expected to reach a half-million new jobs by 2010-2012. And Thereafter, the creation of 10 SEZs by 2020 can be expected to create one-million new jobs , with an additional 1.5 to 2.0 million new jobs including indirect employment . This is an ambition envisioned by the Royal Government of Cambodia led by Samdech HUN SEN, our Prime Minister as outlined in his Rectangular Strategy.

To conclude my remarks, let me take this opportunity, on behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia and Cambodian People and my own behalf, to express my sincere gratitude to the generous supports extended by the Government of Japan and Japanese People, in the last 15 years, in the Rehabilitation and Development of Cambodia. Finally, the greater participation and investment from all Development Partners shall be the most complementarities to the goal of SEZ on national, regional and global economic development. We look forward to success of this project implementation and success of SEZ in Cambodia.

Thank you for Your Kind Attention!