Kep Province, 07 December 2013
- Excellency Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism and Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Organizing Committee for Sea Festival;
- Excellency Galip Gur, President of The World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club;
- Excellencies Head of Delegations of Ministries of Tourism from the CLMV and GMS Countries;
- Excellency Ken Satha, Governor of Kep Province;
- Excellencies Ambassadors and representatives of diplomatic missions in Cambodia
- Distinguished National and International Guests;
- Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
My wife and I have the great honor and pleasure to be here tonight with Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, on this wonderful opening occasion of the Sea Festival 2013.
I wish to express my warmest welcome and deep appreciation to the delegates of “The World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club” and delegates of the Ministries of Tourism from the CLMV and GMS countries, despite your busy schedules, for taking part in the 9th Congress of “The World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club”, CLMV’s Tourism Ministers Meeting and GMS’s Tourism Working Group Meeting, particularly in the International Conference on “Blue Sea, Green City”, which were held yesterday and this morning in Thansur Bokor Highland Resort. As the host country, we are very honored and encouraged for being given opportunity to host these important events, making our festival even more significant and enthusiastic.
Taking this opportunity, I would also like to mention that, this week, Cambodia successfully organized the “3rd Intergovernmental Conference on Angkor” in Siem Reap province. The First Conference was held in Tokyo in October 1993, initiated by Japan, in a thoughtful response to the requests highly expressed by the Late His Majesty the King Father, who was at that time President of the Supreme National Council of Cambodia, while the Second Conference took place in Paris in November 2003 on the initiative of France.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
The Royal Government of Cambodia, under the wise leadership of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN SEN, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, has made significant major achievements through policies and strategies for socio-economic development, aimed at raising living standards and reducing poverty of Cambodian people. As a result, poverty rate has significantly dropped from 100 percent in 1979 to 19 percent in recent years -- a drop of at least 1 percentage point per annum.
Thanks to these policies and strategies, Cambodia has enjoyed high economic growth rate over many years, driven largely by few major sectors, such as garments, construction, tourism and agriculture, of which tourism sector has been viewed as one of the priority sectors by the Royal Government in promoting economic growth, and it is thus regarded as “Green Gold.”
With tourism development and unique cultural and natural attractions, Cambodia has received remarkable high growth of tourist arrivals, from around 118,000 in 1993 to 3.58 million in 2012. Over the first ten months of 2013, the arrival figure was more than 3.3 million—an increase of 18.2% compared to the same period last year. We expect to receive 4.5 million international tourists by 2015 and 7 million by 2020.
On behalf of the Royal Government and Samdech Techo Prime Minister, I would like to express my appreciation to the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, Kep Provincial Authorities, and Inter-ministerial organizing Committee for their close cooperation in excellent organization and arrangement of the Sea Festival 2013. I also appreciate the Ministry of Tourism for responsibly fulfilling its tasks and duties in formulating the tourism development strategies and policies, in particular diversification of tourism products and connectivity of the main tourist hubs nationwide. Obviously, Siem Reap Angkor tourist destination connecting to the coastal areas in the Southwest is a new step of developments. The flights connecting Angkor to the coastal areas, which was launched in 2011 with Cambodia Angkor Air (the National Flag Carrier) being an operator, have provided choices and convenience for tourists to both cultural and coastal areas. The links also make it easy for tourists arriving in Cambodia by sea to visit other parts of the Kingdom.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
The approval by the Royal Government of Cambodia to celebrate the annual Sea Festival in one of the four provinces along the coastal line, namely Sihanouk, Kep, Koh Kong, and Kompot Province in a rotating manner, confirms the Government’s support in promoting the development of Cambodian coastal areas, both in the city and in the sea, as these areas have been playing an important role as an economic pole in attracting investment for enhancing economic growth. Cambodian coastal areas are considered as attractive and evolving tourist destinations, which deserve a title of “Rising Star in the Southwest” and a membership of the World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club.
I am optimistic that the celebration of the second Sea Festival truly contributes to tourism development in Cambodian coastal areas, and is beneficial for the promotion of tourism potential in the coastal areas. This event will encourage the development of infrastructure and attract the attention from all stakeholders in the conservation and protection of natural and cultural resources along our stunning coastal areas, as well as promote the capacity and quality of tourism service, and raise public awareness aiming at further encouraging the protection of our coastal areas.
I would like to take this opportunity to highly commend our youths from the Union of Youth Federation of Cambodia who have helped raise further awareness on bays cleaning and hygiene in Kep and Kompot Provinces, both before and during the Sea Festival.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
Once again, I highly appreciate the Ministry of Tourism and concerned ministries and institutions, as well as private sector for actively promoting and creating various events to attract more tourists and investors, especially in the promotional tourism campaigns of “Cambodia: Kingdom of Wonders” and “Cambodian Bay: Rising Star in the Southwest” and the competition movement of “Clean City; Clean Resort; and Good Service.” In this regard, I wish to call on the concerned ministries and institutions, local authorities, business communities, as well as our local population to adhere, with the high sense of responsibility, to the conduct of their own works and duties in contributing to the development and preservation of our coastal areas, in order to ensure sustainable green development in the areas and participate in the Clean Beach Contest.
Before concluding my remarks, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to the World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club for instilling confidence in Cambodia’s Bays and having admitted the entire Cambodian coast line to the Club’s full membership in 2011.
May I wish the Sea Festival 2013 to inspire further encouragement for the sake of the spirits of friendship, solidarity and cooperation in all fields to fulfill our common goal of prosperity, peace, stability and sustainable development in Cambodia, particularly its coastal areas in 2013 and years to come.
Finally, I wish Excellencies, Ladies, Gentlemen, distinguished national and international guests good health, great success, and happiness.
I now declare the Opening of the Second Sea Festival 2013.
Thank you!
