DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam parliamentarians meet in Cambodia to boost Development Triangle Area” plus 8 more

DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam parliamentarians meet in Cambodia to boost Development Triangle Area” plus 8 more

Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam parliamentarians meet in Cambodia to boost Development Triangle Area

Posted: 24 Apr 2013 02:55 AM PDT

PHNOM PENH, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Parliamentarians of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam gathered in Cambodia's northeastern Mondulkiri province on Wednesday to discuss the parliaments' role in supporting the three countries' Development Triangle Area, according to a media release from Cambodian National Assembly.

Speaking at the opening of the two-day meeting, the 1st Vice- President of Cambodian National Assembly Nguon Nhel said the meeting would help promote the development of the triangle area and further enhance cooperation among the parliaments of the three nations.

"The meeting is very important to support the governments in preparing action plans and mechanisms to develop the area," he said.

The governments of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have been giving high attention to the development of the area and have laid out a master-plan for area development, he added.

Koukeo Akhamountry, chairman of the Laotian National Assembly's foreign affair committee, said the parliaments have their roles to urge the governments to expedite the implementation of the master- plan in order to improve livelihoods for peoples in the area.

Tran Van Hang, chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly's external relation committee, said the three countries have cooperated well in developing infrastructures, economics, trade, and tourism in the area, adding that these sectors are key elements to boost economies and reduce poverty.

Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area is aimed at accelerating of economic growth, poverty reduction, social and cultural progress in the area.

The triangle area consists of 13 provinces including four in Cambodia, four in Laos, and five in Vietnam.

HK entrepreneur tells how to do business in ASEAN countries

Posted: 24 Apr 2013 02:24 AM PDT

HONG KONG, April 24 (Xinhua) -- As economic activities in the U. S. and Europe remain in the doldrums, more and more businesses and investors are shifting their focus to Asia.

Southeast Asia, a region with multi-faceted economies, diverse culture and huge population, is also a region that has been drawing increasing attention in recent years, particularly given its largely untapped market potential and cheap labor costs.

Hong Kong businessman Jonathan Choi, who has decades of experience in doing business in Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, shared his experiences and lessons learnt in doing business there in a recent interview with Xinhua.

MAKE FRIENDS FIRST

Choi's initial involvement with Southeast Asian countries dated back to the 1970s, when his company Sunwah Group established subsidiaries in Vietnam to process and export frozen and dried marine food products. He then ventured into other countries, accumulating over 30 years of business experience in Myanmar and 20 years in Cambodia. He said it is always important to get familiarized with the country and build local connections before expanding the size of business.

"We must remember when investing in these countries, we're foreigners," he said, adding that language, culture, the way of doing business, and mentality are all important factors to consider when investing in ASEAN countries.

He also stressed the importance of social responsibility when doing business overseas. "If you have been there for a long time, being friendly with them, showing your responsibility and care to the local people, you would have a better return and better cooperation with the local community and government," he said.

Choi's usual strategy of expanding business abroad is to start with the most familiar industry, in his case, sea food processing and trading. After getting fully accustomed to the business environment, he then dabbled into other types of business such as property and finance.

He cited business in Vietnam as a successful example of diversifying operations. With decades of experience on sea food processing and trading, he embarked on new business projects in real estate, becoming one of the largest property developers in the country.

Ten years ago, he seized an opportunity to venture into the financial sector and founded VinaCapital, thereby establishing his conglomerate's asset management business in Vietnam. VinaCapital has three listed funds in the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

Leaping at the opportunity is also crucial for business expansion. Prior to Myanmar's opening-up to foreign investors, Choi stayed for sea food businesses only in the country. "Now the time has come," he said. "I'm now looking into property and financial business."

Unstable business environment and unexpected political and social changes are some of the biggest difficulties during the years of his business operations in Southeast Asia. "Things may just happen suddenly," Choi said, recalling some unrest in Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia which caused him to shut down factories and draw back investment.

When unrest broke out in Cambodia in 1997, Choi had to leave the plants idle for five years. Yet, he did not move out completely. "When everything recovered, we resumed the production and had a really good business," he said.

"Confidence in the country is very important. You should have a long-term strategy, so you work together and grow together with the country and the people."

NUMEROUS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

Economic links between Hong Kong and the ASEAN countries are historically strong, and ASEAN now is Hong Kong's second largest trade partner after the Chinese mainland, with 94.1 billion U.S. dollars trade value in 2012. The average trade growth between Hong Kong and ASEAN for the past 10 years is around 7 percent, with a particular big increase of 10 percent last year.

Choi noted that business opportunities in ASEAN nations are not just limited to trade, but also investment and service industries.

As the land price and salary costs are surging for Hong Kong companies operating in South China's Pearl River Delta, Choi suggested that they could consider relocation in Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Indonesia.

ASEAN boasts a combined population of over 600 million, nearly half of China's or Indian's population. According to International Market Assessment, the hourly wage rate in China is 1.56 U.S. dollars, compared to 0.81 U.S. dollars in Vietnam and 0.51 U.S. dollars in Indonesia.

Another strength of the region is affluent natural resources. Many Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines, have vast natural gas reserves.

As developing nations, ASEAN countries also manifest huge untapped potential for infrastructure investment. Airport, toll roads, bridges, railways, to name but a few, are all in need of development, particularly given the trend of greater integration within ASEAN member states and more trade connections between China and the bloc. Choi said such infrastructure investments are not only business opportunities for Hong Kong enterprises, but also for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Chinese mainland.

In Choi's opinion, the concept of Hong Kong companies should be a broad one, including those mainland enterprises listed in Hong Kong with a business operation base in the city.

When then-vice-premier Li Keqiang visited Hong Kong in August 2011, he said the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong companies should work hand-in-hand to "go out" and make foreign investment. Choi sided with this idea and said this would allow companies from both sides to demonstrate their own distinctive strengths.

"Many Chinese enterprises are strong in manufacturing, mining and power supplying, whereas Hong Kong companies have more experience in the service sector, such as financial service, professional service, management and human resources," Choi said. "Therefore, we should work together and go to ASEAN side by side."

A WIN-WIN DEAL

Choi has been ardently advocating Hong Kong's access to ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) for the past few years. He said this is not just beneficial to Hong Kong, but would also spur growth and development within the region and bring benefits to all ASEAN members.

Hong Kong is widely known for its expertise in the financial service sector, such as in company mergers, fund raising, consultancy, auditing and logistics. Hong Kong's role as a premier offshore renminbi center also helps in meeting ASEAN businesses' financial needs, said Choi, citing that 92 percent of the Chinese mainland's cross-border renminbi trade were settled in Hong Kong in 2011.

According to a research report from the Asia Strategy and Leadership Institute, Hong Kong's participation in the ACFTA is projected to further enhance the city's bridging role between the Chinese mainland and ASEAN, bringing about a 28 percent increase in the regional bloc's exports to the Chinese mainland. It will principally benefit the ASEAN's food processing, electronic industries, finance, insurance, construction and business services.

Hong Kong expressed its interest in joining the ACFTA to the ASEAN Secretary-General in November 2011. Acknowledging that the final decision would require consent from all 10 members of ASEAN, Choi said, "It takes time, but we hope that they will understand our wish to participate and I think it will be beneficial to both parties."

Vietnam to host Lower Mekong Initiative meeting

Posted: 24 Apr 2013 02:22 AM PDT

HANOI, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Department of State will jointly host the Third Regional Working Group Meeting of the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) in Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City on April 25-26.

About 90 officials from the United States, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam are expected to attend the meeting, reported the Voice of Vietnam on its website on Wednesday.

Six panel discussions will take place, focusing on the six key cooperation areas of the environment and water, health care, education, connectivity, agriculture-food security, and energy security.

Two other sessions will examine closer coordination and information exchange amongst LMI member states.

A workshop on the public-private partnership (PPP) model will be held on the sidelines of the meeting.

Malaysia to invite election observers from ASEAN countries

Posted: 23 Apr 2013 11:53 PM PDT

Kuala Lumpur, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Election Commission (EC) have invited observers from ASEAN countries to monitor the country's 13th general election on May 5, an EC official said Wednesday.

EC deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said at a press conference that observers from Asean countries have been invited to monitor the election process and list of the observers will be finalized Thursday.

He said the foreign observers are from Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and the Philippines, along with observers from the ASEAN Secretariat.

Wan Ahmad said each of the ASEAN countries and the secretariat would be sending seven observers, of whom three would be accorded status as official guests of Malaysia.

The 13th Malaysian general election will be held on May 5, following the dissolution of the Parliament announced by the prime minister on April 3. A total of 222 parliament seats and 505 state legislature seats will be contested.

Cambodia's opposition party protests against election committee ahead of July's polls

Posted: 23 Apr 2013 09:49 PM PDT

PHNOM PENH, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the kingdom's main opposition party, staged a non-violent protest on Wednesday to call for reforms within the National Election Committee (NEC) ahead of a general election in July.

Some 2,000 opposition supporters gathered at the capital's Freedom Park, and hundreds of security forces were deployed around the Park to safeguard protesters and to prevent them from marching into the street.

Kem Sokha, CNRP's vice-president, said at the event that the peaceful demonstration was to demand the change of components of the NEC, saying that the current NEC has affiliations with the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

"The NEC is not neutral, it has a bias towards the ruling party," he told the gathering. "We gather here today is to demand reforms at the NEC to ensure a free and fair election in July."

According to a petition delivered to the NEC via a representative at the event, the protesters urged the NEC to accept the recommendations of Surya P. Subedi, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights to Cambodia, and called for an audit of the national voter list, which has come under fire due to a handful of critical reports on its alleged inaccuracy and lack of transparency.

In October, Subedi presented a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, urging the Cambodian authorities to implement reforms to ensure that the forthcoming general election is free and fair.

Kem Sokha warns that he will lead a larger protest if the government and the NEC do not provide an appropriate solution to the demand.

"This is just the start. Peaceful strikes will be bigger if there is no solution to the demand," he said.

Tep Nytha, NEC's Secretary General, said it was not new that the opposition party demanded the change of the NEC's components.

"The NEC's leadership and members were not selected by the NEC, but by the Interior Ministry and the government with the approval from the Parliament in October last year. All selection procedures were done in accordance with the law," he told Xinhua over telephone on Wednesday.

He denied that the NEC sides with the ruling party, saying that the committee is independent and does everything in accordance with the law.

Cambodia is scheduled to hold a general election on July 28. Some 9.67 million Cambodians are eligible to cast their ballots in the forthcoming election.

Political analysts forecast that the ruling CPP of Prime Minister Hun Sen will dominantly win the upcoming election.

Late last month, Hun Sen also predicted that his party would win at least two-thirds majority in the election.

Hun Sen, 62, has been in power for 28 years and vowed to stay in the office until he is 90.

In the last election in 2008, the CPP won 90 seats out of the 123 parliamentary seats, while the opposition totally won 29 seats, the royalist Funcinpec Party won 2 seats and the Norodom Ranariddh Party 2 seats.

Cambodian PM heads to Brunei for 22nd ASEAN Summit

Posted: 23 Apr 2013 07:17 PM PDT

PHNOM PENH, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, accompanied by a group of high-ranking officials, left here on Wednesday for the 22nd Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.

The summit's theme under Brunei's chairmanship is "Our People, Our Future Together," which emphasizes the importance of ASEAN citizens in realizing the vision of an ASEAN Community by 2015.

It will focus on ASEAN's central role and the regional architecture, ASEAN's future direction, and exchange of views on regional and international issues, as well as other issues of common concerns and interests to ASEAN, Sry Thamarong, minister attached to Prime Minister Hun Sen, told reporters at Phnom Penh International Airport before the departure.

"Besides discussing ASEAN's tasks towards building an ASEAN community by 2015, the ASEAN leaders will exchange views on tensions on the Korean Peninsula and situations on the South China Sea and East China Sea," he said.

The summit serves as a follow-up to the 21st ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on November 17-20 last year.

Founded in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Regional trade deal to give strong boost to ASEAN economies: ADB

Posted: 23 Apr 2013 07:16 PM PDT

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, April 23 (Xinhua) --A comprehensive economic agreement including China to be discussed at the 22nd ASEAN summit could push Brunei's growth by an impressive 6 percent with significant growth projections for Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates that negotiations between ASEAN and six dialogue partners for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) started last year at the East Asia Summit in Cambodia could promote growth significantly by 2025.

Led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the negotiations include all 10 member states and their six free trade agreement partners, namely: Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

"An eventual RCEP trade deal would create the world's largest free trade bloc, with profound economic implications for the world economy," the report added.

In a chart comparing partner countries' projected income gains from the RCEP by 2025, measured by a change from the countries' Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2007, Brunei comes out on top with a gain of 6 percent.

Vietnam comes in second with 5 percent while South Korea is predicted to be the third nation that will benefit the most from the partnership, with a gain of almost 4 percent in GDP.

Malaysia is the fourth nation to benefit most from the RCEP with an expected income gains of just above 3 percent and Thailand comes in next with a projected income of slightly below 3 percent.

India, other ASEAN members, Japan, China, Indonesia and Australia are all projected to see a 1 percent gain in their GDP from the trade agreement.

When completed the RCEP will span 16 countries with a combined market of over 3 billion people and a combined GDP of about19.78 trillion U.S. dollars based on 2011 figures.

Negotiations have already kicked off with a formal treaty likely to be signed in 2015.

However, political issues, different scale in economies, aligning labor laws and lack of awareness pose strong challenges for effective implementation of RCEP.

Regional integration, capacity building to top ASEAN Summit agenda

Posted: 23 Apr 2013 07:13 PM PDT

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, April 23 (Xinhua) -- ASEAN leaders are expected to focus on regional integration and community building process at the upcoming 22nd ASEAN Summit from April 24 to 25, according to an official press release issued here Tuesday.

The leaders are expected to review and discuss the current progress of ASEAN integration and community building efforts, including the implementation of the Roadmap for an ASEAN Community (2009-2015) and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity.

They will also discuss ways to further strengthen the coordination and capabilities of ASEAN's existing institutional mechanisms, including the ASEAN Secretariat, and exchange views on regional and international issues of common concern.

The leaders will also seek to strengthen the grouping's external relations with its dialogue partners, including through the commencement of negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

A Chairman's Statement of the 22nd ASEAN Summit will be released at the end of the meeting.

ASEAN, established in 1967, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Cambodia's leading bank inks deal with UnionPay International for payment services

Posted: 23 Apr 2013 07:09 PM PDT

PHNOM PENH, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Acleda Bank, a leading commercial bank in Cambodia, on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UnionPay International on payment services for mutual benefits, according to the bank's statement.

Xu Luode, president of China UnionPay and vice-chairman of UnionPay International, said currently, UnionPay cards reached more than 3.5 billion, and UnionPay network has been extended to 141 countries and regions in the world.

 "UnionPay International is pleased to work together with Acleda Bank. This is the formal opening of a new chapter of business cooperation between the two sides," he said in the statement.

 In Channy, president and group CEO of Acleda Bank, said, "It is a great honor for the bank that UnionPay International, one of the world leaders in payment services and the No.1 payment and settlement institution in China, has selected to be a strategic partner in payment services."

 He said under the partnership with UnionPay International, customers will get quick and broad access to the global payment in more than 140 countries in the world and UnionPay cards issued in 30 countries.

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