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Weekly Publication Issue: January 26-Febuary 1, 2015
National Policy & Society
GDCE Informs Development Partners of Reform Strategy and Modernization 2014-2018
On 26 January 2015 at the
General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE), H.E.
Chou Vicheth, Secretary of
State for Economy and Finance, presided over the
Fourth Meeting between GDCE
and Development Partners on
Strategy and Work Programs
on Reform and Modernization
of GDCE 2014-2018.
The Fourth Meeting was participated by senior officials of
the Ministry of Economy and
Finance and GDCE of Cambodia and the development partners such as JICA, Embassy of
Japan in Cambodia, IMF,
World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nation
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), European
Union, World Customs Organization, and so on.
H.E. Chou Vicheth emphasized that the Royal Government of Cambodia and Ministry of Economy and Finance have always considered the reform and modernization of customs administration very significant
in collecting state income
and improving investment
environment.
He also added that effective
implementation of the reform and modernization of
customs administration is
the key toward the success
of GDCE’s works.
During the meeting, representatives of the development partners highly valued
the work progress of GDCE
and were committed to providing technical assistance
in the future.
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Weekly
Publication
Issue: January 26-February 1, 2015
Tel: (03) 54125412-8521, Fax: (03) 54125412-8526
Email: camemb.jpn@mfa.gov.kh
hhttp://camemb.jpn.mfa.gov.kh
Government pledges $4.1 million for ECCC
On 27 January 2015, Mr. Neth
Pheaktra, spokesman for Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), announced that the
Cambodian government pledged
$4.1 million in aid for national side
of the court.
He said that of the fund pledged by
government, $1.6 million for supporting the court operation and the
rest of $2.25 million will be spent as
salary for staff members of the national side.
He said the pledging of $4.1 million
represents 62 percent of a total
fund to be spent in 2015 as the
court needs $6.6 million for 2015
operation.
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)
Administration office of the ECCC is Last week, the Japanese governworking with Ministry of Economy ment provided $1.4 million to the
and Finance to get the fund on time, international side of the court.
he said.
Economy, Trade, Industry, Agriculture & Investment
World Bank said Cambodia, Laos have fastest urban growth in East Asia
On 26 January 2015, the World
Bank announced that almost 200
million people moved to urban areas in East Asia between 2000 and
2010 with Cambodia posting the
region's fastest growth rate after
Laos.
In a statement released in Singapore, the bank said the figures containing in a new report were
equivalent to the world's sixthlargest country in terms of population.
Mr. Axel van Trotsenburg, regional
vice president, said we are releasing this data so urban leaders can
get a better picture and take action
to ensure that urban growth benefits the increasing number of people
moving to cities, especially the
poor.
Overall, urban areas in East Asia
expanded at an average pace of 2.4
percent a year during the last decade, with urban land reaching
134,800 square kilometers in 2010.
The fastest rates of growth were 7.3
percent in Laos and 4.3 percent in
Cambodia, described by the World
Night view of Phnom Penh City
Bank as "mostly rural countries just
beginning to urbanize."
Laos and Cambodia were followed
by China (3.1 percent), Vietnam (2.8
percent), Mongolia (2.6 percent),
and the Philippines (2.4 percent).
Although Japan had the secondlargest total amount of urban land, it
had the lowest rate of increase in
urban land among countries (0.4
percent).
Cambodia had the fourth-smallest
amount of urban land among the
countries (after Laos, Papua New
Guinea and Timor-Leste) with
Phnom Penh being the only urban
area with more than 100,000 people. Although the amount of urban
area grew from 110 square kilometers in 2000 to 160 in 2010, only
0.1 percent of Cambodia's land
mass was urban, the lowest proportion (after Laos, Mongolia and
Papua New Guinea).
In addition to having one of the fastest growth rates in urban areas,
Cambodia had one of the fastestgrowing urban populations, expanding 4.4 percent a year from
920,000 people to 1.4 million between 2000 and 2010.
Weekly Publication Issue: January 26-February 1, 2015
Microfinance Institution (MFI) Sathapana to merge with Maruhan Japan Bank
On 27 January 2015, Mr. Bun Mony,
the CEO of Sathapana Microfinance
Institution announced that Cambodian
microfinance institution Sathapana
Limited is merging with its majority
shareholder, Maruhan Japan Bank Plc,
to form Sathapana Bank Plc (Maruhan
Japan Group) that is expected to operate early next year.
The two financial firms with an initial
capital base of more than $ 100 million
will integrate their loan products, operating systems and human resources
before submitting a request to the National Bank of Cambodia for an official
license, the Sathapana CEO said. He
expects to receive the green light from
the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC)
no later than the first quarter of 2016.
Maruhan Japan Bank, which began operating in Cambodia in 2008, acquired
a 95 percent share of Sathapana Limited in 2012. The Japanese bank expects to acquire the remaining 4.9 percent share by the end of the year.
Sathapana started as an NGO in 1995
before receiving its MFI license in
Mr. Bun Mony, the CEO of Sathapana Microfinance Institution and Mr. Yabe Yoshikazu, General Manager of Maruhan Japan Bank Plc
2003. As of January 2015, the combined total assets of both organisations stand at $527 million, with
140 offices employing more than
2,650 staff.
Speaking at the signing ceremony,
Mr. Yabe Yoshikazu, general manager of Maruhan Japan Bank Plc,
said competition in the banking sector was “fierce” and the merger of
the two would help expand the
banks clients and distribution
network.
“Currently we have only one head
office in Phnom Penh – in that
sense, we are not big operation
right now, but we are making
profits for two years already,” he
said of Maruhan Japan Bank’s operations.
Culture, Education, Tourism & Sport
Cambodia Expected to Receive 5 Million Foreign Visitors This Year
On 26 January 2015, H.E. Thong Khon,
Minister of the Ministry of Tourism,
announced that some 5 million foreign
tourists are expected to visit Cambodia
in 2015.
In 2014, the country attracted more
than 4.5 million foreign visitors, showing an increase by 6 percent if compared with the previous year, the minister said, adding that among the foreign tourists, the Vietnamese are in the
lead followed by the Koreans, the Japanese and the Chinese.
H.E. Minister attributed the growth in
tourism sector to the country’s political stability, social security and good
services as well as various tourist
products.
H.E. Thong Khon also laid stress on the
Visitors on top of Phnom Bakheng waiting for the sunset
ministry’s strategies to further boost
the tourism field including human
resource training, tourism service
dissemination through social media,
the strengthening of service quality
standard, and expo organizations
abroad.
tourism sector is considered by
Cambodia as a nascent industry
which has rapidly become an
important engine of growth for
the country’s economy. The sector is estimated to create more
than 600,000 jobs in 2014.
Referred to as the “Green Gold”, the
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Weekly Publication Issue: January 26-February 1, 2015