Cambodia sees opportunities, challenges from ASEAN Community

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith, center, attents roundtable discussion on Toward an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015: Opportunities and Challenges for Cambodia.

 

PHNOM PENH (Cambodia Herald) - Cambodia sees the future ASEAN Community as a good chance for economic and human resource development although some challenges are expected, a government advisor said Wednesday.

Sok Siphana, advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said Cambodia's relatively low wages were likely to attract more foreign investment.

Speaking to the Club of Cambodian Journalists, he nevertheless added that increased employment opportunities meant that Cambodians had to improve their work skills.


At the same time, he said services such as accounting, engineering and hospital services need to be standardized in the ASEAN Community, scheduled to come into effect in 2015.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith told the CCJ meeting that quality of education was very important.

"We are weak in some areas compared with other countries," he said. "We have a lot of schools but the quality is low."

The minister urged journalists to learn more about the labor market, noting that the government had created a general department for professional training.

Cambodians should know their abilities to understand ASEAN and prevent labor issues from falling hostage to nationalism, politics and narrow mindedness, he said.

The minister also encouraged journalists to increase their coverage of the labor market so Cambodians are ready to face such issues as ASEAN economies become more integrated.