DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Cambodia's listed water supplier records revenue up 25 pct last year” plus 5 more

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The listed Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) earned total revenues of 36.9 million U.S. dollars in 2012, up 25 percent year-on-year, according to the firm' s unaudited financial statement on Wednesday.

The report said that the firm's net income after tax was 8.56 million U.S. dollars last year, a 39 percent rise from 6.16 million U.S. dollars in a year earlier.

Speaking during the 1st annual meeting of the PPWSA on Wednesday, the firm's chairman Meng Saktheara said the remarkable growth in revenue was attributed to good management and increase in water supply to customers.

The firm predicted that it would make revenue of about 37.5 million U.S. dollars in 2013.

The PPWSA is a state-owned enterprise. It is the first and only enterprise that listed on the Cambodian Securities Exchange, which was launched trading in April last year.

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Doha-based Qatar Airways touched down at Phnom Penh International Airport on Wednesday afternoon, making it the first Middle Eastern carrier to operate into Cambodia.

The Airbus A330, which can be seated by 284 passengers, was greeted at the airport by Tek Rethsamrach, Cambodian Secretary of State at the Council of Ministers and Mao Havannall, Secretary of State for Civil Aviation, as well as other officials.

Upon its arrival, the plane was welcomed by a traditional water salute.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said during the inaugural flight ceremony that the latest route by the airline opened up a great new market for business and leisure travelers from around the world, while at the same time opening up air access from Cambodia to destinations worldwide.

"Though Cambodia is one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia, it has an air travel market that is highly underserved. Qatar Airways is here to fill this void and we look forward to working with the travel trade and our business partners to make this a hugely successful operation," he said.

The airline operates daily flights from Doha to Phnom Penh via Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, he said.

"With our daily service between Doha and Phnom Penh, we offer travelers from around the globe access to heritage tourist spots in Cambodia such as the world's famous Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap province and the picturesque beach resorts in Sihanoukville," he said.

Mao Havannall said Qatar Airways is the 23rd foreign airline that operates regular flights to Cambodia and is the 1st carrier that connects the Middle East to Cambodia.

"With the presence of Qatar Airways, we believe that relations between Cambodia and countries in the Middle East in tourism, trade and investment will be promoted," he said.

Tek Rethsamrach said the airline is a bridge to connect Cambodia and the Arab world. "We hope that there will be more tourists and investors from the Middle East to Cambodia through this airline."

Cambodia received only 10,000 tourists from more than 10 countries in the Middle East last year, according to the latest report of tourism ministry.

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia achieved a GDP growth rate of 7.3 percent last year, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday, forecasting that the growth would be higher than 7 percent this year.

Addressing a conference on 2013 Cambodia Outlook, he said the growth last year came from strong growth in agriculture, especially rice production, tourism, real estate and construction combined with strong rise in financial sector, moderate rise in garment exports, and rising public and private investment.

The premier said the country's inflation last year was slightly increased to 2.5 percent and it was projected to be suppressed within 4 percent this year.

According to the government reports, last year, the country produced 9.31 million tons of paddy rice, up 6 percent year-on- year, and the tourism attracted 3.58 million foreign tourists, up 24 percent year-on-year, earning total revenue of about 2.2 billion U.S. dollars.

On the construction side, the sector attracted the investment projects of 2.1 billion U.S. dollars last year, a 72 percent rise year-on-year, while the garment exports made total revenue of 4.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 8 percent.

In terms of investment, the Southeast Asian nation received 157 domestic and foreign investment projects with total investment of 2.28 billion U.S. dollars last year.

"Cambodia is the 15th fastest growing economy in the world during the last ten years," Hun Sen said. "The future outlook for Cambodia is positive, with the projected annual growth of more than 7 percent over the medium term."

The premier said Cambodian GDP per capita was nearly 1,000 U.S. dollars last year and was expected to increase to 1,080 U.S. dollars this year.

"Cambodia has steadily moved towards graduation from a low- income to a lower-middle income country by 2015-2016," he said, adding that poverty rate dropped to 20 percent in 2012 and to an estimated 19 percent in 2013.

Larry Strange, executive director of the Cambodia Development Resource Institute, said that to ensure a long-term GDP growth in the range of 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent, Cambodia will require further substantial upgrading of infrastructure, improvements in the business environment, a huge investment in human capital, credible natural resource management, prudent macro-financial management, and above all continued strengthening of governance and institutions.

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- A special exhibition entitled " Our Common Heritage: Exploring World Heritage Sites of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam" was held at the National Museum of Cambodia here on Tuesday, aiming to describing the cultural diversity and inter- connectivity in the three countries.

This exhibition is the fruition of efforts made under the UNESCO-Japan Fund in Trust project, "Revitalizing World Heritage Site Museums in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam", said a UNESCO's press release.

Under the project, nine museums have been participating in the exhibition. They are National Museum of Cambodia, Preah Norodom Sihanouk Angkor Museum, Angkor National Museum, Preah Vihear Eco Global Museum from Cambodia, Thang Long Imperial Citadel site museum, My Son Interpretation Center, Da Nang Cham Sculpture Museum, Ho Citadel site Museum from Vietnam, and Wat Phu Museum from Laos.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Chuch Phoeurn, Secretary of State at Cambodia's Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, said all the nine participated museums played very important roles to interpret the world cultural heritages of the three countries.

"The exhibition is an additional part into the interpretation elements to the world heritage sites and it shows the interconnection between these sites through the beliefs, religions, art, trade and exchange of the people in the region," he said.

Anne Lemaistre, UNESCO representative to Cambodia, said the exhibition was one of the nine different exhibitions covering the same topic and it will be displayed one by one in all the nine museums.

The exhibition is composed of four groups of panels -- he first introduces the concept of the World Heritage Convention, its history and the location of the participating World Heritage sites and museums, as well as the Outstanding Universal Values of these sites, said Kong Vireak, director of the National Museum of Cambodia.

The second and third groups of panels will showcase the commonly developed themes such as Nature and Myth and Trade and Exchange. The last group shows a theme specially created by the museum itself--Khmer ornament, he said.

In addition to the exhibition, the National Museum of Cambodia and other eight participating museums will run an educational program for school children until the end of June 2013.

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The United States said on Tuesday that they wanted to see the participation of the self- exiled opposition party's leader Sam Rainsy and radio station owner Mam Sonando in the July's general election.

Speaking during a one-hour meeting with Cambodian deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Michael Posner, said the U.S. wanted to see the participation of the main opposition party's leader Sam Rainsy and the radio station owner Mam Sonando in the forthcoming election, Ouch Borith, Secretary of State at Cambodia's Foreign Ministry, told reporters after the meeting.

"The U.S. thinks that in order to make better in democratic process and human rights respect in Cambodia, there should be the return of Sam Rainsy and the participation of Mam Sonando in the upcoming election," Posner was quoted by Ouch Borith as saying to Hor Namhong. "The U.S. government and congressmen see the convictions of Sam Rainsy and Mam Sonando as politically-motivated cases."

In response, Hor Namhong said neither Sam Rainsy nor Mam Sonando were convicted by the court of working for democracy or human rights respect, but the two individuals were convicted of criminal offenses.

He explained that Sam Rainsy was sentenced by Cambodian court ( to 11 years in jail) in absentia for removing Cambodia-Vietnam border poles and publishing a false map of the border with Vietnam in order to accuse Cambodian government of selling land to Vietnam.

For the case of Mam Sonando, the minister said that a radio broadcaster was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the mastermind of the secessionist movement, as some key witnesses had testified against him before the court and the court had convicted him based on evidence.

"Foreign community always urges the government of Cambodia not to interfere into the court's independence, now the U.S. demands us to pardon Sam Rainsy and release Mam Sonando, it means that the U.S. is urging Cambodia to violate its law and to interfere into the court's independence," Hor Namhong said.

"The convictions had been made by the court's jurisdiction, not the government's jurisdiction. As state of law, Cambodia continues to strengthen the rule of law; no one can stay above the law, so Cambodia will not release them," he said. "They are prisoners. If we release them upon the request, it will cause anarchy in Cambodia."

In November, while attending a series of the Summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Phnom Penh, U.S. President Barack Obama also expressed the need for Cambodia to release political prisoners during a bilateral meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at the Peace Palace.

Obama highlighted, for instance, one case of a radio broadcaster Mam Sonando who had been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

However, Hun Sen said at that time that "in Cambodia, there is no political prisoner, but politicians abused the law, so they must be punished in accordance with the law."