Cambodian officials said a plan to set up the ASEAN Federation for Rice
Millers and Rice Traders would help facilitate an increase in export
quality and quantity, but the plan is progressing slowly due to
opposition from rice-importing countries.
Mao Thora, secretary of state for the Ministry of Commerce,
said the initiative began a few years ago, but its progress is being
held back because rice-importing countries are disputing the plans on
the grounds of losses they might suffer when the federation is formed.
“The
situation is seen differently by importing and exporting countries.
Importing countries think they will lose out when we establish our
federation,” he said. “It’s been quiet for a while, but they are still
discussing our plan,” he added.
The establisment of the
federation will bring common benefits for rice-exporting countries.
Cambodia in particular stands to benefit in terms of seeking new markets
and with its new plan to export 1 million tonnes of rice by 2015.
“After
discussions, the benefit is for everyone – both for the countries that
export less rice and for countries that export a lot of rice,” said Mao
Thora. “We don’t exploit each other. It is to help each other as ASEAN
members. We want to stabalise our exporting in a sustainable way.”
Kim
Savuth, chairman of the Federation of Cambodian Rice Exporters, said
that some countries seem to ignore the Cambodian prime minister’s
initiative for the regional federation for political purposes. In his
view, how quickly the regional federation can be realised depends on the
will of the political leaders in all the participating countries.
“According
to a personal meeting I had with senior Minister Cham Prasidh, he said
he wants it to happen late this year. But I don’t know about the
technicalities and political disagreements.”
Kim Savuth’s statement echoes those of Thai officials in a Bangkok Post article published yesterday.
Tikhumporn Natvaratate, deputy director general of the Thai Foreign Trade Department,
said Thailand will propose the conceptual framework for the partnership
during the ASEAN Summit that runs from November 17 to 18 in Phnom Penh.
0 comments:
Post a Comment