Prime Minister Hun Sen Seeks Ways for Cambodia to Survive In Impacts of Global Economic Crisis

March 16, 2009 AKP
Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen has raised questions at a recent conference on Cambodian economic outlook held in Phnom Penh with a view to getting responses that would help Cambodia to get through the impacts of current worsening global economic downturn.
The conference, the third of its kind, jointly organized on Mar. 12 by Cambodian Development Research Institute and ANZ Royal Bank, was attended by the government’s ranking officials, development partners, representatives of private sector, civil society and international development community.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said he would like to seek for effective responses to the current financial crisis to protect and support the poor and vulnerable people, especially those losing jobs due to the plummet in volume of garment exports, manufacturing, construction, and tourism, and those returning home due to the loss of their overseas jobs in neighboring countries.
He said the government would also pay attention to the poor families in the low-income areas, the small and medium enterprises, the unemployed and part-time employed people who lose the opportunity owing to economic recession, including those young people who participated in labor market susceptible to the economic shocks.
"We are willing and firmly committed to assure that our responses to the crisis are suitable for the demand through sustainable economic activities and the opportunity of getting jobs and maintaining daily livelihood, the establishment of social security system to save and help the vulnerable people and groups, and through the mechanism of providing urgent food relief and social benefits," he pointed out.
"Global and regional economic slump has not emerged from Cambodia; it is an external factor which is out of Cambodia’s control, however; it is affecting us," Prime Minister Hun Sen said.
He underlined that the current global economic downturn showed the opportunity for Cambodia to strengthen and expand the cooperation and promote the regional economic integration to be able to get the advantages at the maximum from Cambodia’s great economic potentials.
Prime Minister Hun Sen recommended the government’s concerned departments and ministries to work together and cooperate closer with development partners to ensure that the development plan would be finalized and implemented promptly and effectively.