Cambodia

Statement of 

Her Excellency Mrs. Hang Lina, 

Secretary of State, Ministry of Planning, Royal Government of Cambodia

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentleman, Honored and Distinguished Guests,

Today, on behalf of the Ministry of Planning, Royal Government of Cambodia, I am very pleased and honored to share Cambodia GEO participation with you in the GEO Week 2023.

Cambodia is a developing country in South-East Asia with the population of around 16.8 million in 2022. The GDP annual growth rate of Cambodia is averaged at 6.96% from 1994 until 2022, reaching an all-time high of 13.3% in 2005 and a record low of -3.1% in 2020 due to the impacts of covid-19 pandemic.

The current Prime Minister Samdech Moha Bovar Thepadei Hun Manet, Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia is leading the new government and keeping of remaining achievement from the former Prime Minister to make a good economy gradually recovered from the impacts of covid-19. The political platform for the new government has prepared the “Pentagonal Strategy-Phase I” for Growth, Employment, Equity, Efficiency and Sustainability: Building the Foundation Towards Realizing the Cambodia Vision 2050, as the socioeconomic policy agendas to effectively implement the “Political Platform”.

Peace, stability and development of the country has been highly appreciated and acknowledged by people inside and outside of the country. Besides the flourishing development in all fields, the poverty rate sharply dropped from 53.5% in 2004 to 13.5% in 2014 and in 2020 has increased to 17.8% outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. The reduction in prevalence of infectious diseases including malaria and the spread of HIV/AID has also been achieved. The GDP per Capita was around US$ 1,932 and the economic growth has declined from 7.1% to 5.6% from 2019 to 2023 because of the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. The total population in 2023 was about 17,1 million and it is projected to increase to about 18,7 million in 2030. The number of tourists visiting Cambodia is increasing with about 5 million people every year, a great contribution to job creation as well as added income to the national population which attracts the national and multi-national investment of more than 10 billion per year but unfortunately, the number of tourists has declined in 2020 and 2021 due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic affected. Cambodia which needed help in the past is now helping other countries in Africa and Arab world by providing more than 3000 personnel made up of its engineers and demining military specialists under UNPKF to rebuild and clear mines in those countries.

The national election was successfully organized in 23 July 2023 and was considered by international observers as free, fair and peaceful. The inclusion of the Zone Sambo Prey Kuh Cambodian patrimony as a world heritage site and the acceptance of Cambodia as a member number 104^th of Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in 2017 have demonstrated the new success of the Royal Government of Cambodia in cooperation efforts with the international community and other partners. I wish to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to the Secretariat of the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) which has done so much until Cambodia became a member of the Group on Earth Observation (GEO).

With such a rapid population growth and fast urbanization, lots of pressure have been put into the surrounding environment and threats to national food security. So, the Cambodia GEO has a vital role in building up the data management system and Data Cube development to support disaster risk management and mitigation as well as environmental impacts and climate change issue. Until now, the Cambodia GEO has collected data from some provinces for the primary data and secondary data from National Disaster Authority Committee, Ministry of Environment, and Ministry of Meteorology and Water Resources. The result has shown that the irregular rainfall, hot temperature, and low river water as well. The flooding disaster and COVID19 pandemic are the most affected to the family and Cambodia economy than other disaster such as thunder storm, landslide etc.

The digital economy permeates all aspects of society, including the way people interact, the economic landscape, the skills needed to get a good job, and even political decision-making. The internet and its accessory activities including information and communication technologies have given birth to new products, services, jobs, enterprises and even markets.

Cambodia’s digital economy remains at a nascent stage and will need at least 10 years to growth and aim for a technology-driven economy. It has been gradually taking sharp and creating new business activities in digital payment, online entertainment and e-commerce while increasing the number of users who adapt themselves to such technologies.

In Cambodia, the number of mobile phones has rapidly increased since 2003 when there were only 526,698 mobile phones and 2016 there were 20,142,764 mobile phones. The number of internet subscribers has increased dramatically compared to 2007. There were 8,099,132 subscribers in 2016, whereas in 2007 the number of internet subscribers were only 11,779. The optical fiber is installed in Cambodia to improve the bandwidth and enable more internet subscribers. In 2010 the length of optical fiber was 22,380 km.

One of the remarkable achievements that the Kingdom of Cambodia has made in its history especially under the leadership of the former Prime Minister Samdach Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen was the 32th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games which was organized from 5 to 17 May 2023 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The successful preparation and organization of the SEA Games has proved the world that Cambodia has stepped up to another level of development being capable in handling big international events.

Cambodia GEO is willing to develop the Cambodia GEO Data System for monitoring and data sharing on disaster risks, environmental impacts, and climate change in Cambodia. The main vision for Cambodia GEO is develop Data Cube when Cambodia has enough satellite data through data sharing from GEO member countries for participation SDGs implementation. To achieve this result, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) unit has been created by declaration letter under the National Institute of Statistics, Ministry of Planning. The function of this unit is coordination on data collection relating to disaster, environment and climate change from relevant institutions and also cooperation with international organization. It has many constraints to implement this activity because Cambodia has no satellite and low-capacity building while other countries have more experience and high-capacity building. Cambodia needs assistance for technical support and advisors as many as possible. For Cambodia GEO Data System development, Cambodia GEO Unit has collected data for 5 provinces around Tonle Sap Lake in 2019. In 2022, the primary data has collected for 2 provinces in Coastal region and in 2023, the primary data has collected 2 provinces in the same region by using limited government budget through annual budget plan step by step. The method used for data collection is using questionnaire for face-to-face interview with head of household affected by environment, disaster and climate change relate to daily living for them and using existing data produced by relevant institutions to combine with thematic maps instead of insufficient satellite data for the time being.

Excellency, Ladies and Gentleman,

I would like to remind you that the National Institute of Statistics of the Ministry of Planning has collected primary and secondary data from censuses and surveys and other institutions follow the statistical law.

All indicators have been collected through the primary data and secondary data which are essential for monitoring the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in the framework as Cambodia is a member of United Nations. However, the National Institute of Statistics, Ministry of Planning is an institution responsible for collect, compile, and analysis data at national down to sub-national level but it has never collected data from satellite yet for monitoring disaster risks, environment, and climate change which supports the implement of the Sustainable Development Goals. In this connection, I hope that Cambodia will get good benefits and receive more data and information through data sharing and best practices from other GEO Member Countries. The expected benefits include:

1. Strengthening capacity building of staff, who involved in information management, through experience sharing from other countries as members of GEO
2. Sharing of data and information from other Member Countries as satellite, while Cambodia has no satellite yet
3. Cambodia will receive satellite data to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including:
   • Goals 1: No poverty
   • Goal 2: Zero hunger
   • Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities
   • Goal 13: Climate Action
   • Goal 15: Life on Land

With regards to the success of our national statistics, I would like to extend our appreciation to GEO Secretariat that has accepted Cambodia as a member of GEO in 2017 and I would like to thanks to GEO Secretariat for well organizing the GEO Week 2022 in Ghana. On behalf of Cambodia GEO, Ministry of Planning, Royal Government of Cambodia, I can say that Cambodia will work out our best to follow the guidelines of GEO’s vision and mission as much as possible and cooperate with member of GEO countries and GEO Secretariat for data sharing that GEO Secretariat needs.

Finally, I would like to wish excellency, ladies and gentlemen continued healthy and success in your work.

Thank you