[PHNOM PENH POST]
Cambodia has met 70 per cent of the basic requirements needed to join
the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Prime Minister Hun Sen said
yesterday, referring to a recently updated report issued by the economic
block.
The Kingdom ranked third in preparedness among the 10 ASEAN member states, behind Singapore and Malaysia, Hun Sen said.
Concerns
over Cambodia’s railway – which is in disrepair or simply non-existent
in many places – were also raised, and some experts said the country
would not meet the requirements by 2015.
“We have improved in the
IT sector and in cross-border business,” the premier said during the
2012 Cambodia Outlook conference in Phnom Penh yesterday.
Secretary
of State for the Ministry of Economy and Finance Aun Porn Moniroth said
Cambodia should focus more on its interconnectivity developments and
would need to secure assistance both within and outside of ASEAN.
He
spoke specifically about how the country did not have the financial
capability to construct the tentatively planned 257-kilometre long
railway stretching from Phnom Penh to Vietnam, which if finished would
markedly improve the Kingdom’s chances at joining AEC.
“We need
to seek partners not just in ASEAN but outside too, because our project
is big and needs a lot of money,” he said, adding, however, that he did
not know the total costs required to complete the project because it was
relatively young.
“We don’t know how much money will be needed
for the project because the technical study was just finished, and they
still need to study the finances,” he said.
However, Chheng
Kimlong, a professor of business and economics at the University of
Cambodia, said ASEAN’s member states’ development differed greatly from
each other, in terms of resources, funds, connectivity and human
resources, and Cambodia was still far off from matching some of its more
wealthy regional neighbours.
“I don’t expect that we will meet
the target of joining AEC by 2015 because we are still far behind that.
But it is a positive move to aim towards that target,” he said.
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