English Translation of

Keynote Speech by

Samdech Hun Sen

Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia

 

At the Opening of the Third Asia Economic Forum on

“Leadership Needs and Challenges in the Twenty-First Century: Asian Perspectives”

 

InterContinental Hotel, Phnom Penh, 2-5 April 2007

 

-Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

- Distinguished Guests!

 

Today, I have the great honor and pleasure to participate with Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, National and International Guests in the opening of the third Asia Economic Forum on “Leadership Needs and Challenges in the Twenty-First Century: Asian Perspectives”.

 

On behalf of the Royal Government and myself, I highly appreciate the initiative of the University of Cambodia in organizing this Asia Economic Forum which offers the opportunity for discussion and dialogue among key policy markers and experts in the region from both public and private sector on “Leadership Needs and Challenges in the Twenty-First Century”: a topic which is very important for our region at the present. I believe that the forum will provide good knowledge and methodologies to assess and set the direction for the proposal of strategic policies and development plans as well as to promote intellectual innovation and highlight new ideas to highlight the need for leadership in the Asia region and seek suitable solutions for the various difficulties that will occur in the 21st Century.

 

I hope that this third Asia Economic Forum will yield good experience, comments, suggestions and views, and thus serve as a roadmap for advancing development in Asia Region and improving the quality of life.

 

Meanwhile, it should be noted that the Third Asia Economic Forum on “Leadership Needs Challenges in the Twenty First Century” can tap the momentum of economic development in Cambodia that has benefited from reforms under the framework of the Rectangular Strategy for Growth, Employment, Equity and Efficiency. Indeed, the Royal Government has overcome a lot of problems to produce political stability and peace throughout the country, which are the pre-conditions for advancing its efforts to reduce poverty, respect human rights and dignity, strengthen democracy and advance towards sustainable and equitable development.

 

Taking this opportunity, on behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia and myself, I would like to thank the University of Cambodia that organized this important forum. Furthermore, I would like to thank Dr. Haruhisa Handa (Dr. Toshu Fukami), the president of the International Foundation for Arts and Culture, Tokyo, Japan, which financially supported this forum.

 

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen!

 

Taking this opportunity, I would like to mention some key points to set direction for the discussion on Leadership Needs and Challenges in the Twenty-First Century in the Third Asia Economic Forum, as follows:

 

1-Promotion of political stability, peace and security are essential factors for economic growth, progress and poverty reduction.

 

It is indeed that peace and political stability are the foundation of future confidence, progress and employment creation. All investors pay attention to these factors before making decision on investment projects in any country. If a region or country does not have peace and political stability, there would be no development. Therefore, the maintenance of peace and political stability is very important for development. Looking to the future, our leadership should concentrate on promoting cooperation and participation as well as partnership in improving and constantly maintaining political stability, peace and security. If we succeed in doing so, the momentum of development for poverty reduction and prosperity in the region and in each country will be sustained.

 

2-Leadership in Asia needs to strive for good and effective national management in the context of globalization.

 

For the present, the impetus of progress is through the dispersal of new knowledge; information technology and telecommunications are stimulating the rapid development in the world, particularly in Asia. In the meanwhile, it is clear that ideas, knowledge and know-how have been playing increasingly important roles in creating wealth, promoting economic growth and determining the comparative advantage of each nation. However, globalization is also resulting in some challenges, such as the problem of increasing oil prices, insecurity in some regions, the spread of communicable diseases (for example HIV/AIDS and bird flu), as well as increasing the development gap and poverty.

 

In this regard, I think that the main issue is how we, including all leaders, governments and the private sector, can ensure that globalization can produce real benefits for nations and their peoples.

 

3-Leadership of Asia has some challenges which need to be resolved

 

Those challenges include the development gap between developing and developed countries, poverty, the environment, security, energy and stability and peace. These issues need an advanced and effective leadership to address and set clear directions.

 

It means that we have to exchange ideas and views, so as to address the risks and challenges, in order to sharpen the leadership’s vision and our action plans in the future.

 

4-Widening the development gap in the region could threaten regional stability and future economic growth.

 

Although, we are proud of the development which we enjoy, we have not yet eliminated poverty. Though we made progress last century, we still face inequality in human development. In fact, industry and the export of services that require highly capable and professional human resources have driven the strong development of the region. Nonetheless, millions of people are still living in miserable conditions and have been not benefited from economic growth. Those people not only have no income and are malnourished, but they are also vulnerable to discrimination based on gender, social class, and geographic area.

 

It is clear that there are many sorts of development gap, for example as a result of social class, nationality, religion as well as region in the world. Economic growth is an important factor to address these issues, but if this growth is not linked to equity and environmental sustainability, it will threaten social stability and security. Therefore, political progress should be linked to the equitable distribution of wealth to all classes in society, especially to the poor and those on the margins of the community. In this sense, if there is not a wise, struggling and long-term strategic leadership, we cannot win the battle to narrow the development gap and reduce the poverty. I think that this Third Asia Economic Forum should discuss thoroughly on this.

 

5-Sustainable environmental management is a leadership need which should not be overlooked in tackling the challenges of the 21st century.

 

Environmental issues are crucial for survival of the human race. Our region and world will face continuous challenges, if those issues are not addressed properly. Indeed, if the weather keeps changing and global warming increases, floods and droughts will occur, and natural disasters will become more serious. If the natural balance is damaged, not only will development be affected but even the existence of human life will be threatened. Therefore, leadership in the region and in each country should be promoted in the environmental sector, in order to prevent the deterioration and destruction of the natural environment and to assure environmental sustainability that can maintain the life of a nation and its people, as well as the happiness, development and succession of the next generation. I believe that to address these issues, we must continue to implement Kyoto Protocol on the climate change. The Third Asia Economic Forum should thus also discuss about immediate and future measures to protect the environment and ensure sustainability. In this regard, I would like to propose the forum to make comments and suggestions that help to produce leadership to minimise challenges to the environment.

 

6-Leadership needs in the 21st Century and energy security

 

So far, the instability of oil prices is a common concern in Asia and other regions in the world. Indeed, the instability of oil prices will have great effects on economic growth in the region and in each country. Moreover, the high oil price exacerbates poverty and the slow progress of some countries in the region. In this sense, I envision that measures need to be implemented by our leadership to promote cooperation in the energy sector as much as possible, in order to find alternative sources of energy such as hydroelectricity, bio-fuel, wind power, wave power and solar energy etc. In their two days of discussion, the forum should also consider what other measures may be necessary.

 

7-Leadership needs and the role of ASEAN in the Asia-Pacific and the world

 

At this time of great progress in economics, information technology, technical science and development in China, India and Japan, ASEAN nations have also developed in economics and sciences. Indeed, their progress has made ASEAN prestigious and important in the Asia-Pacific as well as the rest of the world.

 

The annual summit of ASEAN Leaders, the ASEAN+1 and ASEAN+3 Summits, and the Regional ASEAN Forum on security and international cooperation, all help to establish and maintain the South East Asian community. This will be formalised in the near future, with the preparation of a Charter by 2015. These Asian meetings and fora are part of a profound and speedy development in Asian region; and can get attention from the rest of the world and help promote broader collaboration. Therefore, leadership in enhancing cooperation and ensuring the importance of ASEAN both locally and in the rest of the world is essential and must be pursued in the future. I am confident that, with all these meetings to help strengthen ASEAN, promote collaboration and expand the group, this will lead to the ever better development of ASEAN and its member countries.  

 

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen!

 

In order to reduce the problems we are facing in the twenty-first century, the leadership we need most is one which acknowledges the problems that we are facing and seeks to find rational solutions to them. Obviously, despite all of the achievements from leadership to date, there are still issues we need to face.

 

First, leadership must continue to promote political stability, peace, and security in the region and in each country, so as to enable the opportunity for development by inducing confidence and increasing job creation.  

 

Second, leadership must continue to promote economic growth and encourage the sharing of the wealth resulting from development: by being equitable will encourage macroeconomic stability and create a friendly environment for investment and participation of the private sector, whilst providing the opportunity for people of all levels to enjoy these successes.

 

Third, leadership must reduce the development gap and lead to poverty reduction by encouraging participation in work collaboration and partnerships, to help each other in facing the problems which arise from the globalization and economic liberalization.

 

Fourth, leadership must continue encouraging the implementation of Millennium Development Goals to reduce the incidence of poverty and starvation: for example, by efforts to achieve “Education For All” and “Gender Equity”, with equal rights and privileges to all females in every sector; to reduce mortality rate and combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases; to ensure environmental sustainability and encourage global partnership in order to promote sustainable development.

 

Fifth, leadership must continue to encourage good governance by considering public service delivery to the citizenry as an important focus; rather than the leader serving as a commander, there is a need for a new paradigm where the leader is seen as a servant of the people and a facilitator to serve their needs.

 

Sixth, leadership must seek to encourage forecasting to assess the impact of development in order to better narrow down the development gap and promote poverty reduction; and also to promote decentralization in delivery of public services, including the setting up of safety nets to better protect the citizenry, and most especially the poor, in order to reduce their vulnerability to factors such as economic depression, climate change, natural disasters and epidemics of communicable diseases.      

 

Seventh, leadership must continue to strengthen and expand regional and global integration through encouraging the establishment of an Asian community and South East Asian community in order to widen joint collaboration in maintaining political stability and security for the development, happiness and prosperity of the region and the world.

 

 

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen!

 

I strongly believe that the topic on “Leadership Needs and Challenges in the Twenty-First Century” which will be discussed in this Third Asia Economic Forum is extremely important and now is the right time for formulating a comprehensive development plan for the future. I hope that after this forum we will be able to mobilize new valuable ideas and new knowledge which will be useful for promoting leadership and reducing challenges in this globalization era.

 

In conclusion, I would like to wish you all the Five Gems of Buddhist Blessings.

 

May I now declare the official opening of the Third Asia Economic Forum!

 

Thank you!

 

            

Posted by: Asia Economic Forum (AEF)