DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Irish gov't donates 2.7 mln USD to help Laos fight UXO” plus 5 more

VIENTIANE, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Government of Ireland committed 2.7 million U.S. dollars over the next three years to assist Laos in tackling its unexploded ordinance (UXO) problems, at a ceremony held in Lao capital of Vientiane on Monday.

UXO contamination is a major inhibitor to development in Laos, one of South East Asia's least developed nations. The UXO in the country is as a result of years of bombing by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War as well as by forces in the country's concurrent civil war.

Irish aid will go towards strengthening the capacities of the Lao National Regulatory Authority (NRA) and UXO Laos, the two national institutions which deal with UXO issues.

The contribution will support NRA policy making, UXO coordination and regulatory work, and UXO Lao operations, including clearance, roving tasks, surveys, land release, as well as risk education and training.

UXO contamination causes a variety of problems within Laos, such as loss of life and injuries, and can also deny access to land that could otherwise be used for agricultural and economic purposes. This is a major issue in Laos, where only around ten percent of land is presently available for agriculture and malnutrition is quite serious in some areas.

The signing ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of Ireland to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos Damien Cole. Speaking at the event Cole said he expected the UXO program to "continue the battle to rid Laos of the scourge of UXO and reduce the negative effects these have on Laos' economic and social development."

The donation will be distributed via the UXO Trust Fund, which is administered by the UN Development Program (UNDP). UNDP Resident Representative Minh Pham signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Cole signifying their agreement.

Pham spoke at the ceremony where he explained the future of the UXO program in Laos, "The new program will focus on institutional strengthening, providing support to the UXO victims, better coordination among the UXO sector, and accelerating prioritized land release in line with national development priorities."

The Director General of the NRA thanked the Irish government for their contribution both now and in the past. Ireland has contributed 4.7 million U.S. dollars since 2006. They also played a leading role in the development and promotion of the Anti- Personnel Landmine Convention and Convention on Cluster Munitions.

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) on Monday agreed to increase salaries for the workers in the kingdom's garment and footwear industries, according to a press release after a closed door meeting.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Social Affairs Ith Samheng, Minister of Labor Vong Sauth, GMAC's president Van Sou Ieng, and representatives of trade unions in Cambodia.

"The meeting agreed in principle to discuss wage increase for the workers," the press release said. "All trade unions should meet among them to set a unanimous proposal on minimum pay rise for workers in order to negotiate with employers."

It said the International Labor Organization would be a coordinator for this task.

According to the press release, all relevant parties will meet again on Feb. 26 in order to decide the minimum pay rise.

The wage hike negotiation was made after trade unions repeatedly appealed to the government to urge manufacturers to increase salaries for the workers from the year 2013.

"Currently, minimum wage for a worker is 61 U.S. dollars a month. It is very low when prices of food and fuel are rocketing up, so it severely affects workers' living conditions," Chea Mony, president of Free Trade Union of Workers, which is the kingdom's largest trade union, wrote in a request to the GMAC's president Van Sou Ieng earlier this month.

"To facilitate workers' difficulties, I'd like to ask the president to discuss and increase the minimum wage for a worker to 120 U.S. dollars a month," he said.

Garment industry is Cambodia's largest foreign exchange earner. The sector comprises more than 300 factories, employing some 335, 400 workers--91 percent of them are female.

The country exported garment and textile products in equivalent to 4.6 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 8 percent year-on-year, according to a report of the commerce ministry last week.

The United States and European countries are the major buyers, and other clients are Canada, Japan, South Korea and China.

VIENTIANE, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of the ten ASEAN nations met on Sunday in Laos' capital of Vientiane to launch the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF), where they pledged to expand tourism cooperation and discussed creating a pan-ASEAN tourist visa.

The ATF, which was first held in 1981, is designed to facilitate and develop tourism promotion and cooperation across the region. A total of 150 tourism ministers and officials from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam attended the meeting.

Joining them will be 1,450 delegates, including 800 ASEAN exhibitors, 400 international buyers, 150 international and local media as well as 100 tourism trade visitors. Delegates will engage in bilateral talks, sellers and buyers meetings, and receive presentations from various ASEAN nations on their tourism industries.

According to a press release from the ATF, ASEAN leaders will consider the possibility of creating a single pan-ASEAN visa for some member countries to encourage tourists to visit. Leaders have already agreed to put more funding into developing tourism, source more financing from dialogue partners, and to promote tourism in the region.

"As an important economic sector, ASEAN cooperation in tourism has gone from strength to strength," said Lao Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism Dr Bosengkham Vongdara. Vongdara cited the increase in total international visitors arriving in the region from 73.7 million people in 2010 to 81.2 million in 2011 as evidence of this cooperation.

Tourism is of particular significance to Laos, one of the least developed countries in South East Asia with few domestic industries. With a population of only 6.3 million people, Laos received approximately half this figure in tourist arrivals in 2012. This contributed significantly to economic growth and development in the country. Arrivals are expected to reach five million by 2015.

Across the various ASEAN member nations, tourism has risen between eight and 29 percent from 2010 2011. The ATF will run from Jan. 18 24.

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana headed for Vietnam's Hanoi on Sunday afternoon for a 3-day official visit to strengthen bilateral cooperation in legal and judicial sector.

The visit is made at the invitation of Vietnamese Justice Minister Ha Hung Cuong.

Sam Pracheameanith, chief of cabinet at Cambodian Ministry of Justice, said Sunday that the visit would be a chance for the two ministers to enhance bilateral relations and cooperation between the two neighbors.

"There will be a signing ceremony between the two ministers on an agreement on mutual legal assistance in civil matters," he said. "The agreement will further strengthen friendship relations and traditional cooperation between the two countries for mutual interest."

He said under the deal, both sides will provide mutual help in civil matters through exchanging services, court documents, outside-the-court documents, evidence collection and transfer, witness and expert summons, and civil registration documents.

In addition, the two sides will mutually recognize and allow the implementation of verdicts by courts and decisions by arbitrators.

YANGON, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar draws 520 foreign racers and 530 local racers to compete in Yangon's first-ever international marathon to be held on Jan. 27 here this month, according to organizers on Saturday.

The foreign racers are from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, the Philippines, Brunei, East Timor, Cambodia, China, Japan, Britain, the United States, Australia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

The races will begin and end at People's Park, situated one block from one of Yangon's most iconic and picturesque landmarks, the Shwedagon Pagoda.

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's inflation rate decelerated to 3 percent last year, down from 4.9 percent in a year earlier, Governor of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) Chea Chanto said Saturday.

"This is a remarkable drop and the 3-percent rate last year is low and controllable," he said in a speech during the annual NBC conference, adding that last year, Cambodian riel currency against U.S. greenback had appreciated about 1.7 percent.

The country's gross official reserves have continued their steady rise to 3.7 billion U.S. dollars by December last year, said the governor.

Last year's lower inflation rate was thanks to stable prices of food. However, gasoline price remains high. On Saturday, a liter of gasoline is 1.36 U.S. dollars.

The Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund predicted in October that the country's inflation was 3 percent and 3.5 percent respectively in 2012 due to moderate price increases for food and fuel.