DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “ASEAN+3 economic ministers meet in Cambodia to promote economic cooperation” plus 8 more

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The 15th ASEAN Economic Ministers Plus Three (China, Japan and South Korea) consultations were held here Wednesday to deepen cooperation in food and energy security, finance, trade and investment.

Addressing the opening session, Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said that since its inception in 1997, the cooperation among ASEAN+3 countries has steadily broadened and deepened in many areas, including food and energy security, finance, trade facilitation and so on.

"The meeting is a good chance for us to review and speed up our cooperation for deeper integration and prosperity to our region," he said.

Addressing the meeting, Chen Deming, Chinese minister of commerce, hailed the good cooperation among the ASEAN+3 countries.

He said that ASEAN, Japan and South Korea are all important trade and investment partners of China, and they accounted for 26 percent of China's total foreign trade.

On the investment side, the investment from ASEAN, Japan, and South Korea accounted for 13.7 percent of China's foreign direct investment inflow, he said.

"China attaches great importance to close cooperation with the 10+3 partners, and we are willing to work on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, openness and inclusiveness to contribute to developing a robust economy and common prosperity for the East Asian region," he said.

At the meeting, both Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yukio Edano and South Korean Minister for Trade Bark Taeho expressed their satisfactions with the good cooperation among the ASEAN+3 countries.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is delighted to see the robust economic partnership with China, said Indonesia's Trade Minister Gita Wijrawan on Wednesday.

Gita made his remarks on the sidelines of the 11th consultations between the ten ASEAN Economic Ministers and Chinese Minister of Commerce.

"For Indonesia, we want to broaden trade and investment ties with China," he told reporters.

In regard to Hong Kong's request for accession to ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA), he said that ASEAN is "open-minded" and support it."

"But in the spirits of the ASEAN consensus, we'd like to seek more clarifications from the studies; however, everything is moving in the right direction," he said.

Hong Kong expressed its interest to join the ACFTA to the secretary-general of ASEAN in October 2011.

In an opening address to the 44th Economic Ministers Meeting on Monday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the chair of ASEAN in 2012, advised the ASEAN Economic Ministers to submit the studies on the impacts of Hong Kong's accession to the ACFTA to ASEAN leaders at the 21st ASEAN Summit to be held in November for their decision.

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen left here on Wednesday morning for Tehran, Iran to attend the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement to be held on Aug. 30-31.

Senior government officials accompanying the premier to the meeting include Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Secretary General of the Council for the Development of Cambodia Sok Chenda Sophea, Finance Secretary of State Aun Porn Moniroth and others, Srey Thamrong, a minister attached to the Prime Minister Hun Sen, told reporters at Phnom Penh International Airport before the departure.

The summit is under the theme "sustainable peace via joint global governance", he said, adding that the Non-Aligned Movement comprises the members of 120 countries and 21 observing countries.

He said Prime Minister Hun Sen's participation is made at the invitation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

On the sidelines of the summit, Hun Sen will hold a bilateral talk with Ahmadinejad and have a meeting with Kim Yong Nam, president of Presidium of Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, he added.

After attending the summit, Hun Sen will also lead a high-level delegation to attend the 2nd China-Eurasia Expo to be held on Sept. 1-5 in Urumqi Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China.

During his stay in Urumqi, Hun Sen will hold a bilateral talk with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Chinese business executives.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and China on Tuesday reiterated their commitments to boosting bilateral ties in trade and investment for the mutual benefits of the two countries' peoples.

Speaking to reporters after a 2-hour meeting with visiting Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming on Tuesday night, Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said that the trade between Cambodia and China was 2.5 billion U.S. dollars last year and the leaders of the two countries had decided to double this amount in the next five years.

Currently, Cambodia has received more and more investment from China thanks to strong relationship between the two governments, he said.

The minister added that Chen's visit to Cambodia would help further promote trade and investment ties between the two countries.

"In the meeting, we had discussed ways and means to help each other to promote more trade and investment from China to Cambodia," he said, adding that the two sides also discussed how Cambodia could export more cassava, corn and rice to China.

"Chen is very willing to support Cambodia to export more cassava, corn and rice to China, and he pledged to encourage more Chinese companies to invest in Cambodia in rice processing and garments," Cham Prasidh said.

He said currently, a couple of Chinese companies have invested in building sophisticated rice mills in Cambodia and their construction would be completed by the end of this year, and the country expected that it could export at least 300,000 tons of milled rice a year to China.

Chen arrived here on Tuesday afternoon to participate in the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting in order to discuss ways to increase trade and investment volume between ASEAN and China.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia on Tuesday signed a deal to buy minimum 100,000 tons of rice from Cambodia a year, both sides' trade ministers said.

The Memorandum of Understanding on rice trade was inked between Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh and Indonesia's Trade Minister Gita Wijrawan on the sidelines of the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting.

Under the deal, Indonesia would purchase at least 100,000 tons of milled rice from Cambodia a year, Cham Prasidh told reporters after the signing ceremony.

"The price will be based on the market," he said. "This is the first time we sell rice to Indonesia and we hope the first shipment will be as soon as possible."

Gita Wijrawan said that the MoU is the first of many steps in rice cooperation between Indonesia and Cambodia. "We hope that Indonesia will be able to deepen the relationship with Cambodia."

Cambodia is an agrarian country. More than 80 percent of the population is farmers. The country produced some 8.25 million tons of paddy rice last year. With the amount, it's estimated that there are around 2.5 million tons of milled rice left over for export this year.

In August, 2010, the government launched the rice export promotion strategy aiming at exporting one million tons of milled rice by 2015.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia exported some 170,000 tons of milled rice last year.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The six old members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Tuesday pledged to support four new members in order to narrow the development gap, said Nam Viyaketh, Laos Minister of Industry and Commerce.

"The ASEAN six gave us--the new ASEAN member states: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam--the privilege for assistance in order to accelerate our economies and to narrow the gap between the six old ASEAN members and the four new ASEAN members," he told reporters on the sidelines of the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting.

The six old ASEAN members include Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Addressing the opening session of the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting on Monday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that the development gap among ASEAN members remained huge and the bloc needed to double its efforts to promote further growth and improve equitable distribution of the fruits of growth at both national and regional levels.