‘MAPS OF HOPE’ SETTO GUIDE FUTURECLIMATE ACTIONS

nATIOnAL – pAge 4

INDIA AMBASSADORASKS MINISTER TOREPEAL MEAT BAN

busIness – pAge 6

ThursdAy, june 10, 2021 Intelligent . In-depth . Independent Issue number 3682 / 4000 rIeL

Mom Kunthear

PRIME Minister Hun Sen has approved the plans prepared by the national Covid-19

vaccination commission to ex-pand the jab drive to five high-risk provinces after the capi-tal and neighbouring Kandal province have been covered.

Ministry of Health spokes-woman Or Vandine, who also serves as head of the com-mission, said on June 9 that after the hotspots in Kandal province are taken care of the vaccines will be distributed to five more provinces – Preah Si-hanouk, Kampong Speu, Kam-pong Chhnang, Svay Rieng and Kampong Cham.

She said the vaccinations will first be administered in high-risk locations with a large number of garment workers.

“We are now waiting for the vaccines to arrive and then we will act on the plans [ap-proved] by the prime minis-ter,” she said.

Vandine called on the resi-dents of the provinces that have not been vaccinated yet to be patient and wait for their

turn. She said the vaccinations will gradually be extended throughout the nation as part of the government’s “blossom-ing strategy” which begins in Phnom Penh before expand-ing to other high-risk areas and hotspots in the provinces in order of priority.

The vaccinations for Phnom Penh residents are scheduled to be completed at the latest in July, with the last three dis-tricts out of 14 – namely Daun Penh, Praek Phnov and Chroy Changvar – kicking off their campaigns on June 10.

“Kandal province’s Takhmao town will start vaccinations on June 10 using the additional vaccines we received from China on June 8,” Vandine said at a handover ceremony for donated medical equipment.

Kandal provincial governor Kong Sophorn said during a meeting at the provincial ad-ministration hall on June 8 that his province will launch a large-scale vaccination drive for the general public and gar-ment workers in Takhmao town and 10 other districts.

Bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador

Oil sector to face some challenges: official

BITCOIN is to become legal tender in El Salvador, the country’s president said, making it the first nation to adopt a cryptocurrency for everyday use.

Lawmakers in the Central American nation’s Congress passed a bill late on June 8 that will eventually allow the famously volatile digital cur-rency to be used for many aspects of daily life, from

property purchases to tax contributions.

“The #BitcoinLaw has just been approved by a qualified majority” in the legislative assembly, President Nayib Bukele tweeted after the vote late on June 8.

“History!” the president added.

The 39-year-old Palestinian-Salvadoran leader said a ma-jority of 62 out of 84 lawmak-

ers approved the bill, which he proposed just last week.

The law passed with the support of Bukele’s allies despite minority opposition parties – who had criticised the speed of the vote – refus-ing to back it.

With the US dollar as its main currency, El Salvador – a small nation where four out of 10 people live in pov-erty – has turned to the top

crypto asset in a bid to boost its remittance-reliant econ-omy, though it remains un-clear how the country plans to implement bitcoin as a functioning currency.

Yet the Salvadoran leader has hailed the virtual cur-rency as “the fastest growing way to transfer” billions of dollars in remittances and to prevent millions from being lost to intermediaries. AFP

May Kunmakara

PETROLEUM operations in the Ap-sara oil field of Block A offshore Cam-bodia will face some challenges as KrisEnergy (Cambodia) Co Ltd loses funding, after its Singapore-based parent company KrisEnergy Ltd filed for liquidation and arranged for the sale of assets to pay off its debts, ac-

cording to a senior official of the Ministry of Mines and Energy.

On June 4, KrisEnergy announced that it could not repay its debts, which exceed the value of its assets, noting that cash flows from the Ap-sara Mini Phase 1A oilfield develop-ment will be restructured.

Ministry secretary of state Meng Saktheara said that, unless there

are exceptional circumstances, the court would appoint an appraiser and arrange for the sale of the com-pany’s assets to repay all the debt to existing creditors.

He said via Facebook: “After the court proceedings, KrisEnergy will be liq-uidated and the creditors will be able to manage all of KrisEnergy’s existing assets, including its subsidiary KrisEn-

ergy Cambodia and the petroleum concession in Block A in Cambodia.

“At that time, creditors can contin-ue to manage or find partners to re-manage those assets based on the petroleum agreement and the law of Cambodia in the case of petroleum blocks in Cambodia.

“Then, the creditors who have the right to manage the KrisEnergy

Cambodia subsidiary will have to discuss with the Cambodian gov-ernment to find a consensus on how to continue to implement the Block A petroleum project in the future,” he added.

In the meantime, he said, pending court action and negotiations

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MINISTRY, AUSTRALIASET ELECTRIFICATIONPROJECT IN MOTIONbusIness – pAge 7

MUSK, BEZOS, OTHERBILLIONAIRES AVOIDUS TAX, REPORT SAYSWOrLd – pAge9

COnTInued – pAge 3

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Crystal clearMounted on a golden stand, a tear-shaped glass ampoule filled with the Kingdom’s first drops of oil is displayed at the Win-Win Monument in phnom penh’s Chroy Changvar district. The artefact is shaped like a lotus and a branch of the bodhi tree, which represents prosperity, purity and growth. Hong MeneA sTORY > 2

Coronavirusjab drive toexpand into5 provinces

National2 THE PHNOM PENH POST june 10, 2021 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Khouth Sophak Chakrya

MInISTeR of Interior Sar Kheng has instructed au-thorities in charge of correc-tional facilities throughout the country to take action to prevent further transmission of Covid-19 to prison guards and detainees, and to increase security and safety there.

In a notification letter on taking measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in prisons on june 9, the minis-ter said: “Covid-19 has been transmitted in facilities be-cause prison guards and de-tainees were infected with the virus.”

Sar Kheng urged municipal and provincial governors to cooperate with health depart-ments and relevant institutions to support correctional facili-ties and treat infected people.

Correctional centres where people have not yet been infected have to strengthen health measures and regu-larly clean the workplace and use other preventative mea-sures, he said.

People who want to enter or leave these places have to have health checks in accor-dance with established guide-lines to prevent transmission.

“In case there is an infection in any correctional centre or prison, the municipal and provincial governors must cooperate to respond and re-port immediately to the inte-rior ministry,” he said.

In Kampong Speu prov-ince, governor Vei Samnang told The Post that the provin-cial administration has sent specialised healthcare work-ers, medical equipment and medicine to treat prison of-ficials and detainees. Testing has revealed positive Covid-19 cases but they are gradu-ally getting better.

“In addition to expediting

vaccinations and providing food to workers, the provin-cial administration has also provided medical treatment to prison officers and detain-ees by sending medical staff and medicine. Detainees who are Covid-19 positive are iso-lated,” he said.

According to Samnang, since the beginning of june more than 100 out of 1,802 inmates have been infected with Covid-19. A 66-year-old female detainee has died.

In Kandal province, gover-nor Kong Sophoan said three provincial prison officers were found to be infected with Covid-19 but have recovered. Detainees who were infected have also gradually recovered.

“The Covid-19 epidemic has been brought under con-trol in our correctional cen-tres and we are continuing to assist in screening, treatment and providing food to de-tainees to help improve their health. Covid-19 patients are separated from other detain-ees,” he said.

Sophoan did not specify the exact number of Covid-19 de-tainees in Kandal provincial prison. “There are a consider-able number but we can con-trol and treat them, there are no more outbreaks.”

General Department of Pris-ons spokesman nuth Savna said correctional centres in Phnom Penh and the provinc-es of Kandal, Kampong Speu and Preah Sihanouk experi-enced an outbreak of Covid-19. Pailin and Svay Rieng provinces only had some prison officers infected with Covid-19 without spreading the virus to prisons.

“Currently, some of the prison officers and detainees have recovered, while others are undergoing treatment and quarantine in their camp, unit or prison cells,” he said.

Sar Kheng shores up prison support amid Covid spread

Ministers celebrate first oil drops at win-win monumentMom Kunthear

MInISTeR of Mines and energy Suy Sem on june 9 presented a glass

filled with the Kingdom’s first drops of oil to Minister of na-tional Defence Tea Banh, who also serves as the chairman of the Victory Monument Con-struction Committee.

At the handover ceremony held at the Win-Win Memorial in Prek Ta Sek commune of Phnom Penh’s Chroy Chang-var district, Tea Banh called on government institutions and others to continue their sup-port for the development of the memorial by providing any items of historical significance they possess or other relevant documents for preservation.

He said the artefacts and the documents are impor-tant reminders of historic

achievements and any donat-ed will go on public display in the win-win museum so the younger generations can learn from them.

“Cambodia received the first drops of oil on December 29, 2020. The [extraction of this oil] is a historic achievement and a symbol of success for the whole of Cambodia. One which civil servants, members of the armed forces and civil-ians across the country have been waiting for generations to witness,” Tea Banh said.

He said the first drops were a milestone for Cambodia in building the capacity of the nation and the backbone of its oil, gas and energy industries.

The major benefit of these industries, he said, is that they will bring in revenue to fund the national budget and pow-er the country’s economy.

In his remarks at the cer-

emony energy minister Sem said these first drops of oil – which arrived in the midst of the global economy being threatened by the Covid-19 pandemic – was a testimony to the efforts, diligence and persistent drive to achieve success by the government and the project’s investors.

“This glass containing the first drops of oil is symbolic of the oil resources of the King-dom of Cambodia. The glass is produced in the Khmer-style and I would like to hand it to Samdech Pichey Sena Tea Banh, so that he may register it as part of our history,” he said using the defence minis-ter’s full honorary title.

Sem explained the meaning of the glass, saying it has the shape of a lotus and a branch of the Bodhi tree, which rep-resents prosperity, purity and growth.

The pedestal made up of petals of the lotus embodies efforts by the nation’s leaders that continued unrelentingly until they proved fruitful and Cambodia finally received ac-cess to its oil resources for na-tional development.

The lotus trophy is 12cm high, with the height chosen because the 12th month of the year, December, was the one in which the first drops of oil were collected for Cambodia.

“The [lion-footed base of the trophy] is 20cm high and rep-resents the year 2020 – the year in which oil was first extracted. Kbach Phni Pleung decorated it with the heads of three drag-ons, which represent power, prosperity and the strength of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Pa-dei Techo Prime Minister Hun Sen, who led us to this suc-cess,” Sem said using the prime minister’s royal title.

Energy minister Suy Sem (right) presents a glass filled with the Kingdom’s first drops of oil to Defence minister Tea Banh. hong menea

Continued from page 1

Sophorn told his officials to begin set-up for the vaccina-tion sites and to produce invi-tation cards for people to get inoculated by appointment.

He said the authorities have to continue to effectively maintain security and public order when the vaccinations are under way. He told them to prepare accommodations and meals for volunteer med-ical staff and to especially look out for their wellbeing while also guarding the medi-cal materials and equipment.

“During the vaccination drive for the 10 districts and Takmao in the coming days, the provincial administration will bring in 1,800 medical workers to make the vaccina-tions go quickly and smoothly across the province,” he said.

As of June 8, Cambodia has inoculated 2.7 million people, or 27.7 per cent of the planned 10 million.

Separately, another 4.5 mil-lion doses of vaccines that Cambodia purchased from Chinese companies will touch down in Phnom Penh

this month, according to a press statement by the Min-istry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on June 8.

The ministry said that dur-ing bilateral talks between for-eign minister Prak Sokhonn and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on June 8, mention was made by Yi of China’s commitment to donating more vaccines to Cambodia.

“To continue to help Cam-bodia in the fight against Covid-19, the Chinese gov-ernment will donate 500,000 doses of vaccines and another 4.5 million [purchased] doses will be shipped to Cambodia in the month of June,” the press statement said.

The ministry also noted that the administration of Chongqing city – where the two foreign ministers met while attending a weekend of dual-summits being hosted there – had donated medical materials worth $172,000 to Cambodia.

The Kingdom has obtained more than seven million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to date.

Ry Sochan

THE foreign ministers of Cam-bodia and China reaffirmed the intentions of the two nations to expand their cooperation in all

fields in order to serve the interests of their peoples and to build a Cambodia-China community with a shared future.

Foreign minister Prak Sokhonn held bi-lateral talks with Chinese State Councilor and foreign minister Wang Yi on the side-lines of the special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and 6th Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, both held in China on June 7-8.

“Both sides reaffirmed their strong commitments to strengthen and deepen their ironclad friendship and further enhance cooperation in many areas for the benefit of the two peoples,” the press statement said.

Sokhonn thanked China for provid-ing its generous and timely assistance, including medical equipment and vac-cines, to help Cambodia fight the Covid-19 outbreak.

Yi said China will continue to support Cambodia’s development and safeguard its independence, sovereignty and terri-torial integrity.

The two foreign ministers also agreed to speed up internal procedures for the ratification of the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement to boost trade, invest-ment and tourism between the two countries. China promised to import more agricultural products from Cam-bodia, especially rice and mangos.

Sokohnn and Yi also presided over the signing ceremony of memorandums of understanding (MoU) on Cooperation in the Field of Telecommunications and In-formation and Communications Technol-ogy and Executive Programme on Cultural Cooperation For 2021-2025. They also un-veiled the plaque for the Chinese Consular Office in Preah Sihanouk province.

There have been no details released as of yet regarding the first of the two MoUs, but the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh said it was a cooperative agreement with the goal of tackling internet and data security.

The embassy said: “Both sides have agreed to jointly address the risks and chal-lenges of internet and data security. Cam-bodia has reaffirmed its support for [Chi-na’s] Global Initiative on Data Security.”

China’s Global Initiative on Data Secu-rity was launched on September 8, 2020, to establish rules and standards for data security and they called on other states to join the initiative.

As for the cultural memorandum, the embassy said details would become avail-able at a later date regarding a programme of planned cooperation in the cultural sec-tor taking place over a four year period.

“The signing of the two documents above clearly show that new and impor-tant progress is being achieved in build-ing a common destiny between our two countries,” the embassy said.

Kin Phea, director of the Royal Acad-emy of Cambodia’s International Rela-

tions Institute, told The Post on June 9 that Cambodian-Sino relations right now, and for the foreseeable future, showed no signs of weakening. The leaders of the two countries always showed a firm com-mitment to maintaining their close ties.

He said China and Cambodia have a comprehensive strategic relationship and had signed agreements in 2019 for further development of ties across a broad range of sectors for the benefit of both nations.

“What worries us is rivalry between China and the US, which may affect our country because of our good relation-ship with China. The US is truly not hap-py with Chinese influence in Southeast Asia, in general, and it is not happy with Cambodia because of this,” he said.

Phea said Cambodia needed to craft an intelligent foreign policy that would take advantage of this rivalry between the two superpowers rather than fall victim to it.

THE PHNOM PENH POST JUNE 10, 2021 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

National3

Nov Sivutha

MORE than 500 units of unex-ploded ordnance (UXO) were discovered by a resident in the riverbank of Stung Sangke River in Phlov Meas com-mune’s Phlov Meas village in Battambang province’s Ra-tanak Mondol district.

District police chief Sorn Nil told The Post on June 9 that after being alerted to the UXO units, he ordered commune police to guard the munitions and request the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) in the province to defuse and remove them from the riverbank.

He said police have secured the area and are guarding the munitions. The munitions were found on June 8 by a 43-year-old villager, Yav Youn, while he was fishing.

He said the UXO units con-sisted of 36 72A landmines, three B40 bullets and 500 K57 bullets.

“These 36 landmines can explode even though they have been buried under-ground for quite some time. The two types of the bullets have rusted out,” he said.

According to Nil, the area used to be a battlefield. The

UXO units may have belonged to the army and were stored there for the battle. The mu-nitions were buried under a bamboo grove near the river. In the last few days, there were strong rains in the area which revealed the UXO units.

He said that on June 4, dis-trict police had also received information from another resident who had found 12 landmines of the same type while he was ploughing his plantation in Chi Pang village in the same commune.

Provincial CMAC head Pring Panharith said he had sent his forces to defuse and remove the munitions. The munitions appeared after the river had receded.

A few days ago, he said, a farmer in Samlot district’s Sung commune had also found UXO units while ploughing a rice field. The munitions did not explode and have since been removed by CMAC forces.

“These munitions were from the war. Troops had buried them and now they are being uncovered. Most of the muni-tions are located in Samlot and Kors Kralor districts of Battam-bang and are the most danger-ous,” Panharith said.

500 UXO units found in B’bang riverbank

Cambodian foreign minister Prak Sokhonn and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the meetings in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing. foreign ministry

Ry Sochan

BACK on April 8, Cambodia ratified the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer.

The Montreal Protocol is a well-established multilateral environmental agreement that is successfully preventing massive damage to human health and the environment from excessive ultraviolet ra-diation from the sun by phas-ing out the production and consumption of substances that deplete the ozone layer.

The Kigali Amendment is a binding international agree-ment, or treaty, which is in-

tended to create rights and ob-ligations in international law.

Once the Amendment enters into force for a nation through ratification – which gives it the same standing as the other laws there – that nation then assumes legal obligations un-der the Amendment.

According to a document seen by The Post on June 9, rat-ifying the Kigali Amendment will enhance the international reputation of the Kingdom of Cambodia by increasing its par-ticipation in the fight against climate change through reduc-ing and phasing-out the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and HFCs-based equipment.

The document said that Cam-

bodia will also get financial and technical support – including support aimed at strengthen-ing institutions, import and export licensing and quotas for effective implementation of the Kigali Amendment.

“Ratifying the Kigali Amend-ment will not affect to the economy of [Cambodia], but it will give many benefits in-cluding an improvement in reputation at the international level and the provision of fi-nancial and technical support for the implementation of Ki-gali Amendment related activ-ities,” read the document.

Cambodia will have flexibil-ity to prioritize HFCs, define sectors, select technologies and alternatives and elaborate and implement its strategies to meet agreed HFC obliga-tions, based on their specific needs and national circum-stances, following a country-driven approach, it said.

Cambodia will get support fund for the investment pro-gram to retrofit any equip-ment that currently uses HFCs to using alternative refriger-ants that do not destroy the ozone layer and will contrib-ute to global warming, the document noted.

In Cambodia, HFCs are used

in vehicle air conditioners, re-frigerators and large air condi-tioning systems for buildings like hotels, shopping malls or office towers.

Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra told The Post: “Cambodia re-affirms that we stand ready to work with the world commu-nity for effective implementa-tion of the Kigali Amendment to address the adverse im-pacts of climate change from [cooling technologies] while simultaneously responding to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Advocacy Officer at the forest defenders project at Cambodia Youth Network, San Mala, told The Post on June 9 that he ap-plauded Cambodia’s ratification of the Kigali Amendment as the correct and responsible policy approach for the country.

“In addition to participat-ing in other international protocols or mechanisms, the government should further strengthen its internal affairs related to natural resource governance,” he said.

Mala said the government should ensure that any devel-opment related to natural re-sources allocation is carried out responsibly, sustainably and without corruption.

Cambodia to phase out HFC use

Plumes of black smoke rise from two chimney stacks in Roka Korng commune of Kandal province’s Mok Kampoul district. heng chivoan

Provinces prepared as jab drive expands

Kingdom, China reaffirm bond

The UXO units consisted of 36 72A landmines, three B40 bullets and 500 K57 bullets. supplied

National4 THE PHNOM PENH POST june 10, 2021 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Kampong Cham plans for dumpsiteOrm Bunthoeurn

THe Kampong Cham Provin-cial Administration will file a request with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fish-eries for 50ha of land for a future dumpsite in Khna village in Sdoeung Chey commune of Cheung Prey district.

Provincial environmental department director nuon Kong Sol said the present dumpsite belonged to local firm Cintri (Cambodia) Co Ltd. This dumpsite in Chamkar Leu district’s Bos Khnor commune covered 10ha.

The administration is look-ing for a new location because

Kampong Cham town is locat-ed near an Asia Development Bank (ADB) project which plans to develop an environ-mentally-friendly dumpsite.

“We have an ADB project which contributes to the Cor-ridor Towns Development Project of four provinces in the Mekong River area which includes a dumpsite in Kam-pong Cham town.

“ADB’s plan was to assist with a standard dumpsite, but our dumpsite is not conducive to the project, so the province plans to select land that can be a suitable location in the future,” he said.

Cheung Prey district gover-nor Outh Cheangly said the land was far from residents but is suitable for waste disposal. If the dumpsite’s located is bad, it can cause waste water that affects rice fields.

“If waste is not disposed of properly, it could impact resi-dents in Sdoeung Chey com-mune’s in. They plant rice near

the land the provincial admin-istration wants for the dump-site. But I do not remember how many families live in the two villages,” he said.

Hem udom, an environ-mental expert, said a dump-site’s location, whether in the countryside or downtown, is important and the land has to be prepared according to proper standards. If the dump-site is not covered or packed properly, it will have an impact when it rains as mixed waste will severely affect land qual-ity and groundwater.

“Sometimes, people pile up waste and burn it. So when it is burned, it produces smoke and smell. Waste can also seep into the ground and pollute water sources. So if there are wells, rivers or lakes near the dumpsite, the water will be difficult to use,” he said.

However, Kong Sol said the dumpsite was far from downtown and if it is properly prepared, it will not affect people.

Kampong Cham provincial administration officials look at plans to build a dumpsite in Cheung Prey district. kampong cham administration

Long Kimmarita

DAun PenH district authori-ties in Phnom Penh have de-cided to ban car sales on public roadsides and given car sellers a deadline of three days to move their vehicles or risk having them towed away to the impound lot.

In a notice issued on june 8, district governor Sok Penh Vuth said his administration was taking these measures to maintain public order on the district’s roadsides.

After the lockdown in Phnom Penh was lifted, he said the administration ob-served that a small number of people had parked their cars on the roadsides to advertise them for sale. The authori-ties said this is detrimental to the district’s appearance and public order – and that it is causing heavy traffic conges-tion on the roads affected.

“In order to maintain order and beauty – and acting in the interests of the public – the administration has decided to establish some rules re-garding this activity and so we are no longer allowing cars or any other kind of vehicles to be put up for sale on public roadsides,” the notice said.

The governor gave the car dealers a three-day period –

starting on the date of the no-tice and running through june 12 – to move their vehicles from their current locations on public roadsides.

Kong Sovann, a public health specialist and direc-tor of the International Safety Fund Programme, said that sales on public roadsides nar-rowed the roads and could cause traffic congestion.

The congestion not only costs time, affects worker pro-ductivity and wastes money, but vehicles sitting in traffic jams also have to consume more gasoline and cause ad-ditional environmental pol-lution via their emissions.

Drivers whose commutes are lengthened due to traffic can suffer from higher levels of stress and anxiety which affects their overall health, he said.

Given those facts, Sovann said he supported the commune and district administration measures and that the authori-ties should also set a very spe-cific timeline for the changeover and establish clear penalties for those who do not comply.

“I believe that this interven-tion will be effective because the purpose of it is clearly in the public interest: maintain-ing order, maintaining the city’s beauty and reducing traf-fic congestion,” Sovann said.

Roadside vehicle sales banned in Daun Penhto restore public order

Cambodia and unDP team up on maps for environment Mom Kunthear

THe Ministry of en-vironment’s General Directorate of envi-ronmental Knowl-

edge and Information and the un Development Programme (unDP) are bringing decision makers together to map the country’s essential regions for biodiversity, climate change mitigation and sustainable development.

unDP said in a press release on june 8 that nearly 50 of the country’s leading scientists and environmental policy ex-perts will meet virtually this week in Cambodia to create “maps of hope” that identify Cambodia’s essential life sup-port areas.

“These maps will locate where actions to protect, sus-tainably manage and restore nature can enable Cambodia to deliver on its strategic pri-orities around biodiversity, climate change mitigation and sustainable development,” the press release said.

The document further states that humanity faces an un-precedented planetary chal-lenge and that according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, humanity has only a decade to avoid totally catastrophic im-pacts from climate change.

And according to the In-tergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and ecosystem Services, if biodiversity loss continues at its current rate one million species will be lost to extinction.

“However, we have the so-lution within our reach. By protecting, restoring, or sus-tainably managing nature, we can provide one-third of the solution to mitigate climate change, improve water secu-rity, and safeguard the liveli-hoods of millions of people di-

rectly dependent on nature for their subsistence,” the press release said.

Chuop Paris, director-general of the ministry’s directorate, said thriving biodiversity is a critical component to achieving goals around sustainable devel-opment and climate change.

“Trees clean our air, provide us with timber and regulate the climate. Our mangrove forests buffer our country’s coastline from disastrous storms, while our endemic species and pris-tine landscapes support our tourism sector,” he said.

Paris said Cambodia has ambitious goals to protect, manage and restore nature to improve the lives of citizens, including those in the nation-al environmental Strategy and Action Plan 2016-2023 and the nationally Determined Con-tribution.

“But to achieve these goals,

we recognise the need to en-hance our application of spa-tial data,” he said.

Cambodia, along with the other seven pilot countries – Dominican Republic, Colom-bia, Costa Rica, Haiti, Kazakh-stan, Peru and uganda – are creating a “map of hope” that has been developed to expand the use of spatial data in de-cision-making processes and promote the implementation of nature-based solutions in those countries.

unDP representative in Cambodia nick Beresford also said the fast-growing middle-income countries like Cam-bodia can leapfrog ahead by knowing how to use these powerful tools to identify and safeguard their valuable natu-ral resources.

“Protecting these invalu-able natural assets is essential for ensuring that Cambodia

continues to have greater se-curity in food and water in the years ahead and it can help the country better withstand global heating,” he said.

In the coming months, 196 countries will agree on a new set of global goals for biodiver-sity that will guide action for the next 30 years within an as-sociated international policy framework.

The results of this project will be used to influence key international policy processes, including activities related to the un Framework Conven-tion on Climate Change and the un Convention to Combat Desertification, along with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The workshop was led by unDP and the directorate with the support of Impact Observatory and the Sustain-able Markets Foundation.

Forest cover in the Kingdom. Thriving biodiversity is a critical component to achieving goals around sustain-able development and climate change, a senior environment ministry official said. undp

Car for sale near Freedom Park and the night market in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district. hean rangsey

National5THE PHNOM PENH POST june 10, 2021 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Ry Sochan

OFFICIALS from the Con-sumer Protection, Competi-tion, and Fraud Repression Directorate-General (CCF) and the Battambang Provin-cial Customs on june 7 seized and destroyed more than five tonnes of stale meat at Doung International Border check-point in Kamrieng district.

“[We] intercepted and seized 5,036kg of stale chick-en meatballs and chicken legs at Doung international border checkpoint crossing,” the CCF said.

After inspection, the state goods were handed over to CCF Battambang branch for referral to the provincial court.

Hak Sokrin, head of the CCF Battambang branch, told The Post on june 8: “The authori-ties have destroyed the meat. Customs officials seized it and handed it over to me to be burned. I am working with the prosecutor on the case,” he said.

Provincial court spokesman Phan Ratana could not be reached for comment.

CCF director-general Phan Oun told The Post on june 8 that the import of tainted products was subject to legal action. He said the CCF this month was targeting cases of alcohol poisoning in addition to the work that the depart-ment usually carries out.

“We are researching how to identify, prevent and cooper-ate with local authorities on the issue of wine and drug production in the capital and all provinces,” he said.

At the end of May, CCF of-ficials destroyed nearly 18 tonnes of counterfeit alcohol mixed with methanol after it was confiscated from ware-houses and pharmacies in the capital.

Customs seizes five tonnes of stale meat

Capital factoryowners told to update worker address listing

Water pumped to S Reap lake to save breeder birds

Heavy machinery clearing Oral sanctuary seized

Long Kimmarita

PHnOM PenH munic-ipal governor Khuong Sreng has requested the Ministry of La-

bour and Vocational Train-ing to notify factory owners in the capital to update their workers’ current address to fa-cilitate managing employees during the Covid-19 outbreak.

The proposal was made at a virtual meeting on june 8 with officials from the la-bour ministry, the Ministry of Health and authorities from the capital’s 14 districts, the municipality said on june 8.

“The meeting was to find ways to update the work-ers’ address, which makes it

easier to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in factories and rental units,” it said.

Municipal hall spokesman Meth Meas Pheakdey could not be reached for comment on june 9.

Sreng was quoted as saying by local media at the meeting that the Covid-19 situation had not improved with most infections found in factory workers in Phnom Penh.

He requested that the labour ministry issue a notice to fac-tory owners in the capital to make a list of where workers live to enable more effective contact tracing in order to break the chain of transmis-sion linked to the February 20 community outbreak.

Sreng also instructed all 14 district administrations to cooperate and work with the labour ministry after the of-ficial announcement from the ministry. Cooperation will make the work faster and more efficient with factory owners.

“This work must be de-

tailed, including workers’ ID, address, and a 4x6cm photo-graph. If there is a problem, authorities can stop Covid-19 at the source,” he said.

Labour ministry spokesman Heng Sour could not be reached for comment on june 9.

Kaing Monika, deputy sec-retary-general of the Garment

Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, told The Post on june 9 that the association would disseminate any infor-mation from the ministry.

“There is already a list in each factory but keeping it updated every month is a te-dious administrative job for factory staff,” he said.

Orm Bunthoeurn

enVIROnMenT officials in Kampong Chhnang province are searching for the owner of machinery used to illegally clear forest land in Kdol vil-

lage in Teuk Phos district’s Kdol Sen Chey commune af-ter confiscating a machine on june 8, which will be used as evidence by the environmen-tal office in Oral Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary.

Provincial environment de-partment director Men Phalla said on june 9 that the provin-cial environmental task force had not yet identified the of-fender, but evidence included three machines and more than 70ha of cleared forest land.

“The case is still under in-vestigation and no action has been taken yet,” he said. As for the evidence, we will investi-gate it and find the owner.”

“Of the three machiner-ies, only one was removed because the other two were damaged and could not be moved,” Phalla added.

Teuk Phos district governor Saut Sang said on june 9 that machinery was seized at the site, but during the raid the dis-trict unified command com-mittee only provided support.

However, Sang said a group of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s youth volunteers had already measured the land and issued titles in the area, but there is some land that has not been measured.

He said in this case, land had been cleared in the past and that he had sent a joint force to take action.

“During the previous measure, I checked that they had a land ti-tle,” Sang said. “We also advised them to apply for a clearing per-mit. The law states that even if they have a title, they must also have a clearing permit.”

“The owner of the machinery had not applied for a clearing permit, but cleared the land. That is why the court prosecu-tor took action,” he said.

Sang said he did not know

the size of the land that was cleared, but previous land clearing was more than 70ha in the area with land titles is-sued by the youth volunteers.

He said that he did not know the names of the land owners.

“I just know that the land titles bear names of people in the area. I do not know who the land was sold to, and now there is no land transfer to anyone,” Sang said.

Sam Chankea, provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said on june 9 that people who encroach on land in protected areas are mostly rich and powerful people.

“Those who encroach on land are never poor families or farmers. Most are power-ful, wealthy, or high-ranking people,” he said.

Khouth Sophak Chakrya

SIeM ReAP provincial authorities and local communities in the Boe-ung Pearaing breeder conservation area have begun a project to deepen the shallow lake in order to save more than 130 species of breeder birds in the area.

Provincial deputy governor ngan Phirun told The Post on june 7 that the conservation area is home to many species of birds, but water levels are low every year and causes many birds to die. This has raised concerns about the loss of resources in the area.

“As we know, many birds have re-cently died due to hot weather and low water levels in the lake. To ensure biodiversity of breeder and rare birds in this area, we need to restore the lake,” he said.

According to Phirun, provincial authorities plan to deepen seven shallow areas in the lake that cover more than 130ha, stretching from Chong Khneas to Chreav communes

in Siem Reap town. But excavation in the area has to be

completed in a way so as not to cause flooding or adversely affect forest re-sources and biodiversity in the lake.

He said the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries had approved the provincial administration’s re-quest to excavate the lake and a joint committee of the provincial admin-istration is implementing the action plan.

“The first project was to deepen the lake and increase water levels to save fish,” he said.

Provincial agriculture department director Tea Kim Soth told The Post that officials from the provincial Fisher-ies Administration with participation from the community had successfully rescued fish species as a first step.

They had dug, restored sediment and pumped water from small ponds in the upper part of the lake to fill the canal for spawning fish and facilitate the circulation of fish in the area.

“The rescue of breeder fish as an

initial step has shown good results, no more dead fish,” he said.

“However, we cannot delay ex-cavation of the lake anymore. The amount of water we have pumped from small ponds has helped, but it cannot guarantee the survival of ani-mals in the lake for a long time while rainfall is still limited,” he added.

Boeng Pearaing natural Tourism Community head Kong Mongkul told The Post that this project will restore 90ha of Boeung Pearaing in the Chreav commune. In addition to protecting birds, fish and biodi-versity, the project also aims at de-veloping the area for ecotourism to generate income for fishermen and farmers and prevent illegal fishing.

“The area with low water levels to be excavated is about 91ha. It does not affect the role of the flooded for-est as excavation can only work in the dry season,” he said, adding that the excavation work will be completed within three years, starting from june 2021 to june 2023.

Workers leave ther factory in Chaom Chao commune in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district. heng chivoan

Siem Reap provincial administration digging a canal to save the lives of fish and birds at Boeung Perang community conservation area. boeung perang community

A excavator involved in land clearing in Teuk Phos district. supplied

Business6 THE PHNOM PENH POST june 10, 2021 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Trading informaTion on Cambodia SeCuriTieS exChange

Auction Trading Method (ATM)

no SToCk CloSing PriCe oPening PriCe high low

1 ABC 16,400 16,500 16,500 16,400

2 GTI 4,260 4,320 4,320 4,260

3 PAS 14,440 14,380 14,460 14,360

4 PEPC 3,300 3,330 3,330 3,300

5 PPAP 14,960 15,000 15,100 14,960

6 PPSP 2,280 2,280 2,300 2,260

7 PWSA 7,300 7,500 7,540 6,920

Date: June 9, 2021

end India meat ban: envoyThou Vireak

THe Indian embassy in Phnom Penh has called on the King-dom to “immediate-

ly” withdraw a temporary ban on imported buffalo and other meat products originating from the South Asian country.

The appeal was made dur-ing a june 3 virtual meeting between Indian ambassa-dor to Cambodia Devyani Khobragade and Minister of economy and Finance Aun Pornmoniroth, the embassy said in a june 8 press release.

Cambodia on May 1 im-posed an indefinite ban on the import of frozen meats and other frozen goods qualified as “high-risk” originating from India to contain the spread of Covid-19 amid a devastating second coronavirus wave in the regional economic power.

The ambassador’s plea comes amid concerns that the ban would stymie the growth of buffalo meat imports from India in 2021, which began the year on strong footing, clocking in at $9.32 million in just the first two months.

This is over 52 per cent of the $17.7 million logged in for the whole year 2020, which was up by more than 170 per cent from $6.4 million in 2019. The buffalo meat imports ac-counted for 12.28 per cent of bilateral trade between Cam-bodia and India, according to the embassy.

The embassy likened the ban to a non-tariff barrier, emphasising the absence of

scientific evidence that the novel coronavirus spreads through food and packag-ing material, adding that the Pasteur Institute in Cambo-dia has collected and tested a number of samples, and cer-tified that all were negative for the virus and fit for human consumption.

It said Khobragade “conveyed that the ban was also harmful for business sentiments, espe-cially when both sides are try-ing to negotiate a bilateral free trade agreement [FTA]”.

The Kingdom is working closely with jakarta-based economic Research Insti-tute for ASeAn and east Asia (eRIA) on a feasibility study of the merits of a bilateral FTA with India, Ministry of Commerce spokesman Pen

Sovicheat told The Post on February 25.

In a May 1 letter, Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak noted that the ban is in accordance with Article 20 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and Article 12 of the ASeAn-India Commodity Trade Agree-ment on the basis of “urgent public health protection”.

Cambodia will also conduct testing and research for other pathogens – especially vari-ants of the coronavirus – on these high-risk frozen prod-ucts, and seek cooperation with the Indian government to find and identify sources of infection in the produc-tion, freezing, packaging and transportation of these goods, the letter said.

The Kingdom will destroy

frozen goods originating from India that are found to be infected with the virus and pursue other legal action, and the commerce ministry will diplomatically bring the issue to the Indian side, it said.

Pornmoniroth assured the ambassador that the ban was only a temporary measure and would be reviewed “ex-peditiously”, according to the embassy.

Last month, the Ministry of economy and Finance al-lowed the release of 35 con-tainers loaded with frozen meats and other chilled goods shipped from India that have been stuck for weeks in Siha-noukville Autonomous Port customs control, after an analysis revealed no traces of the novel coronavirus.

THe World Bank has further slashed its growth outlook for the Philippines to 4.7 per cent this year, even as the Wash-ington-based multilateral lender remained optimistic that the ongoing mass inocu-lation against Covid-19 – if further sped up – would al-low consumer spending and businesses to rebound in the near term.

The World Bank’s latest gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for 2021 was not only a downgrade from the 5.5 per cent projection in March but also way below the government’s downscaled target range of six-to-seven per cent.

World Bank senior econo-mist for the Philippines Kevin Chua told a press briefing on june 8 that the downward revision reflected the worse-than-expected 4.2-per cent year-on-year GDP decline in the first quarter plus the re-imposed stricter lockdowns in national Capital Region (nCR) Plus before March ended up to mid-May.

Also, elevated inflation and job losses which, in turn, resulted in income losses among vulnerable house-holds, did not help, Chua added.

The World Bank’s Philippine economic update report also released on june 8 noted that “the resurgence of new Covid-19 cases and rising inflation have derailed the early signs of economic rebound in 2021”.

“As lockdown restrictions eased in early 2021, people’s mobility stepped up, and employment and earnings of families gradually improved. The better external environ-ment also led to an expansion in trade. However, the surge in Covid-19 cases beginning in late March amid rising in-flation derailed the momen-tum for recovery,” the World Bank said.

Chua was nonetheless op-timistic that progress on the nationwide vaccination pro-gram, especially expectations of faster rollout during the second half of 2021, would boost the confidence level of businesses as well as con-sumers.

Chua said this would allow a 5.9 per cent GDP growth in 2022 and a faster six per cent in 2023. The government targets seven-to-nine per cent growth next year and six-to-seven per cent in 2023 and 2024.

The government remained supportive of economic re-covery as it continued to spend much on infrastructure and capital outlays despite the pandemic, Chua said.

While the poverty rate had been estimated to possibly rise by about 1.4 percentage points last year amid the pan-demic-induced recession, Chua said poverty incidence may decline in the next two years alongside the revert to economic growth starting 2021. PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ASIA

NEWS NETWORK

Philippine growth4.7%: World Bank

Indian ambassador to Cambodia Devyani Khobragade (left) and Minister of Economy and Finance Aun Pornmoniroth meet via video link on June 3. INDIAN EMBASSY

Thou Vireak

THe Ministry of Commerce is poised to roll out CambodiaTrade, an e-commerce marketplace, to open new pathways for the Kingdom’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMes) to sell their wares to a broad-er audience and capture a slice of the growing global digital economy.

now open for preregistration, the platform will be operated through Cam-bodiaTrade.com under the auspices of the ministry, the cabinet-level govern-ment body said in a press release.

CambodiaTrade was set up to as-sist the Kingdom’s SMes in selling

their products online to potential customers in domestic and foreign markets, the ministry said.

Applicant SMes must, among other things, be formally registered with the ministry; have valid business licenc-es, permits and value added tax (VAT) identification numbers; and sell prod-ucts made in Cambodia, it said.

“Once registration is approved, SMes can fill their inventory by posting their products on their store pages. Those products will be un-veiled at the market when it is offi-cially launched,” the ministry said.

Thaung Thyda, managing director of Kampot-Kep salt processing firm

Thaung Trading Co Ltd, said Cam-bodiaTrade is “good, from the local SMe perspective”, lauding it as a springboard for SMes, transcending national boundaries to attain a truly global reach in the digital economy.

Local SMes that discover the plat-form will build the skills and receive the support needed to enter new markets, she said. “These are op-portunities to trot out services or products to increase business and brand visibility, as well as vitalise in-ternational relations.” she said.

Cambodia Women entrepreneurs Association president Keo Mom said the ministry’s platform was a posi-

tive step to encourage local produc-ers to move their products online, in addition to a slew of other initiatives taken by the government to boost domestic production.

As online shopping rises in popu-larity around the world, she said CambodiaTrade could provide an effective avenue for homemade Cambodian products to reach a wider customer base.

“I hope that the online marketplace platform will help local SMes sell their products more broadly, locally and abroad,” she said, calling on the ministry to promote CambodiaTrade “more broadly to the public – espe-

cially the private sector – and make them aware of it, as it could boost sales of our homemade products.”

The market was established with the financial support of the en-hanced Integrated Framework un-der the Cambodia e-Commerce Development Project (Go4eCAM), the main purpose of which is to pro-mote the benefits of e-commerce for SMes, according to the ministry.

As of end-2019, there were 52,154 formally registered SMes in the Kingdom, with 824,245 employees, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation.

Platform to kick-start SMes’ e-commerce journey

USD / KHR USD / CAD USD / CNY USD / JPY USD / MYR USD / SGD USD / THB AUD / USD EUR / USD GBP / USD

4,106 1.2092 6.3888 109.50 4.1175 1.3236 31.17 0.7744 1.2188 1.4172

THE US trade deficit dialled back in April, as exports rose and imports fell, according to govern-ment data released on June 8.

The $68.9 billion deficit in goods and services recorded by the commerce department was slightly larger than expected and came as the world’s largest economy was bouncing back rapidly from the Covid-19 pan-demic, aided by nationwide vaccination campaigns.

The trade gap was $6.1 billion less than in March, which was revised up to $75 billion, the report said.

Exports rose $2.3 billion in April to $205 billion led by goods like aircraft and crude oil, while imports fell $3.8 bil-lion to $273.9 billion.

“As pandemic distortions dis-sipate, goods imports and exports will likely rebalance once global economies come back online more completely, which will also lift service sector trade flows,” Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics said, noting that the April deficit is smaller than the first quarter 2021 average of $70.9 billion.

The deficit in goods alone with top trading partner China saw a rare decline in the month, falling by $7.1 billion to $32.4 billion, mostly due to a $6 bil-lion drop in imports.

The goods deficit with the EU fell by $1 billion, while the gap with Mexico increased by about the same amount, most-ly due to a $1.3 billion increase in imports.

The data showed US exports of automotive vehicles, parts and engines decreased $1 bil-lion in April, as US automakers struggled with a shortage of crucial semiconductor chips.

The $1 billion jump in crude oil exports came as global oil prices recovered, and was accompa-nied by a $1.4 billion increase in civilian aircraft shipments.

Exports of services increased by a modest $700 million to $59.7 billion.

The decrease in imports was broad-based, comprised of a $4.6 billion drop in goods imports offset by a $700 million increase in service imports.

Among goods, imports of automotive vehicles, parts and engine imports fell $1.1 bil-lion. AFP

Business7THE PHNOM PENH POST JUnE 10, 2021 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Ministry, Australia inaugurategreen electrification initiativeMay Kunmakara

THE Cambodian government, through the Ministry of Mines and Energy, and the Austra-lian embassy in Phnom Penh

on June 9 launched a new initiative to electrify villages in the Kingdom that are not connected to the grid, as part of island nation’s enhanced engage-ment in the Mekong sub-region.

The Off Grid Electrification Project will provide up to A$2 million (US$1.5 million) in grants over the next two years to encourage private invest-ment in renewable energy for areas that lack access to an electricity grid.

The initiative will be funded by the A$232 million Mekong-Australia Part-nership, which aims to support eco-nomic integration and development in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thai-land and Myanmar, and was unveiled by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in november.

Australian charge d’affaires Luke Arnold said the project would sup-port the Cambodian government in providing high-quality, safe and af-fordable electricity to all Cambodi-ans, and contribute to the Kingdom’s climate change commitments with its renewable energy focus.

“People who lack access to electric-ity will miss out on the benefits of Cambodia’s rapid economic growth,” Arnold said. “Connecting communi-ties to affordable, reliable and sus-tainable energy will transform lives, allowing people to start small busi-nesses, access quality education and reach their full potential.”

He explained that the project’s pub-lic-private model will stimulate signif-icant additional investment from the private sector, drive technology and business model innovation, and ulti-mately provide a blueprint for further off-grid electrification in the Kingdom using renewable energy technologies.

The project is part of Australia’s broader work to support Cambodia’s energy transition, improving electricity

access, strengthening reliability and re-ducing costs. Australia is also support-ing Cambodia to develop a Renewable Energy Strategy and Assessment and strengthening links between Australian and Cambodian energy institutions.

Australia’s flagship infrastructure pro-gramme in Cambodia, Investing in Infra-structure (3i), will deliver the project. To date, 3i has stimulated investments that have connected more than 31,000 Cam-

bodian households to the electricity grid.Total national electricity capacity

reached 2,916.02MW at end-2020, up by 22.92 per cent year-on-year from 2,372.22MW, the Electricity Author-ity of Cambodia (EAC) reported. Of that, 1,318.95MW came from non-renewable energy sources – coal and oil – and 1,597.07MW from renewable energy sources – hydropower, solar and biomass, it said.

Firm’s financial crisis unfolding since 2018Continued from page 1

between the creditor parties to continue with the Cambodian government, Block A petroleum operations in Cambodia will be met with hurdles as KrisEnergy Cam-bodia loses funding for its operations.

“Major petroleum operations and planned follow-up development proj-ects will be temporarily suspended pending a settlement agreement be-tween the government and creditors, which has the right to proceed with the courts,” Saktheara said.

KrisEnergy investor relations and cor-porate communications vice-president Tanya Pang told The Post: “The winding-up petition as announced on June 4 re-

lates only to KrisEnergy Ltd, the parent company listed on the Singapore Ex-change and not the subsidiary companies holding the group’s assets. Operations of KrisEnergy’s assets are continuing.”

Cambodia extracted its first drop of crude oil on December 28 from the A-01D well – part of the five-well mini-platform featured in KrisEner-gy’s “Mini-Phase 1A” development.

According to Saktheara, KrisEnergy holds interests in licences in coun-tries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and most recently in Cambodia, through its subsidiary KrisEnergy Cambodia.

He said KrisEnergy has been fac-ing a financial crisis since 2018 and

has started selling oil block conces-sions in some countries to overcome it. But the predicament had worsened by 2019, and the company was facing more stringent enforcement to collect debt from the creditors, he added.

The company first filed for a debt moratorium “in early 2019”, seeking protection from a Singapore court to avoid filing for bankruptcy and liqui-dation, according to Saktheara.

After receiving support from the Roy-al Government of Cambodia, KrisEn-ergy continued to develop the oil wells and proposed a downsizing of the plan – from 20 wells to just five, he said.

He said the company expects the oil production projects in Cambo-

dia’s Block A to build confidence with major creditors, compelling them to examine the possibility of turning the debt into venture capital firms.

However, after the production of Cambodia’s first drop of oil at the end of 2020, production volumes from the test well did not meet the company’s expectations, he added.

“These factors caused the company to run out of options and have to ap-ply to the court to declare the sale of all the company’s assets to repay the debt,” Saktheara said.

KrisEnergy is currently operating five test wells in a 110sq km produc-tion area of Block A, which covers about 3,000sq km, he said.

US registersclose to 9%narrowing intrade deficit

The Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Australian embassy in Phnom Penh launch the Off Grid Electrification Project on Wednesday. SUPPLIED

The price trend of the US-Canadian (US-CAD) currency pairing started increasing steadily last week from 1.20070 to 1.21310.

The recent employment rates and economic data released in both the US and Canada are driving the pair’s

value in a new and higher direction.

Forexfactory.com reported that the US May total non-farm payroll employment rate rose by 559,000, up from April’s 278,000 increase.

Meanwhile, Canada’s job data dropped to 68,000, which as well as the value of the Canadian dollar may add to the concerns of the Canadian government.

According to wellxin.com, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen believes President Joe Biden’s proposed massive

$4 trillion infrastructure plan focusing on specific infrastructure investment and funding domestic policy will be of great benefit to the nation’s economic growth during the Covid-19 crisis.

According to Forexfactory, the Purchasing Managers Index – or PMI – data for May rose 64 points, up from 62.7 points in April.

In addition, the key economic data reports to be monitored this week include the National Bank

of Canada’s interest rate announcement and consumer price index data – which is expected to propel US economic growth.

Technically, the US-CAD pairing is trending in the form of a convergence.

The momentum of the downtrend is slowing and reversing the uptrend as the Relative Strength Index and price momentum are reversing and forming.

A convergence is clear and is waiting for a break

point after the release of key economic data this week.

Therefore, for this week’s trading recommendation, investors should buy at 1.20600, setting the first take-profit function at 1.21120, with the second at 1.21400, and set the stop-loss function at 1.20400.

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US-CAD uptrend continues amid emerging positive data

Golden FX Link Capital business manager Chea Prasith.

Business8 THE PHNOM PENH POST june 10, 2021 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Property

S’pore condo resale prices up 0.9%

Vn capital pursuingabandoned villa tax

Singapore’S private resale housing market last month saw prices inch up 0.9 per cent to a new high, even while the number of condominium units resold dipped by 11.4 per cent as tightened Covid-19 measures restrict property viewings.

The limit on group sizes, which is in place till june 13, has put a slight drag on resale volume, with 1,722 units changing hands last month, compared with 1,944 units in april, according to flash data from real estate portal SrX released on june 8.

However, the sales drop was not as drastic compared with the circuit breaker period last year when volume plunged 57.6 per cent from 747 units in March 2020 to 317 units in april 2020, noted Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at real estate firm orangeTee & Tie.

She said last month’s sales decline was mitigated by buy-ers and agents growing more accustomed to remote view-ings. also, some buyers prob-ably viewed the units before restrictions kicked in and were

able to proceed with their home purchases, she added.

Volumes last month were up strongly by 811 per cent from the 189 units resold in May 2020, when the circuit breaker was in effect.

it is also 86.6 per cent higher than the five-year average vol-ume for the month of May.

propnex head of research and content Wong Siew Ying said that while virtual tours have helped to some extent, they may not necessarily offer the same experience of viewing a unit in person.

“as many buyers of resale properties acquire the unit for their own stay, they still prefer to view the property in person to get a sense of the living envi-ronment and the vibe of the area,” she said.

Despite viewing restrictions, May prices remained strong and rose 6.9 per cent year-on-year.

orangeTee’s Sun said: “Many sellers probably see the move-ment restrictions as temporary and are expecting demand to pick up again after the height-ened alert period. Therefore some sellers may not see a need to adjust their prices now.”

era realty head of research and consultancy nicholas Mak said the private residen-tial property sales volume in the primary and resale market is likely to bounce back in the months after curbs are lifted on june 13.

“The higher transaction vol-ume would also support the continuing rise in housing prices, unless the government were to intervene with another round of cooling measures,” he said.

prices of resale condo units in the city fringes grew by 1.8 per cent, the fastest among the three market segments. Those in the outside central region grew by 0.8 per cent, while prices in central Singapore slipped by 0.7 per cent.

in its report, SrX noted that the overall median capital gain last month was S$190,800 (uS$144,000), a decrease of S$9,200 compared with the month before.

The capital gain or loss of a condo resale unit is calculated by comparing the current transacted price with the previ-ous transacted price of the same unit. THE STRAITS TIMES (SINGA-

PORE)/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

Hanoi has proposed to the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance the imposition of a tax or fine on owners of half-finished and abandoned townhouses and villas, which are causing con-siderable waste of land resourc-es.

There were a number of projects or parts of projects which were left half-finished and abandoned for years in the Vietnamese capital, such as Lideco urban area, Hinode royal park in Hoai Duc district, Xuan phuong Viglacera and Foresa Villa in nam Tu Liem district.

Bui Tien Thanh, head of the municipal Department of Con-struction’s urban Development Department, said the capital city asked relevant depart-ments and local people’s com-mittees to enhance inspections and push developers of these projects to speed up construc-tion, adding that many projects were now under inspection and needed more time for ver-ification.

under the capital city’s pro-posal, owners of townhouses and villas that are left aban-doned from three months to less than a year would be imposed a tax rate of five per cent of the value on the con-tract. The tax rate would be 10 per cent on owners of those left deserted from a year or more.

administrative fines from 10-20 million dong ($435-870) per unit were also proposed for owners of the abandoned vil-las.

The capital city also proposed a progressive tax on those who owned two houses or more with an aim to prevent specula-tion.

according to economic expert Dinh Trong Thinh, aban-doned houses were causing huge waste while land resourc-es were limited in the capital city.

Taxing owners of deserted properties should be put into consideration with an appro-priate tax rate to force these owners to put the properties into use as well as preventing speculation.

However, the reasons why these properties were sitting abandoned must be taken into account for reasonable taxa-tion. Some properties were abandoned due to the poor infrastructure connectivity of the projects and could not be put into use, thus, the tax should be on the developers of the projects instead the buyers of the properties, he said.

it was necessary to develop a specific legal basis and stand-ards to determine which prop-erties were abandoned and the reasons why these properties were left deserted, such as inappropriateness to market demand, unfavourable loca-tions or lack of infrastructure connectivity, he said.

He stressed that not all aban-doned properties were the result of speculation.

experts also pointed out that abandoned properties were evidence for the imbalance of the property market as well as

weakness in planning, urging property development to focus more on the real market demand.

nguyen Quang Thien from Hoang Mai district said many villas were left deserted while many citizens had to live in cramped houses and housing prices remained unaffordable for many citizens.

This situation reflected an imbalance in supply and demand of the real estate mar-ket as well as speculation which was pushing up prices, he said.

Thien said the government should raise policies to encour-age the development of prop-erty products for which the market has demand.

nguyen Thi Minh Hai, a resi-dent in gia Lam district, said that not only townhouses and villas but also apartments and land lots were deserted. a rea-sonable taxation would help tackle this situation, she said, adding that the imposition of a progressive tax on owners of two houses or more should be put into consideration to pre-vent speculation.

according to Vietnam asso-ciation of realtors deputy pres-ident nguyen Van Dinh, taxing abandoned houses would work to prevent waste of land resources.

Dinh, however, said it was more important to impose tax on deserted land to encourage developers who were capable of investing and making the land profitable.

Former Deputy Minister of natural resources and envi-ronment Dang Hung Vo said the imposition of a tax was effective to prevent the aban-doning of properties. The tax rates were very high in many countries and people would hesitate to speculate, Vo said.

at a recent working session with the Ministry of Construc-tion, prime Minister pham Minh Chinh said tax policies should be put into considera-tion to regulate the market and prevent the capital flow into high-end property segments to speculate while there was a severe shortage of affordable homes for low-income earners. The property development must be association with the social equality and progress, he stressed.

The proposal was first raised in 2012. However, until now, there has been no regulation to impose tax on abandoned houses or villas. only a tax rate of 0.15 per cent was imposed on abandoned land. VIET NAM

NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

Prices of resale condo units in Singapore’s fringes grew by 1.8 per cent year-on-year last month. THE STRAITS TIMES

Abandoned villas are causing huge waste of land resources in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi where land is limited. DANTRI.COM.VN/VIET NAM NEWS

Bokor realty market in stasisHin Pisei

no Major changes have been observed so far in Bokor’s market momen-

tum and property prices in the nearly three months since the Kampot provincial town was created, with real estate experts pointing out that the latest Covid-19 outbreak has delayed many investment plans.

The government issued a sub-decree on March 16 to establish Bokor town in the western reaches of the prov-ince, adjacent to the western edge of Kampot town and comprised of three com-munes formerly in Teuk Chhou district – prek Tnort, Koh Touch and Boeung Touk from west to east.

The new town has sub-stantial overlap with Bokor national park and will house the park’s main attractions. Surrounded by verdant jun-gle scenery, the park extends to bordering districts and neighbouring preah Sihanouk province, and is nestled in the Damrei Mountains that form the southeastern section of the Cardamom Mountains.

Bokor Town Hall and other administrative offices will be in Boeung Touk commune, which is just across the boundaries of Kampot town’s andong Khmer and Troeuy Koh communes, from north to south.

according to the Kampot provincial administration, Sokha Hotel Co Ltd, an inves-tor in many large projects for the Bokor Mountain area, will provide the building to serve as Bokor Town Hall. Located near the checkpoint on the access road to Bokor national park, the

building formerly functioned as the provincial Department of environment, it said.

on june 7, provincial gov-ernor Cheav Tay inspected the premises and gave the go-ahead to transform the building into the new town hall, calling on Sokha Hotel to work with officials and rel-evant authorities to start the construction process soon.

advance real estate Co Ltd founder and Ceo po eavkong told The post on june 9 that the prolonged Covid-19 epidemic has led to stagnation in the property market of the “new Bokor area” over the past year.

Travel restrictions and con-cerns over coronavirus infec-tions have prompted many investors to postpone dis-bursement for projects in the region, he said. “Land prices in

this area have not changed so far, even though the govern-ment has decided to establish a new municipal area there.”

But once the dust settles after the transition, develop-ment in all areas will acceler-ate and property prices will rise in suit, eavkong claimed.

“given that Kampot is one of Cambodia’s main economic poles with potential in terms of tourism and industry, thus when the situation of Covid-19 can be controlled, the driving forces behind real estate buy-ing and selling in Bokor town will recover,” the Ceo said.

global real estate associa-tion president Sam Soknoeun said uncertainty surrounding the February 20 community outbreak of the novel coro-navirus had left a number of key decisions pending for the

new town, despite the area being renowned for its invest-ment potential.

But once the Covid-19 pan-demic is completely over, the Cambodian real estate market will witness dramatic changes, he stressed.

“although the government has decided to establish Bokor town, the real estate market in the area has not broken out of its lethargy, or changed signif-icantly,” Soknoeun said.

according to eavkong, plots of land over 1ha adjacent to national road 3 in Kampot and Bokor towns cost an average of $50-150 per square metre, while parcels on smaller roads go for under $50 and planta-tion land ranges from $5-15.

national road 3 is the main thoroughfare between Kam-pot and Bokor towns.

Provincial governor Cheav Tay inspected the premises and gave the go-ahead to transform the building near the checkpoint on the access road to Bokor National Park into the new town hall. KAMPOT ADMINISTRATION

World

9THE PHNOM PENH POST june 10, 2021 WWW.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

MAjOR media and government websites, including the White House, The new York Times, Reddit and Amazon were tem-porarily down on june 8 after being hit by a global outage blamed on a glitch from cloud comput-ing services provider Fastly.

The widespread outages around 1000 GMT also hit the uK gov-ernment website, Cnn and the BBC before resuming services more than an hour later.

“error 503 Service unavailable” and “connection failure” messages appeared on several websites, later blamed on a problem at San Francisco-based firm Fastly, which scrambled to restore sites.

The company offers a service to websites around the world to speed up loading time for websites.

It competes with rivals such as Akamai and Cloudflare, which handle hundreds of billions of requests every day, playing a key role in global internet access.

Fastly’s clients span the globe, and include Deliveroo, Pinterest and Shazam, with a turnover of $291 million last year alone.

The firm said in a tweet after the outages that “the issue has been identified and a fix has been applied. Customers may experience increased origin load as global services return”.

It later confirmed “our global network is coming back online”, as service was restored on most sites.

A slew of sites around the world were hit, including major media such as The Guardian, the Financial Times, France’s Le Monde newspaper, Italy’s Corriere delle Serra and Spanish daily el Mundo.

Social and entertainment site Reddit was hit, along with the White House and gov.uk websites plus a number of web pages in the nordic region and the Swedish social security service Forsakringskassan.

“The impact is huge. It’s gone and affected millions of web pages and thousands of compa-nies that rely on their services,” jake Moore, a cybersecurity spe-cialist at eSeT, told AFP.

He added that since so few companies offer services similar to Fastly’s, any service disruptions can have widespread impact.

“If they go down, then of course we then see lots of companies fall over and panic,” he said.

Analyst Corinne Cath-Speth echoed the sentiment. “Almost all internet websites use content delivery networks and cloud services,” said the researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute.

“So when those @fastly services fail or falter – it has major rami-fications for everyone’s internet experience,” she said on Twitter.

“This in turn – raises major questions about the dangers of [power] consolidation in the cloud market & the unques-tioned influence these often invisible actors have over access to information.” AFP

uS billionaires avoid taxes: reportS

eVeRAL of the uS’ richest citi-zens have paid zero income tax in some years, according to an investigative report published

on june 8 that comes as Washington weighs new proposals to address tax avoidance by the wealthiest individu-als and companies.

The bombshell report, by new York-based journalism nonprofit ProPub-lica, showed Amazon chairman jeff Bezos paid no income tax in 2007 and 2011, while Tesla chief elon Musk avoided all payments in 2018.

Some of the richest in the uS “pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth – sometimes, even nothing”, said ProPublica, which did not disclose how it obtained the confidential tax data.

Others who paid nothing to the In-ternal Revenue Service (IRS) in some years included news industry billion-aire and former new York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, activist investor billionaire Carl Icahn, and philanthro-pist and financial giant George Soros.

ProPublica says the billionaires did nothing illegal in their tax declara-tions, but employed tax-avoidance strategies “beyond the reach of ordi-nary people”.

They also benefited from the way taxable income is defined in the uS tax code, since it does not take into account the growing value of assets like stock and property, and only tax-es proceeds from sales of those items.

The report comes days after Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers en-dorsed a global minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15 per cent, one of several tax proposals aimed at en-suring profitable multinationals pay their fair share.

Other efforts include Democratic Sen-ator elizabeth Warren’s initiative to tax the super-wealthy, including the value of their stock holdings and homes, rather than focusing on income alone.

“Our tax system is rigged for billion-aires who don’t make their fortunes through income, like working families

do,” Warren said as she published the ProPublica article on Twitter.

“It is time for a #WealthTax in Amer-ica to make the ultra-rich finally pay their fair share.”

ProPublica’s report is based on IRS tax returns of extremely wealthy peo-ple over more than 15 years.

“Taken together, it demolishes the cornerstone myth of the American tax system: that everyone pays their fair share and the richest Americans pay the most,” the article said.

The treasury department and other authorities are investigating the re-lease of the tax returns.

Treasury spokeswoman Lily Adams told AFP: “The unauthorised disclo-

sure of confidential government in-formation is illegal.”

The issue has been referred to the treasury’s inspector general, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investiga-tion (FBI) and federal prosecutors in Washington, “all of whom have inde-pendent authority to investigate”.

Bezos in 2011 reported that his in-vestment losses exceeded his income, meaning he could report a loss for the year. He also received a $4,000 tax credit for his children that year, ac-cording to the report.

AFP queries to staff for Bezos, Musk, Bloomberg, Icahn and Soros did not garner an immediate comment.

A spokesman for Soros told ProPubli-

ca that Soros did not owe taxes between 2016 and 2018 because his investments lost money, however, he supports high-er taxes for the wealthy – something he has spoken about publicly.

Bloomberg and Icahn told the pub-lication they had paid all taxes they owed.

ProPublica found that the rich pay far below the official 37 per cent rate on the highest incomes if their taxes are compared to how much Forbes magazine reports their wealth has in-creased in a given year.

What ProPublica calls the “true tax rate” means that Buffett, for example, paid only 0.1 per cent in taxes be-tween 2014 and 2018. AFP

Hamas ‘jammed signals’ from media towerISRAeL on june 8 said a Gaza media building it targeted was used by Hamas to jam air defences but the Associated Press (AP), whose office was destroyed in the attack, called for evidence.

Israel’s ambassador to the uS, Gilad erdan, gave the most detailed explanation yet of the decision to strike the tower as

he met the head of the news agency, Gary Pruitt, at its new York headquarters.

“The unit was developing an electronic jamming system to be used against the Iron Dome defence system,” erdan said, referring to the anti-missile shield that intercepts Hamas rockets.

He offered Israel’s help in

rebuilding the bureau of AP, one of the world’s major news agencies along with Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reu-ters, and said he did not imag-ine AP employees were aware of the alleged use of the build-ing by Hamas.

“Israel did everything it could to make sure that no employees or civilians were hurt during this important operation,” he said in a state-ment released a day after his meeting with AP executives.

“In contrast, Hamas is a genocidal terrorist organisa-tion that has no regard for the press. It purposely places its terror machine in civilian are-as, including in offices being used by international media outlets,” he said.

expanding on the ambassa-dor’s remarks, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Hamas kept special equipment in the jala Tower building aimed at dis-rupting the Iron Dome.

“The strike was designed to collapse the building in order

to ensure the destruction of the special means,” it said in a statement. “The target was of high military value to Hamas and was vetted according to rigorous procedures within the IDF, and in accordance with international law.”

AP called the conversation “positive and constructive” and said erdan explained why Israel saw an “urgent threat” from the building.

“We have yet to receive evi-dence to support these claims,” the news organisation said in a statement. “AP continues to call for the full release of any evidence the Israelis have so that the facts are public.”

The AP and international media rights groups earlier called for an independent investigation into allegations that jala Tower was used by Hamas, the militant Islamist group that controls the dense-ly populated and impover-ished Gaza Strip.

The air strike also destroyed the office of Al jazeera, the

Qatar-based television net-work that has frequently irri-tated both Israel and Arab states with its coverage.

The owner of the jala Tower had unsuccessfully pleaded for 10 extra minutes to let Al jazeera retrieve its equipment but an Israeli officer rejected the request and went ahead with the strike.

The attack came during a May 10-21 military escalation, with Hamas firing rockets into Israel in response to what it considered provocations in jerusalem against the Palestin-ian population.

Israeli strikes killed 260 Pal-estinians, including 66 chil-dren and some fighters, and wounded more than 1,900 people, the Gaza health min-istry says.

Rockets and other fire from Gaza killed 13 people in Israel, including a child and an Arab-Israeli teenager and an Israeli soldier, medics and the mili-tary say. Some 357 people in Israel were wounded. AFP

Fastly glitchbreaks theinternet forover 1 hour

A bombshell report from journalism nonprofit ProPublica showed that several billionaires completely avoided US taxes some years.GETTY IMAGES/AFP

Masked fighters with the National Resistance Brigades speak outside the ruins of the Gaza media building destroyed by Israel. AFP

AN ESTIMATED 100,000 peo-ple have been displaced by new fighting between Myanmar’s military and rebel groups in the east of the coup-stricken coun-try, the UN said on June 8.

Myanmar has been in chaos and its economy paralysed since the generals ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in February, accusing it of fraud during 2020 elections.

Fighting has flared in sev-eral communities – especially in townships that have seen a high death toll at the hands of police – and some locals have formed “defence forces”.

Recent clashes and “indis-criminate attacks by security forces against civilian areas” had forced an estimated 100,000 to flee their homes in eastern Kayah state near the Thai border, the UN’s Myan-mar office said on June 8.

Those in areas hit by fight-ing were in “urgent need” of food, water, shelter and health care, it said, adding that travel restrictions imposed by secu-rity forces were delaying the delivery of much-needed aid.

Locals in Kayah state have accused the military of using artillery shells that have land-ed in villages.

AFP images from the region have showed villagers manu-facturing guns in makeshift factories as local defence groups go up against Myan-mar’s battle-hardened military.

More than 800 people have been killed across the country in a brutal military crackdown on dissent since February, ac-cording to a local monitoring group.

Myanmar’s national econo-my and banking system have been paralysed since the ar-my’s power grab.

Livelihoods have been lost after strikes and factory clo-sures, fuel prices have shot up and those lucky enough to have bank savings face day-long queues to withdraw their cash.

On June 8 the Red Cross said it was urgently ramping up ef-forts to meet the humanitar-ian needs of 236,000 people in Myanmar, already reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic before the coup struck.

The announcement came after the charity’s president Peter Maurer was granted a rare meeting with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing last week and called for increased humanitarian access to the country. AFP

ASEAN10 THE PHNOM PENH POST JUNE 10, 2021 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

ASEAN bloc, Beijing vowto restrain in S China Sea

VN begs public for ‘Covid-19 vaccine fund’ donations

ASEAN and China on June 8 pledged to ex-ercise self-restraint to avoid actions that

would “complicate or escalate” disputes in the South China Sea and committed to resum-ing negotiations on a code of conduct (CoC), while glossing over the Myanmar crisis.

In a statement released a day after a special meeting of ASEAN and China’s foreign ministers, the countries also pledged to strengthen public health cooperation, particu-lar in the area of vaccines.

Diplomatic sources told The Straits Times (ST) that the de-lay in the statement stemmed from disagreements over the language surrounding the South China Sea, which, along with the Myanmar crisis, dom-inated most of the discussions on Monday afternoon in the Chinese city of Chongqing.

ST understands that the Phil-ippines had asked for stronger language on the South China Sea to be inserted into the state-ment, but had faced pushback.

This was largely due to “Chi-na and some … small ASEAN states”, said a senior South-east Asian diplomat who asked not to be named, referring to Cambodia and Laos.

“Enhance and promote maritime security, uphold the freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea, exercise self-re-straint in the conduct of ac-tivities that would complicate or escalate disputes and af-fect peace and stability,” said the 14-paragraph statement.

The language was similar to that of previous statements between ASEAN and its dia-logue partners.

ASEAN and China also plan to speed up the resumption of negotiations over the CoC and the talks will be conduct-ed virtually. Previously, nego-

tiators had said the topic was too important for discussions to be conducted online, and talks came to a standstill af-ter the coronavirus pandemic stopped air travel.

China has sweeping claims of sovereignty over the South China Sea, but faces compet-ing claims by Brunei, Indone-sia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

In the statement, there was no mention of the crisis in Myanmar, with simply a refer-ence to “maintaining regional peace and stability”.

Myanmar state media said military-appointed foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin told the meeting that the mil-itary had made progress on its own five-step road map for the country unveiled after its February 1 coup.

Several ASEAN ministers, however, had expressed disap-

pointment at the lack of prog-ress in a “five-point consen-sus” towards a peace process as agreed by ASEAN leaders at a special summit in April.

Regional analyst and for-mer Iseas-Yusof Ishak Insti-tute senior fellow Lye Liang Fook said: “While the Myan-mar issue looms large, this is a special meeting to mark 30 years of relations between ASEAN and China, and it’s to project that the overall rela-tionship is positive.

“It does not mean that ASE-AN’s focus on Myanmar is any less diluted … No other inter-national organisation is in any position to reach out to the military government because [the Tatmadaw] does not see ASEAN as a threat,” he said.

ASEAN and China are also looking at increasing vaccine cooperation, while working together in other areas like

health development.“ASEAN greatly appreciates

China’s provision of vaccines, medical supplies and techni-cal assistance to ASEAN and its member states,” the statement said, adding that close collabo-ration has helped in economic recovery from the pandemic.

They also agreed to continue economic cooperation in ar-eas like the Regional Compre-hensive Economic Partnership as well as work together to in-tertwine the ASEAN Regional Masterplan with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Meanwhile, a statement on the visit of ASEAN chairman Lim Jock Hoi and Brunei’s Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Erywan Pehin Yusof to Myanmar was removed from the ASEAN secretariat’s web-site on the morning of June 8. THE STRAITS TIMES (SINGAPORE)/ASIA

NEWS NETWORK

VIETNAM, once a model for its successful handling of the pandemic, has started asking for public donations to buy vaccines as it struggles to con-tain a new coronavirus wave.

The Southeast Asian coun-try has vaccinated only about one per cent of its popula-tion of nearly 100 million, and authorities have become increasingly alarmed by a re-cent spike in cases.

Since last week, mobile phone users have received up to three text messages urging them to contribute to a Covid-19 vaccine fund, while civil servants have been encour-aged to part with a day’s pay.

Some residents, fearful of the virus’ impact on Vietnam’s economy – one of the few in the world to expand last year – told AFP they support the fundraising drive.

Nguyen Tuan Anh, a civil servant, told AFP he had sent around $50 via bank transfer and SMS payment, as vac-

cines would mean “Vietnam’s economy will be stable and develop again”.

Vietnam’s industrial northern provinces – home to key facto-ries such as Samsung and Fox-conn – have been particularly badly hit by the latest outbreak.

Across the country, tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs, according to state media, with bars and restau-rants forced to close in ma-jor hubs such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and public gatherings cancelled.

Cases have more than tripled since April to reach almost 9,000. Although the number is low in compari-son to most of its Southeast Asian neighbours, Vietnam’s vaccination rate per capita is the lowest in the region, and among the lowest in Asia, ac-cording to an AFP tally.

The communist government has said it aims to secure 150 million vaccine doses this year to cover 70 percent of its popu-

lation – at a cost of $1.1 billion.But only $630 million has

been allocated to vaccine procurement in the budget.

A financial “contribution from the community and society” is needed to make a mass roll-out possible, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told the nation on June 5 during a live broadcast to launch the campaign.

By June 8, more than 231,000 individuals and organisations had donated $181 million to the campaign.

Another $140 million has been promised by businesses, the Ministry of Finance said.

However, the campaign has been shunned by some who are concerned with how the money will be spent.

“I am not sure if the do-nated money will be used for the sole purpose of buying vaccines to inoculate every citizen … I don’t think I have enough trust to give them my money,” said office worker Pham Mai Chi. AFP

A Chinese Coast Guard patrol ship (left) is seen near an unidentified vessel at Whitsun Reef, in the South China Sea, in a photo released on April 15. PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD

A member of a local ‘defence force’ makes a handmade gun to be used against security forces in Myanmar’s Kayah state. STR/AFP

Vietnam is struggling to contain a new coronavirus wave. AFP

New fighting in east Myanmar displaces around 100,000: UN

Opinion

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HISTORICALLY, the japa-nese love the Olympics, but they haven’t had the best luck with them. In the

1930s, japan successfully made a bid to host the Summer Olympics in 1940, four years after nazi Germany’s Berlin Olympics, but they had to give up the great enterprise because of World War II. In 1964, two decades after the war ended, they finally real-ised the ambition.

Since then, japan twice played host to Winter Olympics in Sapporo and nagano. And no one had thought of a pandemic when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Buenos Aires in 2013 gave Tokyo the right to host the Summer Games for the second time. It was an act of compassion and encouragement for a nation suffering the severe conse-quences of a tsunami and nuclear disaster two years earlier.

now, less than 50 days before the grand opening of the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, already delayed by one year, a big question mark looms over the brand new Tokyo Olympic Stadium. If the IOC decides to cancel the 32nd Summer Olympics, as it did in 1916,1940 and 1944, the calendar will move on to the Winter Games in Beijing in 2022, while Paris and Los Angeles are not likely to concede to Tokyo their respective designations for the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics.

The administration of Prime Minis-ter Yoshihide Suga is struggling between the people’s growing oppo-sition to the Games and the robust stand of the IOC leadership to go ahead with the Tokyo Olympics. The Olympic Stadium and other facilities for the Games have been completed at the cost of approximately $26 bil-lion but the coronavirus has disinter-ested the people from the Games.

Some 70 per cent of the japanese public is telling pollsters that they do not want the Games to be held in Tokyo for fear of infection.

The Asahi Shimbun, one of the offi-cial sponsors of the Games, came out last week with a strong appeal to the prime minister, the metropolitan gov-ernment of Tokyo and the Tokyo Olympic Organising Committee to call off the Summer Games and the Paralympics. In a lengthy editorial, the influential liberal newspaper said that “it is simply beyond reason” to hold the Games this summer amid the peo-ple’s distrust and apprehension.

The foremost concerns must be about citizens’ lives, health and liveli-hoods which are the basis of the Olympic spirit pursuing equal oppor-tunities, friendship, solidarity, fair

play and mutual understanding, the paper stressed. They are obviously right. But I would like to ask this question to the sceptics: Is cancelling the quadrennial event, the great property of humankind, the only and right option?

To South Koreans, japan’s closest neighbour, the 2020/21 Olympics car-ry regional significance. Starting from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea’s northeastern town of PyeongChang, northeast Asia will host three consec-utive Olympic Games through Tokyo to Beijing in 2022.

An interruption might look to be hampering this kind of international order.

Back in 1964, the Tokyo Olympics helped open South Korea’s windows wider to the world as the global com-munity paid more attention to this part of Asia. The following year, the two countries normalised diplomatic relations 20 years after the end of japan’s 35-year colonial rule. nearly half a century later, Seoul and Tokyo have arrived at the lowest point in bilateral ties because domestic poli-tics has kept scratching unhealed leg-acies from the past.

Between South Korea and japan, there has been no scarcity of emo-tional issues. When the Tokyo Olym-pic Organising Committee drew the

map of the japanese archipelago, it marked a dot in the sea between the two countries to depict Dokdo Islands, which the japanese call Take-shima and claim to be their territory. A brief diplomatic exchange of pro-test and rejection ensued unneces-sarily. Time is for the peoples of the two countries to forge a forward-looking partnership with the Olym-pics renewing the mood.

Whatever meaning the outsiders find in the Tokyo Games, it is japan that badly needs the Olympics this summer. The Tokyo Olympics could mark the revival of the country after decades of economic stagnation and especially from the catastrophe of the 2011 tsunami and Fukushima nucle-ar powerplant disaster.

Rejuvenation of japan is not some-thing South Korea or any other regional players should be wary of.

More than 200 South Korean ath-letes have undergone hard training aiming at Olympic medals.

Over the past five years since the 2016 Rio Olympics, tens of thou-sands of sports talents on five conti-nents have shed enormous amounts of sweat, tears and even blood in preparation for the Olympics in pur-suit of personal glory as well as national pride. Their missing the Olympics until Paris 2024 means

giving up their career in their prime.Some 90,000 people will make up

delegations from the 205 national Olympic Committees (excluding north Korea), consisting of athletes, officials and supporting personnel. Volunteers and medical workers who have been fully immunised in japan and elsewhere should be invited to come to Tokyo and take care of these visitors during the Olympics and the subsequent Paralympics.

The 32nd Summer Olympics should go ahead, even if the arenas would only have the contestants and television cameras. There may be a limited number of spectators to be admitted through rigorous social dis-tancing formulas. japanese officials must be able to prove their well-known capability in their task of sav-ing the Olympics and ensuring the continuity of this beautiful aspect of human culture.

Let us just imagine the excitement of watching a marathoner from Asia, Africa or any other place entering the Olympic Stadium to present the world with the possible stunning record of 120 minutes or fewer at the final moment of the great festival of sports.

“Olympics to prove mankind’s tri-umph over Covid-19.” This sounds an apt official slogan of the Tokyo Olym-piad. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

OpinionKim Myong-sik

Let Olympics win over Covid-19

The Olympic rings are seen at the Odaiba waterfront in Tokyo on June 3. The 32nd Summer Olympics should go ahead, even if the arenas would only have the contestants and television cameras. Afp

Lifestyle

12 THE PHNOM PENH POST june 10, 2021 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Roth Sochieata

In THe craft alley of Wat Bo Road located in a part of down-town Siem Reap that was once bustling with tourists, a social

enterprise workshop employs lo-cal craftsmen who are turning used bullet shells into modern jewellery under the name Chan Alanka.

The jewellery at Chan Alanka is cre-ated by Thorn Chantrea – the 30-year-old one-time apprentice of British jew-eller Madeline Green – and the shiny geometric shaped metal accessories not only make a fashion statement, they also contain a piece of Cambo-dian history embedded into them and that’s what inspired Green to start a so-cial enterprise turning war remnants into contemporary jewellery.

The longstanding practice of Cam-bodians recycling bullets from the country’s decades-old conflicts was an inspiration to Green, who founded her social enterprise Ammo six years ago.

Based in Siem Reap, the workshop employs local Cambodian craftsmen who specialise in recycling spent bullet cartridges to make positive and ethical handmade jewellery.

The process of turning spent brass cartridges into beautiful handcrafted jewellery helps to provide apprentice-ship training in jewellery manufacture, design and business skills to young women as well as to disadvantaged and disabled Cambodians.

Green says Cambodians originally began recycling bullets that they lit-erally dug-up with their bare hands in the fields starting in the 90’s after armed conflict in Cambodia finally came to its official end.

As increasing numbers of people returned to rice farming and agri-culture again, they began using all of the scrap metal from the remnants of war to make farming tools like cow bells and rice scythes.

The idea to make jewellery from the bullets came about when a woman working in a refugee camp noticed all of the creative uses that Cambo-dians had found for the abundant scrap metal.

“She came from a design background like me, and decided that there might be a positive way to channel that scrap recycling process. So she started to de-sign jewellery. That was 25 years ago and from there the skill has continued to be passed down,” Green says.

After visiting Cambodia on holiday as a backpacker, Green then ended up staying in the Kingdom for over eight years. She founded Ammo and began her work as its designer in 2014.

“The reason I stay in Cambodia is because I get a sense of community here. In fact, before I came here, I’d just given up being a jeweller after many years spent in that profession back in england. I just didn’t feel very creative there. But as soon as I got to Cambo-dia, everything started to come back again,” Green tells The Post.

She continues “It’s easy to get moti-vated to do something new when you get up in the morning because there are always people out there willing to give something a try. It’s like a can-do attitude, which I think sometimes in the west is a little bit lacking, espe-

cially with young people.” “We make positive and ethical

handmade jewellery, which in turn provides employment and future self-sufficiency for the Cambodians who are the most at risk from poverty and exploitation,” Green says.

Green explains that her staff mem-bers all start off by receiving six months of skills training, where they learn about metals, pattern making, forming, soldering and finishing.

Once they have mastered the Ammo jewellery designs, each student then gets to become an independent de-signer. each week they use one of their shifts to design and create their own jewellery collections under the guidance of the management team.

Ammo also helps to sell their prod-ucts to various outlets and at events, and gives a percentage of the profits back to the designer and maker of each piece.

But when Green returned to the uK at the start of the pandemic, Ammo had to quickly innovate and establish itself online and the vision for the en-terprise shifted to focus purely on em-powering Cambodian Women.

Green’s apprentice Chantrea re-ceived training from Ammo until she mastered the skills necessary to make and design her own jewellery, as well as the skills necessary to run a small business.

Over the last six years, Chantrea has been learning about every aspect of the jewellery industry through her role as manager for Ammo Designs.

Chantrea was first employed sell-ing Ammo’s jewellery at a local fair-trade market.

“Over the years, I received men-torship and training in the fields of

marketing, display accounting, event management and the production side of the business. eventually, I was promoted to manager of the compa-ny,” Chantrea tells The Post.

In november 2020 Chantrea launched her first collection in Cambodia called Chan Alanka.

“I learned the design aspect of creating new collections, and it was then that I began developing my own contemporary styles. Thanks to [Green’s] support, I am now running my own business,” she says.

Discussing her creative process for coming up with her unique designs, she says that through the years that she’s been working with Green she’s learned a lot. Some of it is trial-and-error and some of it is inspired by things she sees around her – but she always tries to be original and avoids duplicating the designs of others.

Chantrea has displayed her designs with Ammo jewellery and also sold them on consignment through some hotels and at some events.

“At the ‘Made in Siem Reap Fair’ last january in Phnom Penh, it was a pleasant surprise to get so much attention. Over those three days I earned over a thousand dollars selling my jewellery,” Chantrea says.

All of her jewellery is hand-made by her or by her younger brother Thorn Philit and Ammo-trained jewellers nary and Sreynet.

Chantrea says that her collection of gold-plated brass earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings is inspired by the luxuriousness of 1920’s designs with geometric shapes and sleek lines.

Chantrea says they handcraft each piece using brass and recycled bul-lets. For all earring hooks and posts, they use sterling silver. And each de-

sign is flash-plated with gold to pro-vide an extra shine.

“For my first collection, I am proud to say that my brother is the master jeweller for both myself and at Ammo. So we are a very strong team that cares about making high quality products. Our prices are also reasonable, start-ing from $18 depending on what the customer prefers,” she says.

Chantrea recently won a $3,000 grant from nomi network Cambodia for be-ing a passionate and motivated young female Cambodian entrepreneur after she sent them a proposal last month.

This grant funding will support her in developing her business and then she will in turn support and mentor five other woman entrepreneurs.

Chantrea says that the funds will be used for purchasing laptops and training their team members with the skills necessary in order to launch online sales of their products.

Green, now in england, says she was like a proud mother seeing Chantrea’s business grow and begin to achieve success independently.

“Women like Chantrea are ex-tremely creative, resourceful, resil-ient and determined. These are the kind of qualities that will help Cam-bodia survive the pandemic.

“Ammo plans to continue working with local and international mentors to help entrepreneurs like Chantrea and others in the Cambodian arti-san community identify their key strengths, set future goals and plan a strategy for how to get there,” says Green.

For more information, Ammo and Chan Alanka can be contacted via their Facebook pages: @ammojewellery and @chanalanka.

From bullets to bangles: Artisans make jewellery from war remnants

Chantrea, 30, learned design and business skills from Ammo before founding Chan Alanka. supplied

Metal is heated and shaped into rings by an Ammo-trained jeweller. supplied

The practice of repurposing or recycling metal items left-over from the war in Cambodia began in earnest in the 90’s when farmers began to dig up fields again. supplied

Chantrea’s brother Philit serves as the master jeweller at both Ammo and Chan Alanka. supplied

Lifestyle13THE PHNOM PENH POST june 10, 2021 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Centuries-old umbrella-shaped dragon’s blood trees line the rugged peaks of Yemen’s socotra – a flag-

ship symbol of the indian Ocean archipelago’s extraordinary biodiver-sity, but also a bleak warning of envi-ronmental crisis.

Forests of these ancient trees are being decimated by increasingly intense storms, while replacement saplings are gobbled by proliferat-ing goat herds, leaving the fragile biological hotspot vulnerable to desertification.

“the trees bring water, so they are so important,” said Adnan Ahmed, a mathematics teacher and tour guide whose passion is socotra’s famous flora and fauna. “Without trees, we will be in trouble.”

Lying in turquoise seas between Arabia and Africa some 350km south of Yemen’s coast, socotra is home to over 50,000 people and has remained relatively untouched by the blood-letting of the civil war raging on the mainland.

naming it a World Heritage site in 2008, unesCO described the main island as one of the world’s “most biodiversity rich and distinct”. it has also been dubbed the “Galapagos of the indian Ocean”.

Ahmed said islanders traditionally don’t fell dragon’s blood trees for fire-wood, both because they perpetu-ate regular rainfall and because its blood-red sap is medicinal.

But scientists and islanders warn that the trees will largely die out within decades, buckling under pressure from global warming driving cyclones, as well as inva-

sive species and overgrazing.“Goats eat the seedlings, so young

trees are only found on cliff faces in the most inaccessible places,” said Ahmed.

the trees take nearly half a cen-tury before they reproduce, he ex-plained. “if nothing is done, it will not take long before all are gone,” he said.

‘Running out of time’the shrinking forests are a canary

in the mine for socotra’s environ-mental challenges, said Belgian bi-ologist Kay Van Damme, from the university of Ghent.

“it remains a treasure trove of bio-diversity,” said Van Damme, chair of the Friends of socotra support group. “But we may soon be running out of time to protect socotra’s most iconic flagship species.”

each lost tree drives a reduction in the hydrological cycle on which all life depends.

islanders say trees have been bat-tered by storms more ferocious than anyone remembers.

At Diksam, on the high plateau surrounding the Hagher moun-tains, running like a spine along the 130km island and 1,500m high, dead trees lie scattered like bowl-ing ball pins.

Other local species are just as hard hit by storms and overgrazing, in-cluding the 10 endemic species of frankincense tree.

Gales have torn through nearly a third of the trees in the Homhil forest over the past decade.

Without replanting efforts, the forest “will be gone in only a few

decades”, Van Damme said.One study found the number of

frankincense trees had plummeted by 78 per cent in this area between 1956 and 2017.

“the immune system of socotra is now compromised,” he said, but added, “there is still hope”.

Landslide scars caused by vegeta-tion loss are now a common sight.

“if the trend continues, future generations might be able to visit a

socotran frankincense tree only in a botanical garden, accompanied by a little plaque saying ‘extinct in the wild’,” Van Damme added.

the international union for Con-servation of nature (iuCn) warns that socotra is under “high threat”, and the “deteriorating” situation will be “accelerated by climate change”.

islanders are already feeling the im-pact of changing weather patterns.

Abdullah Ahmed, from a small fishing village near shuab, a cluster of solidly built coral-stone homes, said the 40 residents were threat-ened both by extreme high seas and landslides.

they have built a new village 10 minutes’ walk from the sea.

“Waves in the last storms smashed the windows of our home,” the 25-year-old said, describing how his family had sheltered terrified in caves for days.

“the last monsoon was worse than anyone had experienced.”

‘We have a chance’But with effort, the worst impact

can be slowed – and some socotris are doing what they can to protect their island.

Adnan Ahmed peered over the chest-high stone wall of a commu-nity-run dragon’s blood tree nursery, a football-pitch sized area enclosed against goat invasions.

inside are dozens of knee-high sap-

lings. resembling pineapple plants, they are the painstaking result of at least 15 years’ growth.

“it is a start, but much more is needed,” he said. “We need support.”

sadia eissa suliman was born and raised at the Detwah lagoon, listed as a wetland of global importance under the ramsar wetlands convention.

“i saw how the lagoon was chang-ing,” said the 61-year-old grand-mother, who watched swathes of trees being chopped down, plas-tic being dumped and fishing nets trawling the water, a critical nursery for young fish.

“everyone said someone else would do something,” she said. “But i said, ‘enough: i will do it, and peo-ple will see the difference.’”

she now helps the community enforce a fishing ban and raises funds to enclose trees and to tackle littering.

scientists are also determined so-cotra will not just become another case study of loss.

“We have a chance as humans to not mess this one up, otherwise we’ve learnt nothing from other examples of huge extinctions on islands,” Van Damme said.

“socotra is the only island in the entire world where no reptile, plant or bird that we know of has gone ex-tinct in the last 100 years. We have to make sure it stays that way.” AFP

us gold coin sells for $18.87M at sotheby’s auctionA 1933 us gold coin that was never issued after Franklin D roosevelt removed Amer-ica from the gold standard sold for a record $18.87 million at a sotheby’s auction in new York on june 8.

the auction house described the 1933 Double eagle, the last us gold coin made and intended for circulation, as “one of the most coveted coins in the world” and it didn’t disappoint.

the $20 coin, designed by the American sculptor Augustus saint-Gaudens, sailed past its pre-sale estimate price of between $10 million and $15 million.

it also smashed the record for the most expensive coin in the world, set by a 1794 Flowing Hair silver dollar that sold for $10 million in 2013.

the Double eagle has an image of Lady Liberty on one side and an American eagle on the other.

the 1933 Double eagles were the last American gold coins intended for circula-tion by the united states Mint but were never legally issued for use.

that year, President roosevelt removed the us from the gold standard in an effort to lift America’s battered economy out of the Great Depression.

All of the coins were ordered to be destroyed, apart from two which were given to the smithsonian institution.

However, in 1937, several of the coins appeared on the market, sparking a secret service investigation in 1944 that ruled that the coins had been stolen from the us government and were illegal to own.

Prior to the probe, one of the coins was purchased and mistakenly granted an export licence, sotheby’s said in its notes.

it ended up in the coin collection of King

Farouk of egypt. When sotheby’s tried to auction the Double eagle in 1954, the us treasury successfully had it withdrawn.

the coin’s whereabouts were then unknown until 1996 when it was seized during a secret service sting at the Wal-dorf-Astoria in new York.

A five-year legal tussle ensued and it was decided that the coin could be privately owned.

Other Double eagles that have surfaced have been ruled property of the us follow-ing cases that have even gone to the supreme Court.

the coin bought on june 8 is therefore the only 1933 Double eagle allowed to be legally sold.

in 2002, it established a new world auc-tion record for any coin at the time when designer stuart Weitzman bought it for $7.59 million. AFP

unique ‘dragon’s blood’ island under threat

A boy holds up the red resin of the Dragon’s Blood Tree on the Diksam Plateau in the centre of the Yemeni island of Socotra, a species found only on the Indian Ocean archipelago. AFP

A Dragon’s Blood Tree grows on a hillside at Homhil in the northeast of the Yemeni island of Socotra, a species found only on the Indian Ocean archipelago, on April 12. AFP

The US coin sold for a record $18.87 million at Sotheby’s auction on June 8. The ‘Double Eagle’ was minted in 1933 and breaks the record for the most expensive coin in the world. AFP

Lifestyle

Thinking caps

ACROSS 1 Works on, as a bone 6 Lapidarist’s item 9 Sidewinder, for one 14 African antelope (Var.) 15 In-flight info, for short 16 Maxims 17 Buzzing 18 Big jerk 19 Tracks 20 Group that disagrees with the

majority 23 Genuflecting joint 24 “Anything ___?” 25 Corn holder 28 Make blank 30 Economist’s concern (Abbr.) 33 Dispatch boat 36 Raccoon’s cousin 39 Abraham Lincoln was a member of it 42 Kind of bathing suit 43 Beyond the fringe 44 It’s taken for trips 45 May 8, 1945 48 Vert. counterpart 49 Working description 51 Get the better of

54 Where one is out of character? 61 Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie ___” 62 ___ de toilette 63 Musical drama 64 Tablelands 65 Major network 66 Concerning the kidneys 67 Battery’s positive pole 68 Gymnast’s surface 69 Overused themeDOWN 1 Pleased 2 Legalese for “unless” 3 Play things 4 Type of broom 5 Police car warning 6 Go-___ (achiever) 7 Decorative sewing case 8 Kind of milk (with “of”) 9 Feeds, as hogs 10 Starbursts 11 Thickening agent 12 Bagpiper’s wear 13 “Duck soup!” 21 Originally named 22 Actress Close

25 “Deck the Halls,” e.g. 26 Hot spots 27 Man or ostrich, e.g. 29 Followed a missile’s path 30 Brooks of music 31 Rocket fuel ingredient, for short 32 One carrying on a trade 34 Eat in the evening35 Part of a geisha’s attire 37 US publications grp. 38 Ancient cross 40 Flood control 41 Banana split ingredient 46 Make off with 47 “___-haw!” (cowboy’s cry) 49 Group of cheerleaders 50 Competitor’s share 52 Wear with flair 53 Become narrow 54 Papa’s mate 55 Prayer’s end 56 Not too hot 57 Four-line rhyme scheme 58 Where no one eats their chips? 59 Golf hazard 60 Harvard rival

“BLOW OUT”

Wednesday’s solution

Wednesday’s solution

14 THE PHNOM PENH POST june 10, 2021 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

AlArmed by the mountains of plas-tic waste leaching into Indonesia’s waters, two best friends are taking on the environmental menace by

turning crisp bags and shampoo packets into paving bricks.

Ovy Sabrina and novita Tan launched re-bricks after their country drew headlines as the second-biggest producer of marine waste in the world, behind China.

Indonesia has pledged to reduce plastic waste by some 75 per cent over the next four years – a mammoth task in the Southeast Asian nation of nearly 270 million people.

The pair got their start two years ago visit-ing food stalls across the capital jakarta on the hunt for discarded instant coffee sachets, dried noodle packs and shopping bags.

Thanks to a viral social media campaign, the pair now receive reams of plastic waste pack-aging from donors across the country.

That rubbish flows in daily and is piled high at the little firm’s jakarta-area factory.

“It shows how Indonesians have a strong awareness of recycling plastic waste, but they don’t know where to do it,” 34-year-old Sa-brina said.

Tonnes of trashrebricks staff mulch the packaging into tiny

flakes that are then mixed with cement and sand and moulded into building blocks.

They make look like conventional bricks, but break one open and it is dotted with flecks of plastic.

The two entrepreneurs say their method

diverts waste that would have otherwise end-ed up in a landfill or the ocean – about four tonnes so far and counting.

“every day, we can stop about 88,000 pieces of plastic sachets from littering the environ-ment,” Tan said, adding that the company has produced more than 100,000 bricks.

Some Indonesian cities have banned sin-gle-use plastics, but waste recycling is still rare.

The problem was underscored in 2018 by the discovery of a dead sperm whale that washed ashore in a national park with nearly 6kg of plastic waste in its stomach.

The rebricks pair spent two years trying to perfect their method, and picked up hints from a building materials business run by Sa-brina’s family.

Some Indonesian entrepreneurs are mold-ing plastic waste into flower vases, umbrellas or purses.

But the two women decided to focus on bricks so they could reach more customers.

“If our approach was to sell expensive deco-rative goods, there would only be a few people buying our products,” Sabrina said.

The two women hope to expand their com-pany, which employs four people, and said they were in talks with a big consumer-goods firm about a possible collaboration.

Customer Andi Subagio said he had used the eco-bricks for repaving a restaurant walkway.

“They’re not as fragile as conventional bricks because of the plastic inside,” he said. “And it’s about the same price.” AFP

Indonesian women take on plastic waste by producing bricks

An employee points at a brick containing recycled plastic waste at the Rebricks brick-making factory in Jakarta. AFP

Rebricks founder Novita Tan sorts packages of plastic waste sent by supporters and used to form bricks that use plastic mixed with cement and sand at a brick-making factory in Jakarta. AFP

Sport15THE PHNOM PENH POST june 10, 2021 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

Russia on june 8 sent a letter of complaint to ueFa over ukraine’s “political” euro 2020

kit that features the outline of Moscow-annexed Crimea and is emblazoned with popular patriotic chants.

in the letter from the Russian football federation to ueFa just three days before the euro starts, it said: “We draw at-tention to the use of political motives on the ukrainian na-tional team’s jersey, which goes against the basic principles of the ueFa kit regulations.”

Kiev has provoked Moscow’s ire after its football association unveiled euro 2020 kits that show the outline of ukraine in-cluding Crimea, which was an-nexed by Russia in 2014.

The shirts also feature the words “Glory to ukraine!

Glory to the Heroes!”ukraine President Volodymyr

Zelensky was quick to back the shirt after news of Russia’s ue-Fa-bound letter broke.

Posting two photographs on instagram of himself holding a jersey with the number 95, Zel-ensky said: “The ukrainian na-tional football team’s new jersey is in fact not like the others.

“it knows how to shock. it bears many important sym-bols that unify the ukrainian people.”

ueFa traditionally stresses the importance of steering clear of politics in football.

But in a statement, europe-an football’s governing body said the ukrainian shirt “has been approved by ueFa, in accordance with the applica-ble equipment regulations”.

according to ueFa kit regu-

lations, items must not “offend common decency or transmit political, religious or racial messages”.

Most countries do not recogn-ise Russia’s takeover of Crimea.

andriy Pavelko, the presi-dent of the Football associa-tion of ukraine, said the design had been agreed with ueFa “long before” the kit’s official presentation on june 6.

On the front of the yellow shirt, the outline of ukraine – which gained independence from the soviet union in 1991 – is picked out in white, includ-ing Crimea and the separatist-controlled regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.

“Glory to ukraine” is a patriot-ic chant that became a rallying cry for protesters who ousted a Kremlin-backed leader during a popular uprising in 2014.

The revolt was condemned by Moscow and sparked a crisis in ties between the two countries. Russia annexed Crimea and supported Russian-speaking insurgents in ukraine’s east. The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 13,000 people.

The slogan has drawn criti-cism from Moscow for its as-sociation with World War ii-era nationalist groups who cooper-ated with the nazis.

Russian foreign ministry

spokeswoman Maria Zakharo-va said that euro 2020 organis-ers and fans “should know” that the ukrainian rallying cry “imi-tates” an infamous nazi slogan.

she also derided the map, saying ukraine’s football team “attached ukraine’s territory to Russia’s Crimea.”

euro 2020 will be played from june 11 to july 11 across 11 cities including saint Pe-tersburg. Russia’s second city will host seven matches,

including a quarter-final.ukraine have been drawn in

Group C, opening against the Dutch in amsterdam on june 13 before facing north Macedo-nia and austria in Bucharest.

Russia are in Group B and open against Belgium in saint Petersburg before tak-ing on Finland at the same stadium four days later. Their group stage culminates on june 21 against Denmark in Copenhagen. AFP

Denver nuggets ace nikola jokic named 2021 nBa MVP

Hassan aims for victory in Florence Diamond League

DenVeR nuggets star nikola jokic was named the nBa’s Most Valuable Player on june 8, completing a remarkable rise to the pinnacle of basketball after entering the league in 2014 as a lowly 41st draft pick.

The 6ft 11in (2.10m) serbian centre scooped the season MVP honours after a 2020/2021 campaign that has seen him average a career-best 26.4 points per game with 8.3 assists and 10.8 rebounds.

“stat wise, you know, i think this was my the best season of my life,” jokic said short-ly after the award was announced.

“Kind of the cherry on the top is probably the trophy – so i think this is my the best season of my life.”

The 26-year-old jokic is the lowest draft pick ever to win the MVP, and the first play-er in Denver history to take the accolade.

“To be honest, i didn’t even think of being in the nBa when i started to play basketball back home,” jokic said.

“it was playing euro League, because that was kind of the closest top league to

my country . . . But then the Denver nug-gets drafted me it was an opportunity for me to become an nBa player, and i think i did a good job of using that opportunity.”

jokic is the fifth international player to win the award after Hakeem Olajuwon (1994), steve nash (2005, 2006), Dirk nowitzki (2007) and Giannis antetok-ounmpo (2019, 2020).

jokic beat out competition from the Golden state Warriors’ steph Curry and Philadelphia 76ers ace joel embiid who were both finalists for the award.

jokic was instrumental in guiding Denver into the second round of the playoffs this season, finishing the regular season 47-25 despite injuries to key personnel including jamal Murray, Pj Dozier and Will Barton.

nuggets coach Michael Malone earlier this year praised jokic for hitting the ground running in the new campaign despite a short off-season following last year’s pandemic disruption.

“He stayed in great shape and he came back ready to go,” Malone said. “He didn’t ease himself into the season.

“He came back playing at a high level, and he’s done that for every game we’ve played this year.”

jokic agreed with his coach’s assess-ment.

“We had a really good season last year and we had like two months rest. i started the season really well and i played kind of the whole season really well.”

jokic began his career playing in domes-tic serbian competitions before being picked by Denver with the 41st pick of the 2014 draft. He entered the nBa in 2015, a year after being drafted.

jokic, a three-time nBa all-star, signed a five-year $148 million maximum con-tract in 2018.

at international level, he was a member of the serbia team that won a silver med-al at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de janeiro. AFP

FResH from knocking more than 10 seconds off the wom-en’s 10,000m world record, Dutch runner sifan Hassan will again show her amazing versatility when she takes on

Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon in the 1500m in the Florence Diamond League on june 10.

The ethiopian-born Hassan, who arrived in the netherlands

as a 15-year-old in 2008, claimed world titles in Doha in 2019 in both the 1500m and 10,000m.

Kipyegon was victorious over the distance at the 2016 Rio Olympics, is current world sil-ver medallist and is also in form this season, having clocked a season best of 1:58.26 in the 800m at the Doha Diamond League meet.

also in the field in the third Diamond League of the season, just six weeks out from the Tokyo Games, will be the Brit-ish pair of Laura Muir, the european champion, and eil-ish McColghan.

another Briton honing her form, with just four more meets (Oslo, stockholm, Monaco, Gateshead) to go before the july 23-august 8 Tokyo Olympics, is sprinter Dina asher-smith.

The reigning world 200m

champion and 100m silver medallist will race over the longer distance in Florence, to where the meet was moved to avoid the opening of euro 2020 in Rome.

asher-smith is fresh from setting an Olympic-qualifying 10.92sec over 100m at Hengelo, and will be up against former two-time world champion Dafne schippers of the nether-lands, ivory Coast’s experi-enced Marie-josee Ta Lou, 100m bronze medallist at the Doha worlds, and world bronze medallist Mujinga Kambundji from switzerland.

Cheptegei in loaded fieldaside from Hassan, with

four world records currently to her name, another athlete who knows how to take the track by storm is ugandan middle distance maestro

joshua Cheptegei, who set new bests in the men’s 5,000m in Monaco, 10,000m in Valen-cia and 5km road, also in Monaco, last season.

Cheptegei, world 10,000m champion, will kick off his Dia-mond League season over the shorter distance, but it looks to be far from plain sailing.

in-form norwegian prodigy jakob ingebrigtsen will also be seeking to land his first 5,000m win of the season after victory in the 1500m in Gateshead.

There is also a trio of ethiopi-ans lying in wait: selemon Bar-ega and Hagos Gebrhiwet, who are ranked fifth and sixth respectively in the all-time list with 12:43.02 and 12:45.82; and Muktar edris, reigning world 5,000m champion.

Moroccan-born spaniard Mohamed Katir, who won the 5,000m with a personal best in

Gateshead, will also be on the startlist.

Field events see local favour-ite Gianmarco Tamberi take on a stellar field in the men’s high jump, including Qatar’s two-time defending world cham-pion Mutaz essa Barshim, ukraine’s andriy Protsenko and Russia’s world bronze medallist ilya ivanyuk.

jamaica’s Olympic 110m hurdles champion Omar McLeod looks in fine form after running the second-fastest time this year with 13.08 in Hengelo, while up-and-coming Dutchwoman Femke Bol goes in the wom-en’s 400m hurdles.

in the women’s pole vault reigning Olympic champion ekaterini stefanidi of Greece will face Russia’s world cham-pion anzhelika sidorova and Briton Holly Bradshaw. AFP

Russia complains to ueFa over ukraine’s ‘political’ football kit

Bradley Beal (right) of Team Durant drives to the basket as teammate Kawhi Leonard (left) and Nikola Jokic of Team LeBron James look on during the 70th NBA All-Star Game on March 7. AFP

Sifan Hassan on her way to victory and a world record in the women’s one-hour event at The Diamond League on September 4 last year. AFP

Passers-by walk past a billboard showing the Ukrainian National football team in Kiev. Russia on June 8 sent a letter of complaint to UEFA over Ukraine’s ‘political’ Euro 2020 kit. AFP

Sport

16 THE PHNOM PENH POST june 10, 2021 www.PHNOMPENHPOST.cOM

neymar scored one goal and created the other as Brazil maintained their

perfect start to World Cup qualifying with a 2-0 win over Paraguay on june 8.

Substitute Lucas Paqueta sealed the win deep into in-jury time in asuncion as Bra-zil opened up a six point lead at the top of South america’s single qualifying group after a sixth win out of six.

Brazil got off to a quick start with less than four minutes on the clock.

Gabriel jesus, recalled to the starting line-up, crossed from the right and although rich-arlison missed his attempted volley, neymar was unmarked at the back post to bobble the ball past goalkeeper antony Silva.

Paraguay did not crumble, though, and centre-back Omar alderete forced an in-credible save out of goalkeep-er ederson with a blockbuster drive from 30 yards.

miguel almiron also found space in the box but his shot was deflected behind by eder militao.

In between, Silva was out quickly to smother a chance for richarlison.

The everton forward thought he’d extended the lead just be-fore halftime with a brilliant dipping volley, but he was de-nied by an offside flag.

Paraguay had a strong start to the second half as ederson saved a Gustavo Gomez head-er but marquinhos should have doubled the visitors’ ad-vantage when he somehow headed neymar’s cross wide from four yards out.

Brazil had chances to kill the game off on the counter but neymar screwed an effort wide and Gomez did brilliant-ly to block richarlison’s shot.

But in injury time, neymar played in Paqueta on the right to send a precise left-foot fin-ish just inside the far post.

Argentina blow leadmiguel Borja scored four

minutes into stoppage time to rescue a 2-2 draw for Co-lombia in a World Cup quali-fier against argentina in Bar-ranquilla.

argentina were off to a flying start, helped by woeful home

defending, to move 2-0 up inside eight minutes through goals by Cristian romero and Leandro Paredes.

But Colombia’s substitutes turned the game around in the second half as Luis nuriel netted from the spot and then Borja snatched a point at the death.

“We went out to press, we scored two goals but unfor-tunately we couldn’t hold on, I think we were tired,” said

argentina forward Lautaro martinez.

argentina remain unbeaten in second place while Colombia are just outside the automatic qualification spots in fifth.

The visitors will be kicking themselves, though, after a fast start and having the better chances throughout.

Three minutes in, romero rose highest to head home a rodrigo De Paul free-kick from wide on the right that made it

all the way to the edge of the six yard box.

a few minutes later, Lionel messi picked out marcos acu-na and his rasping left-footed drive was deflected inches past the corner of post and crossbar.

Colombia failed to fully clear the resulting corner and fol-lowing some pinball in the box, Paredes was able to run past four players, find space and shoot low into the corner across

goalkeeper David Ospina.argentina were well on top

and Ospina had to save a fierce drive from martinez on 27 minutes, with nicolas Gon-zalez putting the rebound a whisker past the post.

Colombia finally came alive in first half stoppage time but muriel’s shot was blocked by nicolas Otamendi, while Du-van Zapata blazed over.

They were back in it six minutes into the second pe-riod, though, after Otamendi brought down mateus uribe in the box and muriel slotted in from the spot.

argentina remained well on top, though, and Ospina tipped a shot from messi onto the bar before denying martinez.

muriel shot over before the inspired Ospina kept Colom-bia in the tie with great saves from martinez and messi again.

Borja had the last word, though, rising at the back post to head home juan Cuadrado’s cross.

Peru claim first winPeru earned their first win

of the qualification campaign but remained bottom of the group despite a surprise 2-1 success at ecuador.

Christian Cueva converted a rapier counter attack on 62 minutes and Luis advincula all but secured victory eight minutes from time, shooting through goalkeeper alexander Dominguez’s legs.

Gonzalo Plata’s injury time strike was but a consolation for ecuador, who nonetheless remain third.

In Caracas, Venezuela held uruguay to a 0-0 draw to re-main above Peru on goal dif-ference, while the visitors clung on to a top four automatic qualification spot. AFP

‘Too nice to win’ Pavlyuchenkova in 1st Slam semi-finalanaSTaSIa Pavlyuchenkova reached her first Grand Slam semi-final at the 52nd attempt with a three-set win over dou-bles partner elena rybakina at the French Open, shrugging off

career-long accusations that she was “too nice to win”.

Pavlyuchenkova, the world no32, won 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 9-7 and will face 85th-ranked Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia

for a place in the final.The 29-year-old russian had

fallen at the quarter-final stage on six occasions at the majors since her debut in 2007.

However, over her career she has recorded 37 wins over top 10 players, the most by any woman never to have made the top 10 herself.

Well-liked by her peers, she seemed doomed to a life in the shadows until june 8 when she just avoided matching Barbora Strycova who needed 53 attempts to make her first Slam semi-final at Wimbledon two years ago.

“I’m nice to people but I’m not nice at all,” she said.

“I mean, obviously I’m respectful. I’ve got education from my parents, and I’m very respectful to people in gen-eral. That’s why I turn out to be very nice.

“unfortunately most of the time people don’t have educa-tion on tour to be nice to peo-ple and say hello.

“When I’m on the court, I’m doing my job and I fight, and I want to kill my opponent every time I play.”

There’s no doubt that Pavly-uchenkova has had some tough quarter-final missions at the majors.

She faced Francesca Schia-vone at roland-Garros in 2011, just a year after the Italian had claimed the title.

Later that summer, Serena Williams defeated her at the same stage of the uS Open.

It would be another five years before Pavlyuchenkova returned to the quarter-finals, this time at Wimbledon where Williams again got the better of her.

Three more last-eight runs

were to follow, all at the austral-ian Open in 2017, 2019 and 2020 with Venus Williams, Danielle Collins and Garbine muguruza emerging victorious.

However, this year’s French Open has seen the top 10 deci-mated with ashleigh Barty and naomi Osaka making early exits.

rybakina knocked out Serena Williams in the fourth round while Pavlyuchenkova saw off third seed aryna Sabalenka in the third round and then former world no1 Victoria aza-renka for good measure.

“I wanted to be in the semi-finals so much before that now I have achieved it, I sort of have a neutral reaction,” she said.

“Of course I’m happy, but I feel like I’m doing my work, I’m doing my job, but there is still matches to go through,

still work to be done.”rybakina raced into a 4-1

lead in the opening set on june 8.

Pavlyuchenkova broke back in the seventh game before the 1.84m russian-born Kazakh confidently took the tiebreak.

The russian levelled the tie courtesy of breaks in the sixth and eighth games of the sec-ond set.

In a tense decider, there were four breaks in the first six games before rybakina cracked in the 16th game, going down tamely on her sixth double fault.

Pavlyuchenkova fired 44 win-ners past rybakina, just one fewer than in her victory over azarenka.

“I believed in my chances. I believed in my game overall. I know I’m a fighter, so I will fight till the end.” AFP

Brazil maintains perfect 6 in WC

Brazil’s Roberto Firmino (centre) vies for the ball with Paraguay’s Gustavo Gomez (left) and Omar Alderete during their South Americanqualification football match on June 8. AFP

Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova returns the ball to Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina during their women’s singles quarter-final tennis match on June 8. AFP