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N. Sowath: Address to World Summit
Written by Gen. Dr. Nem Sowath, Special Adviser to Samdech Pichey Sena Tea Banh, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense, Cambodia
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Address to World Summit 2019, Seoul, Korea, February 7–11, 2019
Chairman of the Universal Peace Federation Dr. Thomas Walsh, Distinguished Participants, Ladies, and Gentlemen,
First of all, on behalf of Samdech Pichey Sena Tea Banh, deputy prime minister and minister of national defense, I would like to convey our warm wishes and deep appreciation for your invitation to participate in the World Peace Summit, a deeply meaningful event for the foundation of maintaining and sustaining global peace.
The peaceful heart of the Cambodian people and leaders would like to extend its blessing and sincerity to all participants and members of the Universal Peace Federation.
On this occasion, as a representative and special advisor of Samdech Pichey Sena Tea Banh, I would like to express his vision as follows:
Peace is a precious public property and needs to be protected at all cost, regardless of races, beliefs, or ages. Harmonic development will not be possible without peace. We aim to acquire peace in every corner of the world. Although different situations and circumstances create good and bad impacts upon stability and peace, we still need to work together in collaboration and cooperation to solve the problems in the world as well as in our region.
Present-day Cambodia has thriving economic growth and stable development; it is filled with blossoming young people. Cambodia has finally emerged from 500 years of bitter history. The people of Cambodia have seen many things from internal instabilities to the atrocity of genocide—most recently during the 1980s and 1990s. It has been just over 20 years that Cambodia has had total and complete peace. Allow me to take this opportunity to thank the members of the international community who participated in the UN mission in Cambodia from 1991 to 1993.
On the other hand, although the intervention put Cambodia one step close to achieving peace, Cambodia did not fully attain complete total peace and stability at the time. To achieve a state of total peace and stability, Cambodia needed a solution that focused more internally. This had been seen through the successful implementation of our Win–Win Policy, which provides three basic fundamental guarantees, namely (a) guarantee of life such that there would be no execution for fighters; (b) guarantee of jobs and positions; and (c) guarantee of properties and belongings. These offers of guarantees were provided for all factions to disarm and integrate within one government that honors one rule of law and constitution. The three basic guarantees can be viewed as similar to the mottos of the Universal Peace Federation, and these three basic fundamental guarantees held the key to finding ways for peace in Cambodia,
The proof of the 20-year road to accomplishing full peace is shown in the construction of our Win-Win Memorial for continuing to protect this peace and stability in our nation. The Win-Win Memorial was built based on three mottos: gratitude, harmony, and participation. Gratitude refers to giving back to those who sacrificed for our full peace. Harmony refers to the society that lives together with comfort, forgiveness, and love for everyone. Participation means to contribute to the needy for harmony as well as to show gratitude. This is the summary of the mottos of the Win-Win Memorial.
I would like to point out that the Win-Win Memorial welcomes the public. It is true that the Win-Win Memorial is not as big as other memorials or museums around the world, but it is a part of our memory: a memory that illustrates what Cambodia went through to emerge from wars and dark ages, and the importance of continuing to maintain stability and peace within our nation. Recently, Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen has reaffirmed Cambodia’s stance in supporting peace and the fact that our peaceful heart will stay connected to the people, regardless of religion, race, or region
On this occasion, I would like to clarify that we are open for partnerships and contributions in expanding the memorial, with the vision to build a hub for history with a modern research library and museum, and expand it to other provinces in Cambodia. It is a symbol of peace.
Once again, I would like to thank UPF for this opportunity. Our younger generations will be able to enjoy peace and harmony endlessly.
Thank you.
To go to the 2019 World Summit Schedule page, click here.