CDC - Closing Remark Keat Chhon


6^th Consultative Group Meeting for Cambodia Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 20-21, 2002 Closing Remarks Mr. Keat Chhon Sr. Minister, Minister of Economy and Finance Vice-Chairman of the Council for the Development of Cambodia Royal Government of Cambodia

Mr. Chairman, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, 1. First of all, I would like to thank all of you for your valuable and candid contributions, and productive discussions during the past two days and the working sessions, both in our formal as well as informal discussions. Your views, comments, concerns, suggestions, and recommendations are highly appreciated by the Royal Government. We know they are made in a spirit of goodwill not only to further Cambodia’s development process but also to ensure that you could report to your constituents and the general public in your countries on progress that is being made in Cambodia and to strengthen the case for their continuing support. 2. On behalf of the Royal Government I would like to thank all of you, and those not present here, for your continued interest and generous assistance to Cambodia. The amount of nearly US$ 635 million committed here today plus around US$ 50 million from the NGOs for the year 2002 is a testimony of your support. 3. We also express our appreciation to the World Bank for helping us in organizing this meeting and to my counterpart Co-Chairman for effectively managing the meeting in the true spirit of participation and partnership, and to technical staff of the World Bank and the Royal Government for the effort they have put into making this meeting a success. This is the first time that such a CG meeting was held in Cambodia. On behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia, I would like to thank all external partners, especially Australia, Japan, Sweden, and UNDP who have been generous in providing material support in the preparations for this very important meeting. 4. I would like to assure all our development partners that the Royal Government is committed to see that every bit of your assistance is used in a transparent and effective manner to optimise its use to benefit all sections of our society. We hope that in the process of further strengthening the partnerships with all our development partners we will continue to adopt rules and procedures, in close collaboration with you, that will enable the utilization of these resources for reducing poverty among our people in a transparent and accountable manner. The Royal Government remains committed to conducting regular high-level and policy coordination consultations with all our external partners as an integral element of our development management strategy. 5. On 27 July 2003, next year, the general elections will take place. The Royal Government will continue to work hard to push forward the pace of reforms. There will be no room for demagogy. Without the reform, we will die. With the reform, the chance of survival, the chance of development, the chance of generating prosperity will be significantly enhanced. We are working not only for the term of this present government, but also for a better future for Cambodia and its people. In particular, we will act so that the nine priority benchmarks for joint monitoring will be met. As far as general elections schedule for next year is concerned, we take good note of the recommendations made by various delegations. 6. Let me thank all of you for coming to this meeting and sparing your time and energies to give us advice and assurance of continued assistance. 7. Rendez-vous à Phnom Penh, end 2003. Thank you all once again.