Day: June 24, 2022

Ministries of Interior and Public Works and Transport have jointly organised a consultation workshop to draft 2021-2030 plan to address road accident issue in Cambodia.

The June 22-23 workshop was led by the General Secretariat of the National Committee for Road Safety of the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Public Works and Transport with the support from Prudential (Cambodia) Life Assurance PLC.

Some 130 competent officials and representatives from the two ministries and their line departments from 25 capital and provinces, Prudential Cambodia and International Business Chamber of Cambodia (IBC) and other concerned agencies attended the discussion at the transport ministry here in Phnom Penh.

H.E. Ms. Min Manavy, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and Secretary General of National Road Safety Committee who chaired the opening of the workshop noticed the increase of road accidents in the first three months of 2022 as Cambodia reopening the country and ease travel restrictions.

Speeding, drunk-driving, driving without helmet, driving without seat belt and illegal overtaking were the main causes of most deaths and injuries of the incidents, she underlined.

She thanked the supporter of the workshop and all the participants and was positive that the discussion will contribute to the development of an effective 10-year road safety plan.

Mr. Sanjay CHAKRABARTY, CEO of Prudential Cambodia said that as a life insurer, the company sees its responsibility to bring safe steps to address road safety to Cambodia where it operates.

According to the record by the General Commissariat of the National Police in 2021, there were 2,670 accidents, resulting in 1,497 deaths and 3,615 injuries — of them 2,246 were serious, and most of the deaths took place in Phnom Penh (245), Kandal (141) and Kampong Cham (96).

Source: Agence Kampuchea Press

His Majesty Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni, King of Cambodia, has extended his cordial congratulations to Vietnamese top leaders on the occasion of the 55th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Diplomatic Relations between the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam as well as the Cambodia-Viet Nam Friendship Year 2022.

“Cambodia and Vietnam have enjoyed cordial bonds of traditional friendship and close cooperation in all dimension over the last five decades based on the spirit of good neighbourliness, solidarity, mutual trust and understanding. I am delighted to see the continued growth in relations, fostered by the frequently exchange visit of leaders of the two countries and people-to-people interactions”, wrote the Cambodian monarch in separate royal messages to H.E. Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, and H.E. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of Viet Nam.

Despite the global challenges caused by COVID-19, His Majesty the King continued, we have impressively succeeded to double our overall trade volume from US$ 4.7 billion in 2018 to over US$ 9.5 billion in 2021, and significantly expanded the investment activities from Viet Nam to Cambodia. Since both countries have re-opened, the number of Vietnamese tourists is now standing on top in the list of foreign visitors in Cambodia, while thousands of Cambodians also go to Viet Nam either for leisure, business or for medical care.

“The celebration of the 55th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Diplomatic Relations will bring us the memories which we extended to each other in the past for the cause of national liberation, unification, independence and development and will further enhance the sentiment of solidarity and close cooperation for shared prosperity of two nations, ASEAN family and the world at large,” underlined the monarch.

Source: Agence Kampuchea Press

National Assembly First Vice President H.E. Dr. Cheam Yeap warned Friday that synthetic drug production was continuing to grow in Asia.

“Synthetic drug trade continues to expand in East and Southeast Asia, with production and trafficking hitting record levels in 2021,” he told the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) Advisory Council on Dangerous Drugs.

“Extreme volumes of methamphetamine are being produced, trafficked, and used in the region,” he said in his opening remarks, referring to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) last month.

“The synthetic drug trade continues to diversify,” he added.

The Deputy Speaker recalled that the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Drug Matters chaired by Cambodia last year noted “changing trends and patterns in illicit drug activities” in the region — including record seizures of synthetic drugs and the smuggling of non-controlled chemicals used as precursors.

“Other challenges include the increasing trend of foreign drug syndicates connecting with local criminals and online drug trafficking in the ASEAN Member States,” he said.

Mr. Sim Inshik, from the UNODC Regional Office in Bangkok, told the meeting that a “spillover” of methamphetamine from Myanmar was “hitting the region” with crystal meth or “ice” selling for only US$5,000 a kilogramme in Thailand last year — down from more than US$10,000 a kilogramne in 2019.

Despite reported increases in demand, “data is limited and not prioritised,” the UNODC official said. To keep abreast of the region’s evolving synthetic drug market, Mr. Sim Inshik stressed the importance of forensics and early-warning systems.

The one-day meeting of ASEAN members of parliament was chaired by H.E. Ty Sokun, Secretary of the National Assembly Commission on Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, Information and Media.

Source: Agence Kampuchea Press