International donors pledge nearly 1 bln dollars to Cambodia: govt

Keat Chhon, Cambodia's Finance Minister.

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — International donors on Friday pledged nearly one billion dollars to Cambodia, its government said, their most generous aid package ever to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation despite the global economic downturn.

In a statement ending a two-day donors' meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's Finance Minister Keat Chhon announced pledges totalling 951.5 million dollars in development aid for 2009.

"This is the week of one billion dollars... we have achieved a huge success," Keat Chhon told reporters later, adding in a statement that some countries were still to make their pledges, including the United States as it remains in transition between presidents.

Keat Chhon said China had made the biggest pledge of 257 million dollars, while Japan gave 113 million dollars and EU countries pledged 214 million dollars in total.

Cambodia's World Bank country manager, Qimiao Fan, said the aid would "help Cambodia to grow and to reduce poverty."

Speaking on behalf of donors, Fan urged the government to use the aid effectively and pass a new anti-graft law quickly in order to "send a strong signal to the donor community and to investors in Cambodia so that they have the confidence that they can make more long-term commitments to Cambodia."

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday opened the meeting promising foreign donors he would fight corruption with the new law as soon as possible.

Donors last year pledged 689 million dollars to the country, despite strong concerns over rampant corruption and demands by rights groups that donors get tough on the government's apparent refusal to reform.

While still among one of the world's poorest countries, Cambodia has emerged from decades of conflict as one of the region's rising economies.

It has posted annual economic growth averaging 11 percent over the past three years on the back of strong garment and tourism sectors.

But the International Monetary Fund recently said Cambodia's economy was expected to flounder next year as the world crisis deepened.