SIEM REAP, Cambodia , Oct. 3 KYODO -- (EDS: UPDATING WITH MORE DETAILS) Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Saturday that Japan is preparing to boost economic assistance to countries in the Mekong region, which the country describes as a priority area for cooperation. ''We would like to make greater contributions than ever to the Mekong region,'' Okada said in a meeting with his counterparts from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, who urged North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs and swiftly return to the six-party denuclearization talks. Okada also pledged that the new Japanese administration led by the Democratic Party of Japan will actively engage in diplomacy with Asian countries with its ''long-term vision'' to create an ''East Asian community.'' Underlining its policy direction for the region, Japan also insisted that a paragraph on the need for democracy in junta-ruled Myanmar be included in the chairman's statement wrapping up the foreign ministers' meeting. Myanmar, whose draconian regime has long been a thorn in regional relations with other countries, had tried to have all reference to the country's political system and repression of dissidents such as democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi expunged from the chairman's summing up of the meeting, but sources close to the meeting told Kyodo News that Japan refused to participate in a whitewash. The sources said Myanmar made both written and verbal protests over mention of its political situation, claiming the ''primary objective'' of Mekong-Japan cooperation is to promote ''regional development, friendship and mutual understanding'' and the meeting is ''not a forum for political dialogue.'' But Japan , the sources said, allowed only a slight softening of the language in the chairman's statement, insisting that the meeting call for free and fair elections in Myanmar . The final statement says: ''On the situation in Myanmar , the ministers believed that the upcoming general elections in 2010 would be transparent, democratic and inclusive. The ministers welcome recent positive steps taken by the government of Myanmar in its democratization process, including the release of more than 7,000 prisoners.'' A mention of Suu Kyi, who has been in jail or under house arrest in Yangon for most of the past two decades, was left out of the final version, but Okada made clear in a joint press conference with other foreign ministers that her release is part of Japan 's vision for the region. Okada said he discussed issues related to Myanmar in the meeting with his Mekong counterparts and told them Japan would ''look forward to seeing free and fair elections,'' promised for next year, with the participation of all political parties and ''the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.'' The Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Siem Reap, home of the Angkor Wat temple complex in northwestern Cambodia , was also aimed at laying the groundwork for a summit meeting between the leaders of Japan and the five Mekong region countries, which they agreed Saturday to hold in Tokyo on Nov. 6-7. The Mekong countries reaffirmed their support for Japan 's pledge to aim for a 25 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 from 1990 levels and the country's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
KyodoOctober 03, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
New Japanese government pledges to continue aid Cambodia
SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Oct. 3 KYODO
New Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada assured his Cambodian counterpart Saturday that despite a change of government in Japan, policy toward Cambodia remains unchanged, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said after meeting with Okada. Hor Namhong, also deputy prime minister, said the pledge was made by Okada during bilateral talks on the sideline of the second Mekong-Japan foreign ministerial meeting in Cambodia 's northern province Siem Reap. In a separate press briefing, Kazuo Okada, press secretary of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, said the foreign minister touched on several issues during his meeting with Hor Namhong, including the Khmer Rouge trial, Japanese official development assistance, investment, removal of land mines and Japanese nongovernmental organizations working in Cambodia . On demining, Okada said Japan is planning to provide 1.1 billion yen for removal of unexploded ordnance, while at the same time Japan is committed to continue supporting the trial process of former leaders of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, according to the press secretary. Japan has been the leading donor to Cambodia after the signing of the Cambodia Peace Agreement in 1991.
KyodoOctober 03, 2009
New Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada assured his Cambodian counterpart Saturday that despite a change of government in Japan, policy toward Cambodia remains unchanged, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said after meeting with Okada. Hor Namhong, also deputy prime minister, said the pledge was made by Okada during bilateral talks on the sideline of the second Mekong-Japan foreign ministerial meeting in Cambodia 's northern province Siem Reap. In a separate press briefing, Kazuo Okada, press secretary of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, said the foreign minister touched on several issues during his meeting with Hor Namhong, including the Khmer Rouge trial, Japanese official development assistance, investment, removal of land mines and Japanese nongovernmental organizations working in Cambodia . On demining, Okada said Japan is planning to provide 1.1 billion yen for removal of unexploded ordnance, while at the same time Japan is committed to continue supporting the trial process of former leaders of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, according to the press secretary. Japan has been the leading donor to Cambodia after the signing of the Cambodia Peace Agreement in 1991.
KyodoOctober 03, 2009
U.S. examining Cambodian request for relief, foreign minister says
PHNOM PENH , Oct. 1 KYODO
The United States has accepted and is taking into consideration a request for debt relief by Cambodia , Hor Namhong, deputy prime minister and foreign minister, said Thursday shortly after returning from New York . He said he raised the issue of debts owed by Cambodia for 37 years during bilateral talks with U.S. Secretary of States Hillary Clinton on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Hor Namhong added he also proposed that if the United States could not cancel the debts outright, it might replace it as being grants for development in education and health. Cheam Yeap, chairman of National Assembly's Economic Commission and a senior member of the Cambodian People's Party, told Kyodo News recently the Lon Nol government borrowed from the United States $162 million in 1972 but due to interest compounding for the last 37 years, the debts have doubled to more than $300 million. The United States backed the Lon Nol government that ruled the country from 1970 until it was toppled by the Khmer Rouge in 1975. According to Cheam Yeap , China , from which the Khmer Rouge government borrowed more than $200 million, has already written off those debts and Hungary has written off some $3 million. He said the International Monetary Fund canceled Cambodian debts of $82 million. Cambodia is also seeking debt relief from Russia , to which it owes $1.5 billion. That money was borrowed by the then People's Republic of Kampuchea in the 1980s, but no official reply on the matter has yet been received, Cheam Yeap said.
Kyodo October 01, 2009
The United States has accepted and is taking into consideration a request for debt relief by Cambodia , Hor Namhong, deputy prime minister and foreign minister, said Thursday shortly after returning from New York . He said he raised the issue of debts owed by Cambodia for 37 years during bilateral talks with U.S. Secretary of States Hillary Clinton on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Hor Namhong added he also proposed that if the United States could not cancel the debts outright, it might replace it as being grants for development in education and health. Cheam Yeap, chairman of National Assembly's Economic Commission and a senior member of the Cambodian People's Party, told Kyodo News recently the Lon Nol government borrowed from the United States $162 million in 1972 but due to interest compounding for the last 37 years, the debts have doubled to more than $300 million. The United States backed the Lon Nol government that ruled the country from 1970 until it was toppled by the Khmer Rouge in 1975. According to Cheam Yeap , China , from which the Khmer Rouge government borrowed more than $200 million, has already written off those debts and Hungary has written off some $3 million. He said the International Monetary Fund canceled Cambodian debts of $82 million. Cambodia is also seeking debt relief from Russia , to which it owes $1.5 billion. That money was borrowed by the then People's Republic of Kampuchea in the 1980s, but no official reply on the matter has yet been received, Cheam Yeap said.
Kyodo October 01, 2009
8 people killed, 12 injured as typhoon Ketsana hits Cambodia
PHNOM PENH , Sept. 29 KYODO -- At least eight people died Tuesday as typhoon Ketsana lashed central Cambodia and destroyed at least 30 houses, a local official said. Chea Seath, director of Provincial Red Cross in Kompong Thom Province, said 12 people were injured as the typhoon pummeled the Sandan district in Kompong Thom, about 240 kilometers northeast of Phnom Penh. The bodies of those killed were found inside damaged houses in Kompong Thom, Chea Seath said. Rattanakiri Province was also hit by the typhoon but it is not immediately known whether there were casualties there.
Kyodo
September 29, 2009
Kyodo
September 29, 2009
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