International Conference on Cambodia's Future in Southeast Asia OpenedAn international conference on Cambodia's Future in Southeast Asia was opened in Phnom Penh on the morning of December 12 at the Hotel Le Royal.Representatives from the Cambodia's Senate, National Assembly, Royal government, and international organizations, non- governmental organizations and international media were invited to attend the conference, co-sponsored by the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation (KAF) and the Office of the Council of Ministers. President of the National Assembly Norodom Ranariddh attended the meeting this morning and made an opening address. Ranariddh highly appreciated the achievements made by the ASEAN. He said that the ASEAN has acted as one of the driving forces for positive changes and developments in the region. And the factors contributing to the ASEAN achievements include regional peace, stability and reconciliation, growth of democracy and civil society, new thinking and new attitudes and Asean as the driving force of the future, he added. With regard to the future of the region, Ranariddh put forward some proposals. "If we were to build better partnership among the ASEAN members, we need to close the gap between the new and old members of ASEAN, " the parliament president said. He pointed out that "We need to give top priority to poverty reduction as one of the most important priorities for development in our region" and "We need to continue building on our close cooperation". They should build more effective partnerships with all key institutions in order to strengthen the nexus between democracy and development, he noted. The aim of the international conference on Cambodia's Future in Southeast Asia is to contribute to the peaceful and fruitful cooperation of countries in the region in making best use of the informal and formal mechanisms of the different existing networks, KAF official said. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |