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Cambodia Development Cooperation Forum (CDCF)
Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 20 June 2007
Senior
Minister KEAT CHHON, M.P.
Minister of Economy and Finance
First Vice-Chairman, Council for the Development of Cambodia
Chairman, CDCF
Royal Government of Cambodia
Summary of Discussion
- Colleagues from the
Government
- Honorable Ambassadors, Distinguished Representatives of Development
Partners
- Ladies and Gentlemen
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After two
days of dialogue, it is now time for me to summarise our discussions.
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Before
beginning this summary I would like to express my gratitude to Samdech
Prime Minister Hun Sen, who provided us with a keynote address that
provided a helpful framework to guide our discussions over the next two
days.
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In his
keynote address, Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen focused on the need to
consolidate progress and to work together to move the reform agenda
forward. I think this provided us with a useful context which set the
tone for the remainder of our discussion. In particular, he identified
the importance of our partnership in building on the economic progress
that Cambodia has witnessed in recent years, including to help to
develop a professional civil service that can effectively manage
national resources and deliver high quality public services. While
reviewing progress and identifying remaining challenges, Samdech Prime
Minister also took the opportunity to directly address many of the
concerns identified by our development partners. I hope that delegates
found some reassurance in his remarks on the anti-corruption law, the
management of oil and gas revenues, public service reforms, and the
management of land and economic land concessions.
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Samdech Prime
Minister concluded his keynote address by emphasising the imperative of
our development partnership and the need to continue our dialogue as we
search for a consensus on some of the more contentious governance and
reform issues. We were therefore most fortunate that H.E. Deputy Prime
Minister Sok An was able to join our discussion yesterday and I
particularly want to thank him for his timely and constructive remarks.
Excellencies, Ladies and
Gentlemen
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The CDCF has
provided us with an opportunity for high-level dialogue. So have we
made the most of this opportunity? I believe that we have. To
demonstrate this I will use these Summary Remarks to reflect on the
highlights of our meeting and to emphasise key areas of consensus in
moving forward with the implementation of the NSDP. I will highlight
areas where we have agreed that our partnership faces its sternest
challenges. And I will identify those areas where we all perhaps need to
take a harder look at the manner in which we have engaged and to ask
ourselves whether it is conducive to securing the leadership that is
required to make effective progress on a common agenda.
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Our meeting
opened with an emphasis on the positive aspects of enhanced ownership
that is associated with the new CDCF format. But it was also
acknowledged that responsibilities come with this ownership. Despite
nine years of peace and stability, formidable challenges remain in
implementing the NSDP. The need to boost agricultural productivity, to
continue the fight against corruption, to make progress in the ambitious
reform agenda, and to mobilise additional resources for national
priorities were therefore identified as areas for dialogue during our
meeting.
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Our immediate
focus then turned to the NSDP, which as the Prime Minister had remarked,
provides the blueprint for our national development. We heard that
economic growth has been robust, particularly in the agricultural crops
sector. Clearly this has implications that go well beyond economic
well-being, touching on important issues of equity, food security and
livelihoods. There was more positive news regarding HIV prevalence and
some – though by no means all – health indicators, a topic to which we
returned in our human development discussion.
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We then heard
from our development partners with regard to macroeconomic performance,
public financial management and the private sector. It was agreed that
progress had been good. During our discussion on how we might
consolidate this progress, we heard views related to establishing a
clear policy on commercial borrowing, rolling out Platform 2 of the PFM
reform, establishing a better-performing civil service, and to improving
the business environment. We did, of course, also discuss oil and gas
but I hope that Samdech Prime Minister's remarks in his address, as well
as his repeated proclamations elsewhere, have provided the necessary
reassurances. Let us now focus on maximising these revenues to Cambodia
as well as to ensuring that these revenues are put to prudent use. As we
heard from my colleague from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the
process of drafting a tax provision for extractive industries as part of
our Law on Taxation will begin shortly.
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Drawing
together the threads of these first two discussions it was encouraging
to see the degree of consensus on the importance of strengthening the
link between the core reforms and our work at sectoral level. There is
growing evidence that shows that our reform process – while still in its
infancy – is already providing for more coherent planning, more
effective implementation, and, most important, for more impact on
development outcomes. We also heard that it was necessary to temper our
enthusiasm, however, and to understand that there is still much to
achieve.
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Moving to the
first of our thematic discussions, we heard a series of statements about
the management of natural resources. Government colleagues elaborated on
the earlier statement by Samdech Prime Minister and identified a number
of initiatives that related to strengthening the legal and policy
framework as well as to ensuring the actual enforcement and
implementation of these laws and policies. From a Government perspective
there was a clear feeling that things continue to move in a positive
direction although we agreed that balancing economic development and the
protection of access to land and resources was both difficult and
challenging.
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With regard
to the management of land concessions: as chair, I feel that we need to
work much harder at the technical level – not at the political level –
to strengthen our partnership and our common understanding of the status
of natural resource management programmes, where progress is being made
and how we can ensure the complete enforcement of, and compliance with,
the law and associated regulations. I urge the TWGs to ensure that these
issues are coherently and comprehensively discussed and I propose that
this issue – which is included in our new set of JMIs - remain on our
agenda for GDCC dialogue over the next year. One concrete starting point
is provided by the review that Samdech Prime Minister requested be
undertaken by MAFF and the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning
and Construction regarding the conversion of appropriate parts of
cancelled ELCs to social land concessions.
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Our second
thematic topic for discussion was human development. Here I am pleased
to note that we had a clear consensus based on the common vision set out
in the NSDP and the Cambodia Millennium Development Goals. Our
challenges have been made abundantly clear to us all and it was
therefore most gratifying to see this discussion move quickly to a
consensus about the measures that need to be taken in order to
accelerate progress in addressing maternal mortality and to increasing
education survival rates. These issues are also included in our JMIs and
I look forward to jointly monitoring progress at our future GDCC
meetings.
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Our
discussion related to governance and reform was understandably more
complex. It was observed that there was progress, but not always of the
type or at the pace we had all anticipated. Samdech Prime Minister had
stated earlier in the day that it is essential to ensure consistency
between all legislation and that "the Royal Government is strongly
committed to finalizing the draft anti-corruption law as soon as
possible". I hope that dialogue at technical and political levels can
contribute to a more constructive engagement that will be to the mutual
benefit of all parties. We are all anxious to see that the glass is
more than half full.
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To mark the
beginning of this dialogue, H.E. Deputy Prime Minister Sok An joined us
in the afternoon and I hope that he responded to the issues that were
raised by development partners. His remarks most certainly clarified the
Government's perspective on the reform agenda and the need to proceed at
a prudent rate that will maintain stability and cohesion, both within
Government and across society as a whole. We should all be encouraged
that the discussion reminded us most emphatically that we do share
common interests and that we must now re-engage to identify a common
path that will help us to move towards our common objectives.
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Similarly the
need to re-engage in the area of Public Administration Reform was also
emphasised as all participants clearly recognised the value of a
professional and motivated public service. Deputy Prime Minister Sok An
decried the current state of the PAR TWG and Samdech Prime Minister's
also requested that we work together to forge a new consensus on this
important reform. One concrete area for our immediate attention is to
reflect on the emerging evidence regarding the use of incentive and
supplementation schemes. Indeed, there will be a meeting on this same
subject tomorrow and I look forward to discussing this topic with some
of you then.
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In summary, a
view that I think we would all endorse is that reform is complex.
Looking around, I see representatives of many countries and
international bodies seated around this table. I am sure that each of
you would acknowledge that within your own organisation, or in your own
country, there is currently a complex and sometimes difficult on-going
dialogue about reform. Change is never easy. But it is made less
difficult when engagement is constructive and when the overarching
vision is allowed to be clearly and independently articulated without
undue interference or outside influence. Let us re-double our efforts to
observe the principles of ownership and to then rally around a common
perspective and a mutually agreed approach.
Excellencies, Ladies and
Gentlemen
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In last
year's keynote address to the Consultative Group, Samdech Prime Minister
observed that "we have the horizon firmly in our sights". This year I
would note that we are sailing our ship steadily toward that horizon.
Some observers may be concerned that we have sprung a few leaks but as a
senior member of the crew I can assure you that we have charted the
right course and we are confident that we shall reach our destination.
To our development partners I say this: I invite all of you to join us
on this journey and I believe that our discussions yesterday established
a firm basis to foster a better understanding.
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It was
therefore appropriate that the second day of our discussion focused on
issues that related to our development partnership and to the financing
of the NSDP. We considered the new set of JMIs and their underlying
principles as well as qualitative and quantitative issues in the
financing of the NSDP.
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During a
presentation and discussion on the JMIs it was observed that the
underlying principles for selecting, implementing and monitoring the
JMIs must be widely more understood and more fully respected. As my
colleague Chhieng Yanara noted, if the cart is overloaded then we will
indeed lose our momentum as well as our direction. The meeting then
endorsed the new set of JMIs – twenty in all, more than last year – and
I hope that our subsequent TWG and GDCC dialogue will reflect the
principles that have been developed and endorsed. This should be the
hallmark of our partnership.
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Moving on to
qualitative issues in aid management, the meeting had the opportunity to
discuss the Aid Effectiveness Report. Samdech Prime Minister had
requested in his keynote address that we find practical measures to
enhance the efficiency of our cooperation. It was therefore encouraging
to observe that there was a strong consensus in our dialogue and a
mutual realisation that we have a perhaps unique opportunity to make
progress in implementing the global and national commitments to which we
have all put our signature. Please allow me to go further. If we do not
implement these commitments then we put at risk the attainment of the
NSDP targets and the Cambodia Millennium Development Goals. As the
Report has made clear: aid effectiveness is about development results.
So please, let us not become distracted by parochial issues.
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The aid
effectiveness discussion moved us seamlessly into the discussion of the
medium-term financing of the NSDP. Having observed that quality of aid
is important, I am sure that you will understand when I say, as the
Minister of Economy and Finance, that the quantity is also of some
relevance! Having introduced a new approach to consolidating indicative
medium-term estimates of support that will facilitate longer-term
planning, I was therefore delighted to note that indicative support in
2007 is of the order of 689 million Dollars. It is equally reassuring
that we expect this number to be sustained through 2008 and 2009. This
will of course mean that, combined with Government's own resources, the
NSDP is fully financed and we should now strengthen our resolve to
ensure its full implementation.
Excellencies, Ladies and
Gentlemen
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I hope this
provides a useful summary of our discussions and I trust that you have
found our dialogue to be as fruitful as I have. In my view we have taken
several concrete and important steps, both towards accelerating progress
where we are clearly of the same mind and, perhaps more important, to
brokering a consensus, or at least charting a way forward, where we have
not always had a common view. I believe it is a testament to the
enduring strength of our partnership that we have been able to have this
dialogue. It is also evidence of a growing realisation of the mutual
accountability that must exist in any real partnership.
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Before
finishing my remarks, I must also express my sincere gratitude to
colleagues in Government, in particular to the Senior Ministers and
Ministers who made presentations and contributed to our discussions. I
would also like to thank the TWG Chairs and other Government colleagues
from the Technical Working Groups. These TWGs, which of course include
facilitation and representation from our development partners, as well
as from NGOs and civil society organisations, deserve much of the credit
for preparing the statements and analytical work that has informed much
of our discussion. I therefore thank each of you - Government,
development partner and NGO colleagues - for your contributions.
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It is perhaps
also opportune to reaffirm the commitment of Government to making the
TWG-GDCC structure an increasingly effective mechanism for dialogue,
partnership-building and supporting the implementation of the NSDP. I
believe the mechanism that we have established is something of an
international best practice and we should therefore strive to ensure
that it is something of which we can be justifiably proud.
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I must also
acknowledge the role of the World Bank which, both before and during the
meeting, has facilitated the contribution of development partners. The
supporting role of the Bank, assisting in the fulfillment of a vision
articulated and managed by Government, exemplifies the kind of
partnership the Government believes will help us to move forward in many
other more critical areas.
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Please allow
me to pause for a moment and to ask Ian Porter from the World Bank to
say a few words on behalf of development partners.
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