DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Some 1,686 workers faint in Cambodia in 2012: official report” plus 7 more

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Approximately 1,686 workers in garment and shoe factories got fainted last year due mainly to overwork, poor health, exposure to chemical substances, and hysteria, a Cambodian labor official said Wednesday.

Pok Vanthath, vice-chief of the Labor Ministry's vocational training department, said the mass fainting incidents had occurred in more than 20 factories in 2012 and 1,686 workers got fainted.

He unveiled the figures after Free Trade Union of Workers, the kingdom's largest trade union, issued an annual statement on Wednesday, reporting that 2,107 workers in 29 factories got fainted in 2012.

The causes of the mass fainting included more hours of over- time working, chemical substances in cloths, smell of insecticides, heat, bad working environment, workers' malnutrition, and panic.

The statement also said that in 2012, about 84,320 workers in 101 factories had staged protests to demand pay rise and better working conditions.

Garment industry represented about 90 percent of Cambodia's total exports. The sector comprises more than 300 factories, employing some 335,400 workers -- 91 percent of them are female.

During the first 10 months of 2012, the country exported garment and textile products in equivalent to 3.82 billion U.S. dollars, up 7.6 percent from 3.55 billion U.S. dollars in a year earlier, according to a report of the Commerce Ministry.

VIENTIANE, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Hosting a series of major international and regional events, welcoming top-level leaders from the international community, entering the World Trade Organization (WTO) -- All this took place in the year 2012 in Laos, one of Southeast Asia's least developed nations with a population of only 6.5 million.

This manifested that the small landlocked country that shares borders with China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar was opening its doors wider to the outside world.

The Lao people are proud of the country's remarkable progress in boosting diplomatic and trade ties with other countries in the past year, believing it will bring benefit to their daily life.

On July 11, 2012, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a brief stop on her Asia tour in Laos, the first visit by an American secretary of state since 1955 when the Lao civil war was in full swing and U.S.-backed royalist faction was in power. The current government came to power in 1975.

During her four-hour stay in Laos, Clinton met with Lao Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong. They agreed to further strengthen relations between the two countries.

The leaders pledged to continue the search for the remains of U. S. soldiers missing in action since the Vietnam War and to get rid of millions of unexploded ordinance (UXO) leftover from the war. Four decades later, millions of unexploded bombs still pockmark the impoverished country and still kill.

The talks also touched on Laos' role in regional cooperation led by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the country's progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a series of development targets being pursued by the Lao government due by 2015 in efforts to remove the country from its least developed country (LDC) status by 2020.

The eight MDGs target a range of critical areas of development including maternal and infant health and mortality, malnutrition, universal primary education, gender equality, combating infectious diseases and environmental sustainability, while the ninth MDG focuses on reducing the impact of UXO, a problem which hinders the socio-economic development of Laos.

On Nov. 5-6, Vientiane hosted the Ninth Asia-Europe Meeting ( ASEM) Summit, bringing together heads of states and government from the 51 ASEM partners.

The summit, the largest international conference ever hosted by Laos, provided an important occasion for ASEM partners to share their thoughts and explore ways in enhancing better understanding between Asia and Europe and in addressing global challenges, especially economic woes.

To Laos, it is greatly conducive to raising its role and reputation in regional and international arenas.

The summit concluded with the signing of the Vientiane Declaration on Strengthening Partnership for Peace and Development and Chairman's Statement of Ninth ASEM Summit.

On Oct. 26, 2012, the WTO finally confirmed Laos as its 158th member, the last of the 10 ASEAN countries to join the club after a 15-year quest for the membership.

The country has enjoyed robust economic growth of more than 7 percent a year over the last decade.

To meet the WTO requirements, Laos has enacted and amended over 90 laws and regulations and committed to reducing import tariffs to an average of below 18.8 percent, limiting agriculture subsidies and opening up 10 industries to foreign competition.

Laos has also undertaken additional commitments in bilateral negotiations with interested WTO members, including Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, the United States and Ukraine.

Entry into the WTO club brings with it the promise of increased trade volume and new trade partners for Laos, as well as the prospect of fresh investment pouring into the country, analysts say.

It has also "provided us the necessary basis to achieve our goal of graduate from the LDC status by 2020," Lao Industry and Commerce Minister Nam Viyaketh said last year.

It is hoped that the WTO membership will accelerate development, entice greater international investment and boost economic growth in Laos. The country's bright economic future and continued opening to the outside world hold great promise for its people, the region and the world.

In sports, Laos successfully hosted the 16th ASEAN University Games on Dec.12-20, 2012 with the participation of teams from 10 ASEAN countries.

Ending years of isolation, Laos is embracing the outside world.

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- The successful hosting of the 21st Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its related summits here in November was definitely the biggest achievement of Cambodia in 2012 despite some sad events such as the death of the venerated former King Norodom Sihanouk in October.

"In general, we can say that 2012 is a successful and proud year for Cambodia. The country sees full political stability and security and the economy grows very well," Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

He said 2012 also witnessed stronger ties between Cambodia and China.

"Both Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao had visited Cambodia," he said, recalling that during Hu's visit to Phnom Penh at the end of March 2012, the two countries agreed to boost annual bilateral trade volume to 5 billion U.S. dollars by 2017.

MATTER OF REPUTATION

He said that during the historic summit, Cambodia was able to welcome the heads of state of the member-countries of ASEAN and its dialogue partners, including leaders from the United States, China, South Korea and Japan.

"It was a great success for Cambodia to provide full security and safety for those leaders and we led the proceedings of the summits successfully," Phay Siphan said.

"Those leaders' presence here reflected their trust in Cambodia 's political stability and security and would build more confidence among foreign investors in Cambodia's economic environment," he added.

Prof. Sok Touch, deputy director general of the Royal Academy of Cambodia's International Relations Institute, said it was a great honor for a small and impoverished country like Cambodia to successfully host and chair a series of ASEAN summits with regional and global leaders.

"The success would raise Cambodia's prestige and reputation in the international arena," he told Xinhua.

ECONOMIC MOMENTUM GAINING

Besides success in politics, Phay Siphan said, on the economic side, the country could achieve a sustainable economic growth of around 7 percent for 2012, one of the fastest in the region.

"We see increases in all sectors supporting the economy including industrial sector, agriculture, tourism, real estate, and foreign direct investment," he said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Keat Chhon said on Dec. 7 at the National Assembly's session that the GDP growth in 2012 is expected at 7 percent in equivalent to 15.6 billion U.S. dollars and the inflation rate will be as low as 2.9 percent.

Cambodia's economy is supported by four pillars--garment export, tourism, agriculture, and real estate.

He predicted that agriculture would grow by 2.4 percent, the industrial sector by 11.8 percent, services by 6.8 percent, and tourism services by 7 percent.

According to the latest government reports, during the first ten months of 2012, the country exported garment products valued at 3.82 billion U.S. dollars, up 7.6 percent compared with the same period in 2011, while tourism sector attracted some 2.86 million foreign tourists, a 24 percent rise.

For construction industry, the country attracted investments worth 1.83 billion U.S. dollars in the first nine months of 2012, a staggering 83 percent rise.

REGRETFUL EVENTS

Despite these significant achievements, there were a couple of regretful events happened in 2012.

One was that the 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting held here in July failed to issue the customary joint communique due to apparent disagreement among member countries on the wordings in the document towards South China Sea disputes.

Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said in a press conference on July 13 that the failure was due to the insistence of some ASEAN individual countries to use strong language in the joint communique, which, to him, was unacceptable to Cambodia as the chair of ASEAN in 2012.

The other was the loss of Cambodia to South Korea in its bid for a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council ( UNSC) for 2013-2014 in a vote at the UNSC in New York on Oct. 18.

"Winning or losing is normal. This is an experience for Cambodia," Phay Siphan said. "We congratulate South Korea for winning the seat. South Korea, just like Cambodia, wishes to contribute to world peace and stability."

In 2012, the country mourned the death of its most revered King- Father Norodom Sihanouk on Oct. 15 in Beijing.

The former king died of illness at the age of 90 and his body was returned to Cambodia by a Chinese special airplane on Oct. 17.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said the body would be cremated on Feb. 4, 2013 after lying in state for more than three months at the Royal Palace.