As the world is still facing other complex issues, Prime Minister Hun Sen highlighted five important points so as to restore socio-economic development in the post-COVID-19 era.
In his opening speech to the 1st Asia-Europe Economic and Business Forum under the theme “Transitioning to a New Normal:
Leveraging Global Value Chains, Multilateralism and the 4th Industrial Revolution” organised virtually, Hun Sen said the world is challenging with the decline of global value chains and global production chains, the emergence of a multipolar system and geopolitical tensions, the decline of global productivity, the increase of social inequality and poverty, the stronger and faster momentum of factory relocation caused by the effects of trade war and tech war, and the greater impact of climate change, etc.
In this context, the Premier took this opportunity to share his views on issues that Asia-Europe need to pay attention to.
“Under the multilateral framework, we have observed that some countries are differed on their views in promoting trade cooperation as well as regional and global socio-economic development. In this sense, we need to strengthen the unity and place utmost important to the benefits of the people, by adhering to multilateral mechanism to address issues in all areas and accelerate socio-economic connectivity in order to advance our agenda for sustainable and inclusive development,” he said.
At the same time, he added, international trade is a key locomotive for promoting economic growth and job creation.
“With the new trend of changes in trade and global supply chains, I am of the view that both regions need to pay more attention to supporting multilateral trading system, especially further enhancing the liberalisation and trade facilitation through the removal of trade and investment barriers so as to capture the potentials of Asia-Europe trade cooperation,” he underlined.
In the context of 4th Industrial Revolution, he said the adaptation to the new normal will further advance the adoption of digital technologies for living, industrial development, and economic industrialisation.
“Therefore, we must work together to leverage the 4th Industrial Revolution to the maximum, especially for countries with limited level of economic development, by attaching priority to the development of digital government and digital economy so as to create a new growth pillar with resiliency,” he said.
Furthermore, Hun Sen said promoting the development of SMEs is also another important priority. For that it requires enhancing collaboration between the public and private sectors, under both bilateral and multilateral cooperation with the aim to attract investment, develop human resources, and promote the transfer of knowledge and technology in line with the new normal, by focusing on the capturing of the potentials of the 4th Industrial Revolution as well as advancing digital transformation and e-commerce development through providing support in terms of both policy and financing.
Besides, promoting green development is also a foundation to support the long-term socio-economic development, which will enhance economic efficiency and strengthen climate resiliency, he added.
“In this regard, we must strengthen and expand regional and global cooperation to promote green development, in particular encouraging the private sector to increase green investments, improving investment efficiency in all relevant sectors and promoting green industry development and green technology adoption,” he stressed.
The Prime Minister also highlighted the Royal Government’s action in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Heng Panha – AKP
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
