DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “CLMV economic ministers pledge to speed up economic cooperation” plus 3 more

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The economic ministers of CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) on Sunday pledged to work closely to draw up development plans to seek financial support from development partners and other countries, a Cambodian senior official said.

The commitment was made at the 4th CLMV Economic Ministers meeting, which was chaired by Nam Viyaketh, minister of industry and commerce of Lao, and was attended by Cham Prasidh, Cambodian minister of commerce, Tin Naing Thein, minister for Myanmar's national planning and economic development, and Vietnamese minister of trade and industry Vu Huy Hoang.

Addressing the meeting, Nam Viyaketh said that the meeting was very vital to further enhance economic cooperation among the CLMV countries in the context that most countries in the globe are facing economic uncertainties.

Cham Prasidh said that the CLMV countries were the last four to join ASEAN, which was founded in 1967.

"The meeting discussed and set up development plans in order to submit to development partners and countries for assistance," he told reporters. "We, the CLMV countries, are the new members of ASEAN, we need to accelerate our development in order to narrow development divide with the old ASEAN member states."

The ministers also discussed ways to speed up the implementation of agreements reached at the CLMV Summits.

The CLMV Economic Ministers meeting is convened twice a year, back-to-back to the ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting.

It aims at further enhancing economic and trade relations within CLMV countries, coordinating activities in sub-regional, regional and international fora, and fully utilizing their potentials to narrow the development gap between the four countries and other countries in ASEAN.

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

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting and related meetings are ready to kick off here Monday, Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said Sunday. "Everything is in place and the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting and related meetings will be opened by Prime Minister Hun Sen tomorrow," he told reporters after playing golf with some of ASEAN Economic Ministers at Angkor Golf Resort. "The meeting will discuss topics related to trade liberalization and economic cooperation among the 10 ASEAN member states, and the cooperation between ASEAN and its dialogue countries," he said.

Besides the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting, there will be meetings of the 26th ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) Council and the 15th ASEAN Investment Area (AIA) Council.

In addition, there will be a consultation meeting between ASEAN Economic Ministers and Francis Gurry, director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the ASEAN-U.S. Business Summit as well as Cambodia's Garment and Textile Expo, according to the official schedule.

According to a report of the media sub-committee, more than 150 journalists from some 20 local media entities and 32 international ones will cover the upcoming events.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- At least 27,590 dengue fever cases had been reported in more than seven months of this year, a 150 percent rise compared with 11,017 cases during the same period last year, according to a report of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control released to the media on Saturday.

The report said that since the start of the year to Aug. 20, the disease had claimed 111 lives of children, up 131 percent compared with 48 deaths during the same period last year.

Dr. Char Meng Chuor, director of the center, appealed to parents to pay much attention to take care of their kids and to bring their children to hospitals if they doubt that their kids have contacted with dengue fever.

Dengue fever is a viral disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. In Cambodia, the outbreak of dengue fever usually begins at the onset of the rainy season in May and lasts until October.

"Parents should let their kids to sleep under mosquito nets all the time and keep clean environment around their houses to prevent the disease," he said.

He added that to combat the disease, the center has distributed some 270 tones of Abate (a chemical substance used to kill larvae in water pots) to households across the country this year.

Last year, the country reported 15,980 dengue fever cases, which killed 73 children.