Top 10 Facts You Need to Know About Cambodia’s Trade SWAp

PAGE 02

MoC/UNDP TRADE Project’s Contribution to Trade SWAp

PAGE 08

D/ICO’s Role at the Ministry of Commerce

PAGE 04

LDCs Turn to Cambodia to Help Move Aid for Trade Agenda Forward

PAGE 06

Cambodia’s 19 Potential Export Products

German Development Agency FinancesWebsite to Exchange Information

PAGE 10

Issue 1, Vol. 1, December 2009

MADE

IN

CAMBOD

IA

“Most importantly, it is the Cambodian people that should benefit ultimately the most from the Trade SWap.”

By Botumroath Keo LebunCommunications OfficerMOC/UNDP TRADE Project

Cambodia’s participation in the ASEAN Free Trade Area and its membership in the WTO have set

the stage for an acceleration in the pace of internal reform, an increase in domestic and foreign investment, and an expansion of trade.

To strengthen further the contribution of trade to Cambodia’s economic growth and socio-economic development, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has put in place a Sector-Wide Approach (or SWAp). Trade SWAp is helping al-ready to coordinate and manage better the Aid for Trade Cambodia receives from its Development Partners.

In an interview with Pan Sorasak, Secre-tary of State at the Ministry of Commerce, he explains what is Cambodia’s Trade Sector-Wide-Approach (Trade SWAp); how it can assist Cambodia in meeting the Millennium Development Goals target of reducing poverty levels to 19.5 by 2015; and how it can serve to mitigate the im-pact of the global financial crisis.

1. Why is trade important to Cambodia’s economic development?

Liberalized trade, when harnessed prop-erly, can contribute to poverty reduction and improvements in people’s standards of living through increased income and job opportunities. Over the last ten years income per capita in Cambodia has nearly doubled in no small part as a result of the increasing importance of trade in the economy.

Continued, unfettered access of Cambo-dian products and services to the regional and world market will provide Cambo-dia with further opportunities to achieve

economies of scale, become more com-petitive, attract new investment, create new employment, generate additional in-come, and accelerate economic growth.

2. What has inspired the Royal Govern-ment of Cambodia to invest in trade development?

Cambodia’s 1993 Constitution recog-nizes the role of the market economy in the country’s development. Cambodia’s 1998 “Rectangular Strategy” stresses the importance of the free flow of goods and services with its key partners in the region and in the world. Both the 1993 Consti-tution and the 1998 Rectangular Strategy served as the launching pad for Cambo-dia’s efforts to accede to the WTO, a pro-cess completed in 2004. Rapid trade development during the cur-rent decade bears witness to Cambodia’s recognition that integration into the glob-al economy presents it with some of its best opportunities to grow and develop rapidly – as have other Asian economies before it.

3. What innovative mechanism has the RGC introduced to strengthen its trade sector and deepen its integration into the global economy?

In 2007, the government introduced an innovative mechanism called the Trade Sector-Wide Approach (Trade SWAp) to consolidate its ownership of Aid for Trade, strengthen the effectiveness of Develop-ment Partners’ Trade Related Technical Assistance, and move forward the coun-try’s integration in the global economy.

4. What exactly is Trade SWAp and how does it work?

The Trade SWAp provides the framework to implement Cambodia’s Trade Integra-tion Strategy formulated in 2007. To re-spond to the objectives and needs identi-fied in the 2007 Strategy, three “pillars”

have been created. They are: Pillar 1: Reforms and Cross-Cutting Is-sues for Trade DevelopmentPillar 2: Products and Services Export DevelopmentPillar 3: Capacity Building for Trade De-velopment

The Pillars have begun to function already and are creating new forums and new op-portunities for the Government, the Busi-ness Sector and Development Partners to identify and program development assis-tance needs together.

The three pillars report to the Sub-Steer-ing Committee on Trade Development and Trade-Related Investment chaired by the H.E. Senior Minister Cham Prasidh, Minister of Commerce. The Committee is responsible for overall, strategic over-sight of Cambodia’s Trade Integration process.

The newly created Department of Inter-national Cooperation (D/ICO) in the Min-istry of Commerce serves as Secretariat to the Sub-Steering Committee, the three Pillars, and the overall Trade SWAp. D/ICO is responsible for overall, day-to-day coordination of the Trade SWAp.

5. How is Trade SWAp contributing to the development of Cambodia’s trade sector?

Trade SWAp is in line with the prin-ciples of the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. As I have answered in the previous question, the Trade SWAp seeks to change the balance between the Government and Development Partners to arrive at greater ownership of the de-sign, programming, and implementation of Overseas Development Assistance by Cambodia itself. This shift has been and remains a major capacity-building chal-lenge for Cambodia. A successful Trade SWAp means that ca-pacity building resources for trade sector development generated through Aid for Trade will be used more effectively and will have a more rapid and longer lasting positive impact on the development of Cambodia’s trade sector

6. Has Cambodia’s trade been affected by the financial crisis and how is Cambo-dia’s Trade SWAp helping?

Of course, Cambodia is facing great chal-lenges as a result of the global financial crisis. Over the last year or so Cambodia has had to confront a contraction in trade, a slowing down in foreign investment, and job losses in key industries including tourism, garment, and real estate in urban areas.

However, the government has sought to respond to the crisis with macro and mi-cro economic policy measures to increase Overseas Direct Assistance and acceler-ate key industry reforms. Through Trade SWAp, the Government is trying to accel-erate the implementation of legal reforms that are key to improving the business environment for trade as well as acceler-ate the diversification of Cambodia’s ex-port basket – both in term of new exports products and services as well as new des-tination markets.

For instance, our garment manufactur-ers (up to now overly dependent on the US market) are taking steps to expand their exports to the EU market; our rice producers are moving up from export-ing raw paddy mostly to Vietnamese and Thai middlemen to exporting milled rice directly to Western and Eastern Europe, possibly also to Africa; our cassava pro-ducers are investigating markets in China through trade missions. And Trade SWAp is being used to mobilize appropriate Aid

for Trade support to support a number of those initiatives and efforts.

7. Who benefits from Trade SWAp?

Most immediately, the Ministry of Com-merce, Line Ministries engaged in trade, government officials, and Cambodian trade stakeholders – especially producers and exporters – are the most direct benefi-cary of Trade SWAp.

Most importantly, it is the Cambodian people that should benefit ultimately the most from the Trade SWap. Better coor-dination and alignment of Aid for Trade with the country’s trade development ob-jectives should translate in faster job and income growth to benefit the poor in rural areas of Cambodia – especially given the current focus of Cambodia’s Trade Inte-gration Strategy on developing export op-portunities in rural areas where 90 percent of the poor reside. Unfortunately, a third of the population still lives below the pov-erty line.

8. What lessons can be drawn from the initial implementation of Trade SWAp?

Up to now, Trade-Related Technical Assis-tance (TRTA) was mostly donor “driven.” Development Partners had the greatest say over how to program and implement Cambodia’s development assistance.

Trade SWAp is putting the Government in the “driver’s seat.” This is a great op-portunity for us, but also an enormous challenge in term of building our capacity to meet this new role. Our Government machinery is not yet ready to assume fully this new role and there is a steep learn-ing curve for us. However, I feel we have already made great progress in providing leadership, in particular through some of the new responsibilities taken on board by D/ICO.

Also, Trade SWAp requires a much higher level of inter-ministerial coordination and with the business sector and that, too, is a great challenge. I believe the three Pillars have a critical positive role to play in fos-tering greater coordination and will con-

tribute enormously in that regard as their work becomes more established.

9. Where do you think Cambodia has made the greatest progress over the last few years in the area of trade develop-ment?

Progress cannot be measured simply by the success of the government in building up its own capacity and in better coordi-nating – however important that may be.

It must be measured by the effectiveness of Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA) in expanding and diversifying Cambodia’s export base in a manner that supports the pro-poor development objec-tives of the country. But those are devel-opments that may take longer to achieve. Nevertheless, we are beginning to see changes.

Earlier, I gave examples of what is hap-pening in our rice and cassava sectors. But positive developments are happening in other sectors as well like cashew nuts, corn, silk, fish, and others where Cambo-dian exporters and processors are trying to find new ways to get greater value-add-ed from their products, to access market directly, to find new destinations for their products.

10. How has Trade SWAp helped Cambo-dia in trade development?

A trade SWAp is unlike SWAps in most other sectors because it requires mustering the institutional and human resources not only from MoC itself but also from other line Ministries that have a key role to play in trade development (for instance, Min-istry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery (MAFF), Ministry of Industry, Mine and Energy (MIME), Cambodian Develop-ment Council (CDC), Ministry of Finance (MoF) and others.

I believe Trade SWAp has created a new momentum for stronger dialogue and co-ordination among all key stakeholders – Government, Business, and Development Partners – that can only strengthen the re-sponses that are taking shape.

Trade SWAp is helping us deploy Trade-Related Technical Assistance (TRTA) resources more effectively and this is critical for a country such as Cambodia where millions of people, institutions and infrastructures need attention and capac-ity support. |BKL|

H.E. PAN Sorasak, Secretary of State, Ministry of Commerce

Top 10 Facts You Need to KnowAbout Cambodia’s Trade SWAp

An Interview of H.E. PAN Sorasak, Secretary of State, Ministry of Commerce

02 03

D/ICO’s Roleat the Ministry of Commerce

D/ICO 4 Offices:

1) Trade SWAp Secretariat

2) Assistance Management and General Administration

3) Training and Planning

4) Monitoring and Evaluation

“... the Ministry of Com-merce established the Department of Interna-tional Cooperation (D/ICO) to manage the Trade SWAp and coordinate Aid for Trade on behalf of the government.”

By Suon PrasithDeputy DirectorDepartment of InternationalCooperation (D/ICO)

In 2007, the Royal Government of Cambodia undertook to achieve its Cambodian Millennium Development

Goals by adopting a Sector-Wide Ap-proach for the trade sector (Trade SWAp.) The goal was to ensure that trade expan-sion helps improve human development and reduce poverty in Cambodia.

In that same year, following a thorough institutional capacity assessment, the Ministry of Commerce established the Department of International Cooperation (D/ICO) to manage the Trade SWAp and coordinate Aid for Trade on behalf of the government.

The role of D/ICO in addition to its regular ministry department functions is to serve as the Secretariat to the Sub-Steering Committee on Trade Development and Trade-Related Investment (SSC-TDTRI) and the Trade SWAp. The Committee has assisted the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) in organizing Teams for the Trade SWAp’s three Pillars. They are:

• Pillar 1: legal reform and cross-cutting issues, • Pillar 2: product and service export sec-tor development • Pillar 3: capacity development for Trade

The function of the three Pillars is to bring together the Ministry of Commerce, Line Ministries, Development Partners and the Business Sector to help program and im-plement the Trade SWAp.

D/ICO consists of (4) four offices. Each office is managed by a Chief Officer. D/ICO is under the umbrella of the Direc-torate General for International Trade (DGIT) within MoC. MoC’s Secretary of State oversees D/ICO’s work.

D/ICO Director and Deputy Directors re-port to the Secretary of State. Please refer to our organization operational chart.

DICO’s Achievements

Since 2007, D/ICO has been working to put basic capacity in place with support from United Nations Development Pro-gramme (UNDP), the German Agency for Technical Co-operation (GTZ), the Euro-pean Commission (EC) and the World Bank.

In addition to building up staff capacity, these efforts led to the development of the Trade SWAp website, South-South ex-change of experiences on the Cambodian

D/ICO completed and submitted the Mer-it Based Performance Incentive (MBPI) Business case with technical support from the World Bank.

The MBPI business case for D/ICO was adopted by the Council Administrative Reform on 4 August 2009.

A Memorandum of Understanding is expected to be signed soon to implement the MBPI. The MBPI will be co-financed by the MDTF and the Royal Government of Cambodia.

D/ICO held its second annual retreat in Siem Reap in June 2009 to review its prog-ress with the World Bank and UNDP. The outcome of the retreat resulted in the design of a 12-month communication

strategy for the Trade SWAp 2009-2010 communication.In July 2009, D/ICO applied and then in September 2009, the department suc-cessfully obtained $1.5 million funding from the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) Tier 1 with the RGC contributing an additional $200,000.

This was the outcome of intensive pro-gram preparation work over a period of nearly two years with technical support from UNDP.

Current Challenges

Despite these successes, D/ICO faces a number of challenges including capac-ity development for the staff from the four offices. For example, their language, computer and program coordination skills are limited and further training is needed.

More broadly, the Ministry of Commerce must continue to build its own capacity to become a full-fledged partner in the plan-ning, programming and implementation of Trade-Related Technical Assistance, in adherence to the principles of the 2005

Plong Mongkol Phalla (left) and Chhi Kolbotra (right), Planning and Training Office prepare presentation at D/ICO Retreat

Chan Sereiratha from Aid Management and General Administration Officepresents his group’s work

04

Trade SWAp with sponsored delegations from Lao P.D.R and Nepal, development of some initial monitoring capacity within D/ICO, and other capacities.

For over two years now, D/ICO has been working closely with the World Bank on the development and launch of the Trade Development Support Program (TDSP) funded by the Multi-Donor Trust Fund.

Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

Some of these challenges have been met somewhat. Advisors are providing on the-job-training in procurement and financial management that are critical to imple-menting the Trade Development Support Program’s (TDSP) and other skills need-ed for the oversight and implementation of the broader Trade SWAp.

D/ICO plans to assume greater ownership in managing Cambodia’s Trade-Related Technical Assistance in the next three to five years. |SP|

05

LDCs Turn to Cambodia to Help Move Aid for Trade Agenda Forward

By Julian Latimer ClarkeTrade Economist, World Bank

Botumroath Keo LebunCommunications OfficerMoC/UNDP TRADE Project

Being the first non WTO-Member Least Developed Country (LDC) to accede to the WTO following

the conclusion of the Uruguay Round (2003), one of the original three Pilot Countries under the Integrated Frame-work, the first to complete successfully the preparation of its original Diagnostic Trade Integration Study(DTIS) (Novem-ber 2003), possibly the first country to update its original DTIS with a follow-up study (December 2007), and one of the very first countries to submit successfully a Tier 1 proposal under the new Enhanced Integrated Framework (October 2009), Cambodia is a staunch advocate of Aid for Trade (AFT) and has become a leader among LDCs to promote such agenda.

It has done this by organizing a number of key consultations among LDCs to ad-vocate for enhanced Aid for Trade and by sharing the lessons of its experience with other countries. This has included welcoming study tours from other LDCs (Nepal, Lao PDR, Bhutan) and work-shops and presentations at international meetings.

Siem Reap, Cambodia, November 2008: Jointly organized by the Ministry of Commerce, the United Nations Indus-trial Development Organization, and the World Trade Organization-- the meeting echoes a number of critical themes: the importance of aid for trade and the success of Cambodia in this area in particular; the changing nature of competitiveness for LDC exporters and the need to focus on building up supply capacity that can meet the new Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs); and the impact of the unfolding world finan-cial and economic crisis on LDCs.

Attending the conference are Ministers of Trade or Industry from over 40 coun-tries, including a number from countries that have yet to accede to the WTO. This

makes the example of Cambodia espe-cially relevant to some. For example, Lao PDR is edging towards accession by addressing the same regulatory and eco-nomic issues that Cambodia faced five years earlier.

Key representatives at the meeting are coming with the same message: Cambodia is a flagship country that demonstrates the success of combined donor coordination and targeted trade assistance. Director-General of the WTO Pascal Lamy attends the meeting to show his commitment to the Cambodian trade development agenda and to the Mekong region.

Another message highlighted at the meet-ing is that technical assistance cannot disappear once countries accede to the World Trade Organization. Development Partners must remain committed to their development following accession, until those countries graduate from their least developed status.

learn from its experience with its Trade SWAp Program. Meetings include over-views and discussions with Ministry of Commerce senior officials as well as with staff from D/ICO, presentations by Pil-lars 1, 2 and 3, discussions with donors on their experiences, presentation on the Government-Private Sector Forum (G-PSF) and other feedback on the imple-mentation of the Trade SWAp.

Mr. Shiv Raj Bhatt, an official from Ne-pal’s Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, observes during his visit that: “Cambodian coordination between the donors and the government is strong. And based on lessons learned from this tour, Nepal will have to modify its model as we are in the process of updating and improving our Integrated Framework mechanism.”

Mr. Xaysomphet Norasingh, a Lao dele-gate of the Ministry of Industry and Com-merce, explains the study tour has allowed him and his colleagues to understand the importance for the government to work from the bottom up. “We were looking from the top down,” he said. “We’ll need to adjust our way of working.”

Geneva, Switzerland, July 2009: Move to Geneva a few months later when the World Trade Organization holds a global review of Aid for Trade. As usual, the most interesting discussions are taking place outside the giant conference hall where member nations and development partners are listening to carefully crafted speeches.

H.E. Cham Prasidh, Senior Minister, Minister of Commerce, welcomes some 13 LDCs high level officials noting in his opening speech: “WTO members contin-ue to ask newly acceding LDCs to take on more onerous obligations than those applied to original WTO LDC members, contrary to the clear Guidelines lan-guage.” He stresses that bilateral negotia-

tions are burdensome on LDCs that often have limited capacity to negotiate their terms of accession.

“Differences with regard to interpretation still remain and some Members feel there is scope to improve the implementation of the Guidelines,” said H.E. Cham Prasidh.

At the conference Cambodian Minister of Economy and Finance, H.E. Keat Chhon, assures the guests that: “In the next three days we can further focus on the discus-sions initiated at the May 2009 Dialogue to better appreciate the priorities, concerns and challenges faced by LDCs in their ac-cession process and to explore, shape and crystallize possible options within the framework of the 2002 Decision on Ac-cession of LDCs.”

LDCs countries that participate in the Round Table discussions include Tanza-nia, Sudan, Vanuatu, Samoa, Afghanistan, Sao Tome Principe, Bhutan and Lao PDR and Nepal.

The Aid for Trade agenda remains a pri-ority for Cambodia. The Cambodian ex-perience of accession to the WTO and its success in bringing about coordinated Development Partner support to focus on its further integration into the world economy are important beacons to LDCs facing the uphill struggle of entering the organization and reaping the benefits of their accession.

The Royal Government of Cambodia has demonstrated clearly its desire to be one of the leaders of the Aid for Trade agenda and its willingness to assist others and share the lessons of its experience to LDCs accession to WTO. |JLC| & |BKL|

“WTO members continue to ask newly acceding LDCs to take on more oner-ous obligations than those applied to original WTO LDC members, contrary to the clear Guidelines lan-guage,” said H.E. Cham Prasidh, Senior Minister, Minister of Commerce.

The nascent Trade SWAp in Cambodia is a signal of recognition by development partners that trade issues may become even more complex once a country enters the World Trade Organization - reforms can easily taper off if those countries are abandoned by development partners after the crucial milestone of WTO accession has been obtained, for example, and the challenges of building up a competitive supply capacity cannot be met overnight.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia, November/December 2008: Senior Minister Cham Prasidh, Minister of Commerce, wel-comes over 12 delegates from Nepal and Lao PDR that have come to Cambodia to

This time the geographic reach of the con-ference is worldwide and the issues dis-cussed include the relevance of the needs of development within the Doha Round negotiations.

Developing countries, especially least-de-veloped countries like Cambodia, feel that their interests are being short-changed in the current negotiations and that trade-re-lated technical assistance should be more of a priority for wealthy nations.

A number of countries perceive the ‘de-velopment’ focus of the Doha Round negotiations to be a hollow promise that has failed to be backed up by real com-mitments from development partners and large trading nations.

Phnom Penh, September 2009: Again, Cambodia takes the lead in the Aid for Trade agenda by organizing an “LDC Round Table on WTO Accession.” The objectives of the meeting are to share the lessons of Cambodia’s and Nepal’s suc-cessful accession to the WTO with oth-ers seeking accession and to hammer out negotiating positions in advance of the WTO Ministerial to be held in Geneva in November.

Director-General of the WTO Pascal Lamy (center) and H.E. Senior Minister Cham Prasidh (right) attend the LDCs Ministrial Conference on Aid-for-Trade. Siem Reap, Cambodia, November 2008

06 07

By Thierry NoyelleSenior Trade Policy AdvisorMoC/UNDP TRADE Project

Launched in 2005, the MoC/UNDP Trade Related Assistance for De-velopment and Equity Project, also

known as TRADE Project, was one of the very first technical assistances aimed at supporting the Royal Government of Cambodia’s effort to develop a SWAp ap-proach for the country’s trade sector.

TRADE focuses on improving and de-veloping the capacity of the Ministry of Commerce and the Cambodian Private Sector to manage a vigorous trade devel-opment agenda that is pro-poor, beneficial to human development, and Government-led.

TRADE is in line with needs identified by the Ministry of Commerce and United Na-tions Development Programme (UNDP) and consistent with UNDP’s comparative advantage in the area of capacity build-ing.

TRADE’s Inception

TRADE was formulated in 2004-2005 even before the Cambodian Govern-ment and its Development Partners had a chance to take stock of the implications of the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Ef-fectiveness.

Still, by then, UNDP and MoC had al-ready shifted to a “program approach” in their management of assistance that would make it easier to align this new project with changing circumstances.

Under the initial push from the European Community and in line with the new para-digm of Aid Effectiveness, in early 2006 Cambodia and its Development Partners agreed that they should aim for a Sector-Wide Approach – SWAp – for the coun-try’s trade sector.

MoC and UNDP then agreed to use TRADE to organize the updating of Cam-bodia’s 2001 Diagnostic Trade Integra-tion Study (DTIS) in a manner that would bring together not only the six core Inte-grated Framework Agencies but other De-velopment Partners as well.

The updated DTIS 2007 would then serve as the strategy to guide Cambodia’s Trade SWAp.

Cambodia’s Trade Integration Strat-egy (DTIS 2007)

Together, a team of some 24 govern-ment officials, local consultants, interna-tional experts and Development Partners worked over a period of several months under MoC’s leadership to produce Cam-bodia’s 2007 Trade Integration Strategy.

The new strategy was endorsed by the Government’s Sub-Steering Committee on Trade Development and Trade Related Investment in March 2007 and formally launched in December of the same year at an event opened by H.E. Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen.

Following the launch of strategy, the Sub-Steering Committee on Trade De-velopment and Trade Related Investment created three Pillars – essentially mixed teams of Government officials and De-velopment Partners – to assist with the programming and implementation of the three main themes identified in the strat-egy – namely, (1) cross-cutting reforms; (2) diversification of the export base; and, (3) capacity development for Trade SWAp management.

Aligning TRADE with Pillars 2 and 3

Upon the creation of the pillars, UNDP agreed to serve as “shepherd” for Pillar 2 (Diversification of Exports) and later on, for Pillar 3 (Capacity Development for

TRADE Achievements 2008-2009

In line with Pillar 2, TRADE performed the following activities:

Organizing the work program of Pil-lar 2 through the creation of a number of Task Teams dealing initially with eight of the 19 priority export sectors identified in the Cambodia’s 2007 Trade Integration Strategy and with two areas of cross-cutting support to exporters; Launching some pilot activities sup-porting producer associations in rice, cassava, cashew nuts, and prahoc in the Kampong Cham and Siem Reap prov-inces and the North-West areas of Bat-tambang and Bantey Meanchey. These included support to the creation of several producer associations, a study tour of rice millers to Senegal (October 2008) followed by their participation to a buyer-seller meeting in HCMC (No-vember 2008), a study tour of cassava producers to China (June 2009), and other activities; Launching preliminary activities to address trade finance bottlenecks in Cambodia and raise awareness to this critical issue among senior policy mak-ers (July 2009).

TRADE’s support to Pillar 3 included:

Developing the capacity of the newly created DICO, including building up staff resources, supporting the creation of the original Trade SWAp website (together with GTZ), and formulating a Tier 1 proposal to be submitted to the Enhanced Integrated Framework. The Tier 1 proposal was approved in October 2009 by the EIF Board. The Tier 1 project will provide longer term resources to further strengthen DICO and complementary implementation ar-rangements of the Trade SWAp; Supporting DICO in showcasing Cambodia’s early experience with Trade SWAp at international meetings as well as through study visits by delegations from Nepal and Lao PDR; Preparing Institutional Capacity As-sessments in six ministerial departments likely to play a key role in the imple-mentation of the trade SWAp (four in MoC including DICO, one in MAFF and one in CDC) and providing some initial capacity development supports to those six departments; Developing an initial capacity needs assessment in the Provincial Depart-ments of Commerce and providing some initial training support to those.

TRADE 2010

In 2010, TRADE will continue to sup-port Trade SWAp, primarily through Pillars 2 and 3 including:

Developing a Cambodian research capacity on trade and human develop-ment linking MoC and other govern-ment bodies through a “knowledge network” approach, including national institutions such as Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE) and Royal School of Administration (RSA) as well as regional partners such as ARTNeT; Deepening capacity development support at the provincial level by focus-ing on provincial departments of com-merce and provincial producer associa-tions and working jointly with national partners such as RSA; Supporting the formulation and implementation of a Communications strategy in DICO to focus on dissemi-nating the activities and results of Trade SWAp; Supporting the establishment of Trade SWAp liaison offices in other line ministries; Supporting the implementation of the Tier 1 project as MoC sees fit; Providing assistance to other UNDP Country Offices and Governments through the development of a “knowl-edge product” on DTIS update, EIF proposal development, organization of national implementation arrangements, etc. Developing focused capacity in MoC’s Trade Promotion Department (TPD), including the creation of a Value Chain and Trade Information Unit as well as the possible launch of a Cambodian Trade Support Network that would be managed by TPD and would network government and business trade support institutions to deliver stronger services to exporters; Continuing to “shepherd” Pillars 2 and 3, including strengthened work on capacity building of producer associa-tions and government trade support institutions through expanded collabo-rations with Pillar 2 partners (govern-ment, associations, and development partners); Remaining supportive of the overall trade SWAp, including possibly work-ing with MoC to develop an overall system to assess the impact and con-tribution of the many different Trade Related Technical Assistances from the many development partners supporting Cambodia’s Trade SWAp.

MoC/UNDP TRADE Project’sContribution to Trade SWAp

Trade SWAp) following UNCTAD ini-tial coordination. MoC and UNDP then agreed to align TRADE with the objec-tives of Pillars 2 and 3 as effectively as possible.

From 2008 on, activities implemented under TRADE were carefully designed to support the objectives of the Pillars 2 and 3 and coordinate with those of other De-

velopment Partners engaged in the Trade SWAp.

2010 will be a year of transition for TRADE MoC and UNDP. The project team will seek to analyze the findings of an external mid-term review and identify possible new directions for the year 2011 and beyond.

In addition, as in the past, TRADE will continue to contribute to the Trade SWAp and to make use of its nimbleness to re-spond to changes as circumstances re-quire. |TN|

Pillar 3. TRADE Project supports capacity building for line ministries. Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry (MAFF) officials attend a training to develop their management skills. October 2008.

Pillar 2. TRADE Project Supports Producer Association in Cassava, North-West Area of Battambang and Bantey Meanchey. September 2008.

“2010 will be a year of transition for TRADE MoC and UNDP. The project team will seek to analyze the findings of an external mid-term review and iden-tify possible new direc-tions for the year 2011 and beyond.”

Nepal and Lao PDR Delegations Study Tour on Cambodia’s Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) and Trade SWAp. November 2008.

0908

German Development Agency Finances Website to Exchange Information

On-line communication will help harmonize the Royal Government of Cambodia and donorsdevelopment practices

By Peter Bolster Chief Technical Advisor, GTZ

Through the one-stop website www.moc.gov.kh/tradeswap Cambodian trade stakeholders and develop-

ment partners will have access to shared information on Cambodia’s aid develop-ment.

The website will help the Royal Govern-ment and developing partners to improve communications on development impact and cost-effectiveness by avoiding dupli-cation and helping build synergies. It will also provide information on development challenges in other line ministries that are implementing related trade activities and programs. The German Technical Cooperation’s Program for “Private Sector Promotion in Rural Areas” (GTZ-PSP) supports strongly the active role taken by the Min-istry of Commerce (MoC) to harmonize all donor-supported initiatives in the area

of trade, export promotion and private sector development as well as its efforts to deepen effective communication and adequate information sharing among a variety of partners.

To help MoC communicate Trade SWAp activities, GTZ-PSP has supported the creation of an interactive website for the Trade SWAp. The site enables all partners to take part actively in the discussions surrounding the implementation of Cam-bodia’s Trade SWAp and get the latest in-formation on current development in the Cambodian trade and export sectors.

The Ministry of Commerce is regularly updating the website – but of course all users, be it donors or other public entities, are invited to contribute.

Besides this and other direct assistance to MoC, the German Technical Coopera-tion’s Program for “Private Sector Promo-tion in Rural Areas” (GTZ-PSP) seeks to improve living conditions in Cambodia’s provinces by creating and fostering new opportunities for economic activities.

For example, GTZ-PSP provides assis-tance to handicraft producers so that they improve their organizational and market-ing skills and upgrade product quality. This leads to increased income and new jobs mainly for women in the respective provinces.

Other PSP-supported initiatives deal with using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to improve access to business related information for local small and medium enterprises throughout the country – the so called “I-booth.”

This new mobile phone based info-ser-vice point can now be seen in many prov-inces.

The website will collect and provide the following information:

Lists of recently completed, ongoing, • and planned project; Information on programming, imple-• mentation, and quality assurance pro-cedures Names and e-mail addresses of con-• tact points and staff in charge of sec-tor-specific program; Disclosure policies and appropriate • contacts to access confidential docu-ments. |PB|

Head OfficeMinistry of CommerceDepartment of International Cooperation (D/ICO)#65, St. 136Sangkat Psar Kandal IIKhan Daun PenhPhnom Penh,CambodiaTel: 023-213-067

EditorBotumroath Keo Lebunbotumroath.lebun@undp.org

Chief of StaffSuon Prasithsuon.prasith@moc.gov.kh

Development PartnersLiaison OfficerSoeng Sopharysoeng.sophary@moc.gov.kh

PhotographerBotumroath Keo Lebunbotumroath.lebun@undp.org

Production & PrintingLong Kemvichetlong.kemvichet@moc.gov.kh

Top 10 Facts You Need to Know about Cambodia’s Trade SWAp

Ms. Botumroath Keo LebunCommunications OfficerMoC/UNDP TRADE Projectbotumroath.lebun@undp.org

LDCs Turn to Cambodia to Help MoveAid for Trade Agenda Forward

Mr. Julian ClarkeTrade EconomistWorld Bankjclarke1@worldbank.org

MoC/UNDP TRADE Project’s Contribution to Trade SWAp

Mr. Thierry NoyelleSenior Trade Policy Advisor

MoC/UNDP TRADE Projectthierrynoyelle@msn.com

German Development Agency Finances Website to Exchange InformationOnline Communications will Help Harmonize the Royal Government of Cambodia and Donors Development Practices

Mr. Peter BolsterChief Technical AdvisorGerman Technical Cooperation (GTZ)peter.bolster@gtz.de

Trade SWAp Newsletter Editorial Board

H.E. Pan SorasakChairman

Gonzalo GarciaTrade AnalystUNDP Cambodia

Julian ClarkeTrade EconomistWorld Bank

Peter BolsterChief Technical AdvisorGerman Technical Cooperation (GTZ)

D/ICO’s Role at theMinistry of Commerce

Mr. Suon PrasithDeputy Director

Dept. of International Cooperationsuon.prasith@moc.gov.kh

“The website will help the Royal Government and developing partners to improve communications on development impact and cost-effectiveness by avoiding duplication and helping build synergies.”

10 11

Ministry of CommercceDepartment of International Cooperation (D/ICO)

#65, St. 136Sangkat Psar Kandal II

Khan Daun PenhPhnom Penh,Cambodia

Tel: 023-213-067

Copyright © 2009