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H.E Shym P. Bajpai ,
H.E Keat Chhon,
H.E Chea Chanto,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my great
pleasure and honor to welcome all the participants to this Public
Consultation on the Draft of Financial Sector Blueprint 2006-2015. I
would like to take this opportunity to extend my appreciation to ADB
and its team for their efforts to put together this public
consultation. It is also a privilege for the Ministry of Commerce to
work in close partnership with ADB on this important undertaking. It
was agreed that developing the legal framework for financial markets
could play an important role in Cambodia’s economic development and
will lead to increase international trade, attract foreign direct
investment, increase foreign exchange earnings and revitalize the
domestic economy. The Public Consultation called for urgent, but
prudent action to prioritize future financial sector reforms in
Cambodia. The Ministry of Commerce has it mandate:
(i) to
complete and strengthen the legal framework, and to
implement the strategy to support market development in the areas of
economic and financial regulations;
(ii) to ensure the sustainability of the legal reform
process through institutional strengthening; and
(iii) to develop a program, including the
identification of necessary training materials, and to
institutionalize such legal training capabilities within the
Ministry of Commerce and other local institutions.
First Objective –
Strengthening of the legal framework:
(a) A functioning system of commercial laws
with adequate means for enforcing contract performance and
protection of intellectual property rights;
(b) A legal foundation for different kinds of
property rights and ownership;
(c) Ownership structures and governance processes for
different kinds of enterprises;
(d) A fair and equitable business environment
supported by insolvency, and competition laws and policies ensuring
fair and effective competition and the protection of creditors and
debtors and interest of the general public;
(e) Access to the necessary resources of
finance (financial laws such as securities laws and regulations,
banking system), and secured transactions law;
(f) A legal framework for foreign investment protection; and
(g) Dispute resolution processes including
court litigation and arbitration council as well as administrative
enforcement of appropriate Government regulatory powers.
Second Objective – Institutional Strengthening:
(a) Capacity
building to formulate, enact and implement commercial and financial
laws and regulations of the principal legal institutions responsible
for commercial law-making and enforcement ‑ including the Ministries
of Commerce, Economy and Finance, Justice, National Bank of
Cambodia, other line ministries, and the Parliament; and
(b) Identification
of whatever further actions might be appropriate to consolidate the
activities of such institutions in the areas of legal training and
sustainable human resource development.
Third Objective – Development and
institutionalization of legal training materials:
(a) Continuing legal training for the MoC
legal officers and drafters, and other government lawyers;
(b) Institutionalized training program –
training Cambodian legal instructors in MoC and other key
institutions;
(c) Tailor the training initiatives to
accommodate the specific legal training and retraining needs of
various officers of MoC and government ministries, designed with
particular reference to the lack of language of many potential
participants; and
(d) Ensure complementary of training efforts
with other donors initiatives.
Principal Outputs :
(i) In‑depth assessment of legal training
needs and institutional capabilities for implementing commercial and
financial related laws;
(ii) Production of training reference
materials, handbooks, pamphlets on Cambodia's recently enacted
commercial and financial related laws, including intellectual
property laws;
(iii) Development of skills in technical areas;
(iv) Institutionalization legal training;
(v) Development of a series of training
workshops, conferences, and symposiums on commercial and financial
related laws;
(vi) Development of a public registry of secured
transactions;
(vii) Access to Worldwide Web Internet Services, and
(viii) Development of a Commercial Arbitration Center.
Least but not last,
the timing of this Public Consultation could not have
come at a better time and I am encourage all the participants to be
open in their discussions and wish the Public Consultation a
fruitful exchange.
Thank You for
your attention |
