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H. Samrin: Address to Rally of Hope II
Written by Heng Samrin, President, National Assembly, Cambodia
Sunday, September 27, 2020
Address to Rally of Hope II
September 27, 2020
Today, it is my great pleasure and privilege to address you all at this Rally of Hope of the Universal Peace Foundation under the important theme reflecting the common concerns and challenges which we need to resolve for our common interest.
I would like to commend Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon for making this forum increasingly important in providing opportunities to all leaders from around the world—including politicians, religious leaders, economists, journalists and scholars—to express and share their views and experience in working together to address the challenges faced by their countries and global citizens to achieve peace, harmony and prosperity.
As the world suffers from the Covid-19 crisis, working together, enhancing international cooperation and universal solidarity are essential and indispensable for our common interest.
The pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges and devastating effects on society and the global economy. For Cambodia, the Royal Government has promptly and effectively responded to control and prevent the spread of this disease, without a single death. One aspect that Cambodia can share in the fight against Covid-19 is our culture of sharing, solidarity, non-discrimination, and national unity. The fight against the spread of this disease requires a lot of financial resources, supplies and human resources. Our Cambodian people have donated and shared their limited resources through contributions from the public and private sectors, development partners and civil society to people in need—and through sharing among local people.
In addition, the Royal Government has set out development strategies focusing on agriculture, agroindustry, digital transformation, and domestic tourism as priorities. In times of crisis, parliaments have an increasingly important role to play in resolving and preventing such problems by coordinating, overseeing, and adopting relevant laws—including states of emergency—and adopting fiscal stimuli in response to people’s needs. To restore and rebuild our societies from this crisis, we need to, first, develop concrete recovery plans, setting out a number of clear scenarios for the gradual relaunch of cross-border travel and trade between countries and regions, and rebuilding areas seriously affected by the crisis; and second, maintain regional and global peace, a key factor for national development.
Peace must go hand in hand with development. Peaceful areas are places for development—and peace without development is unsustainable. In this sense, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals play a vital role in guiding our paths to national prosperity: first, respond immediately to inequalities caused by this pandemic, with measures such as better social protection by focusing on local resources, establishing effective health systems, and supporting small and medium-sized institutions; and second, accelerate the transformation of digital technology into more effective applications.
Parliaments must pay attention to the adoption of laws and policies related to such technologies to ensure benefits to all countries, regions, and the world—especially developing countries—in developing capacity and infrastructure. Finally, I would like to wish all distinguished delegates the blessings of Longevity, Prosperity, Health and Strength. May the world live in peace and prosperity forever.
Thank you.
Hon. Heng Samrin is the current President of the National Assembly of Cambodia since 2006.
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