(Phnom Penh)
On Monday, 13th September 2021, at the Council for the Development of Cambodia, His Excellency Chhieng Yanara, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister and Secretary General of the Cambodian Rehabilitation and Development Board of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CRDB/CDC) held a Courtesy and discussion meeting with Mr. Andreas Zurbrugg, Deputy Head of Mission of Australian Embassy and colleagues through video conference. The meeting aims to discuss the priorities on bilateral development cooperation and the progress of the Cambodia COVID-19 Development Response Plan (CDRP 2020-2022) as well as to inform the future development initiative programs for Cambodia.
H.E. Minister Chhieng Yanara warmly welcomed and expressed his congratulation to Mr. Andreas Zurbrugg on his appointment as the Deputy Head of Mission of Australian Embassy in Cambodia and Head of Australian Aid Program in Cambodia. H.E. Minister highly valued the achievements made in the implementation of the CDRP 2020-2022 which have strengthened partnerships and contributed to the sustainable and inclusive development of Cambodia.
Mr. Andreas Zurbrugg expressed his pleasure to begin his mission in Cambodia and highly valued the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) efforts and achievements made for the development of Cambodia to date. At the same time, Mr. Andreas also highly valued and appreciated CDC for excellent cooperation and close partnerships with the Australian Government and committed to further strengthen such cooperation and partnerships as achieved in the past years.
In the meeting, Mr. Andreas emphasized the supports of the Australian Government through providing Official Development Assistance approximately AUD 66 million in 2021 to support its programs focusing on Health Security, Economic Resilience, Agriculture and Education. On top of that, Mr. Andreas also flagged the meeting about the formulation of the new bilateral “Resilience Economic Development” Project with financial support around AUD 90 million for the next 5 years period, starting from 2022 with additional 3
years extension. The project will focus on 4 key priority areas: 1) Trade and Investment, 2) Agriculture and Agro-processing, 3) Infrastructure and 4) Gender and Social Inclusion.
In response, H.E. Minister Chhieng Yanara highly appreciated the efforts made by the Australian Government in supporting Cambodia socio-economic development especially during the COVID-19. H.E. Minister appreciated the initiative programs which are well- consistent with RGC’s COVID-19 Socio-Economic Recovery Plan that focuses on 3 approaches: Recovery, Reforming and Resilience. H.E. Minister also praised the progress of programs and projects including Investing in Infrastructure (3i), Cambodia- Australia Agriculture Value Chains II (CAVAC II) as well-reflected in the progress of CDRP 2020-2022 implementation.
In addition, Mr. Andreas indicated an additional grant financing proximately AUD 35 million to procure vaccine around 3 million doses through UNICEF and WHO to support RGC’s effort in the Nation-wide Vaccine roll-out plan. Mr. Andreas also emphasized the additional support to Health Equity and Equality Improvement Program Phase II (HEQIP) around AUD 30 million and Social Accountability Framework Project Phase II around 15 million for the next 5 years.
In conclusion, H.E. Minister expressed his sincere thanks to the Government and people of Australia for supporting Cambodia’s socio-economic development especially Australia’s firm commitment to provide safe and effective vaccine to Cambodian people.