H.E. IM SETHY, Minister of Education, Youth and Sport, Cambodia Attending the 1st China-ASEAN Education Minister Roundtable Conference Guiyang, the People's Republic of China, 2-5 August 2010

- The Royal Government of Cambodia recognizes that regional and global activities in education development are an important mechanism for sharing experiences and learning lessons about education reform. This is particularly critical for Cambodia that tries to move quickly to restore, develop and modernize the education system.
- Cambodia is a post conflict nation, having experienced great tragedy that has led to a reduced human capacity. After great hardships, the Royal Government of Cambodia is dedicated to developing its human resources in order to reconstruct the country and integrate with the regional and global community of nations. With the selfless commitment and great wisdom of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the hard-found peace in Cambodia was finally secured in late 1998 and the impact of the subsequent capacity development between the years 2000-2009 has been very significant. Cambodian people currently are living in peace, stability and national unity, enjoying full rights, freedom and democracy.

- The Royal Government of Cambodia has given great importance to the education and skills development sector to accommodate Cambodia into the regional and global labour market. As a result, we have identified human resource development as one of its priorities and as an important agenda in the Rectangular Strategy-Phase II and in the National Strategic Development Plan.

- Guided by the mentioned national strategies, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has formulated the long-term Plan Education for All 2003-2015 and a five year plan, the Education Strategic Plan to enable the implementation of education reform in order to meet Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals. The aim is to ensure that all Cambodian citizens have equal access to quality education regardless of their gender, where they live, or the wealth or poverty of their parents, particularly to reach the unreached. That is the key to building a knowledge-based society that will ensure Cambodia’s competitiveness in integrating herself into the region and the world.

- Quality of Education is one of the major concerns for our Ministry as we live in a world of knowledge and information technology which includes skills, know-how, innovation and creativity of human resources. Up to now, the education sector has proudly developed in terms of both quantity and quality with the support and assistance from the Royal Government and national and international communities and donors.

- Highly appreciate the collaboration between the Royal Government of Cambodia and the Government of the People’s Republic of China as well as the Governments of the ASEAN countries that have led to these important educational developments in Cambodia, particularly the support to human resource development through the provision of scholarships to Cambodian students for further study in their countries. In this sense, Cambodia considers cooperation on education between China and ASEAN as a crucial means of cultivating awareness of one another’s developments. That is a significant means of promoting regional competitiveness and development.

- Obviously, the cooperation between Cambodia and China as well as ASEAN and China has been succeeded in many different areas. So, the 1st China-ASEAN Roundtable Conference today is a symbolic and timely starting point to this cooperation with many important steps to be followed before its process is completely fulfilled:

- Disparity within the region should be reduced through academic exchange and cooperation, research collaboration, and scholarship programs.

- Education quality within the region should be enhanced through creating harmonization of quality assurance and credit transfer systems, and qualification frameworks. That way we can draw on and benefit from each other’s experiences.

- Seminar, workshop or training should be regularly organized to share best practices and other initiatives on contemporary educational issues. This is important in all levels of education, but we see major opportunities at the higher education level in terms of research and development.

- Such exchanges will ensure a healthy balance between cooperation and competitiveness. Such exchanges will also provide a focus on cooperation that benefits the majority rather than a few. The 1st China-ASEAN Education Minister Roundtable Conference has further strengthened the friendships, academic linkages and networking locally and regionally. Those connections will lead directly to an improving quality education in the region, and promote further regional economic development as well as talent and skills cultivation.

                    INVITATION
SUMMER YOUTH CAMP CAMBODIA 2010

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Summer Youth Camp Program English

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