Strategic approach needed to foster sustainable growth: UNCDF

Cambodia can foster greater growth by introducing strategic approach, including tapping into significant yet unexploited potential, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) said on Thursday in a report.

In a press release delivered Thursday, the UNCDF said the report, however, pointed out that the country needs to have a more strategic approach to local development in order to take advantage of the potential and tackle the disparities still prominently present between its urban and rural areas.

The report Local Development Outlook Cambodia was officially launched at the Local Development Forum on Thursday, which was attended by senior government officials from national and sub-national levels, and representatives of UN agencies, Development Partners, academic institutions and civil society organizations.

The publication, the first of its kind, provides a comprehensive overview of local development trends in Cambodia and how decentralization and a national policy for local development could help realize potential for greater and more equitable development.

Cambodia's economic growth remains highly vulnerable to external shocks - such as the global financial crisis of last year - due to its narrow base and heavy concentration in few urban centers.

"Opportunities and challenges vary greatly across Cambodia. This calls for a deliberate policy for local development in rural, urban and cross-border areas," Nicola Crosta, chief technical adviser of UNCDF and the author of the report, said in his presentation at the forum.

Source:Xinhua