Sept 8: A Ministerial Delegation, led by H.E. Ung Huot, Minister of

Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, left for Vietnam to attend the

first meeting of the Joint Commission for bilateral cooperation between Cambodia

and Vietnam. The delegation, including the Ministers of Commerce and

Agriculture, the Secretary of State of Interior, and the Under Secretary of

State of Education, held meetings in Hanoi from Sept 8-10.

Sept 8: Certificates were awarded to First Deputy Governors and

officials of the Ministry of Interior who completed a CDRI workshop on

"comprehensive management and planning". The training was part of the RGC's

administrative reform program to give leaders up-to-date management and planning

techniques so that they could implement these practices in the internal reform

program with minimal assistance from outside.

Sept 8: The Human Rights Action Committee issued a public statement

saying that they "are deeply concerned by legal actions brought by the Royal

Government against newspapers critical of the government."

Sept 10: The Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank arrive

in Phnom Penh for a six day visit.

Sept 12: Reuters reported: "Cambodia will almost double its spending

on education over the next five years to try to improve standards battered by

decades of war and poverty, Education Minister Tol Lah said. The minister said

spending on education would be raised from the current eight percent of the

national budget to 15 percent by the turn of the century.

Sept 12: A donation ceremony, attended by U.S. Ambassador Charles

Twining and Co-Minister of Defense Tea Chamrath, was held in Kompong Cham to

mark the gift of 242.5 tons of humanitarian assistance equipment and materiel

valued at $2.6 million to several ministries of the RGC. Donated equipment

included a $600,000 field hospital to the RCAF, assorted heavy equipment to the

Ministry of Public Works, large quantities of insect nets, sleeping pads and

excess parachutes to be used as shelters to the Cambodian Red Cross and books to

the Ministry of Education.

Sept 13: Reuters reported: "The World health Orgnization (WHO) said

AIDS was spreading faster in Cambodia than anywhere in the region, with an

estimated 30,000 people now infected with HIV which causes the deadly disease.

Last year WHO estimated 5,000 to 6,000 Cambodians were carrying the human

immunodeficiency virus (HIV). 'What we are seing with the statistics in Cambodia

now is worse than any other country in the region,' Richard Renas, technical

officer for WHO's Global AIDS programme in Phnom Penh, told Reuters."

Sept 14: USAID Deputy Administrator Carol Lancaster arrived in

Cambodia for a four-day visit. During her stay she signed agreements for $6

million in democracy programs and visited 50 or more projects supported by the

$41 million that USAID is providing to Cambodia in 1995.

Sept 15: Reuters reported from Neak Luong: "A Danish-backed scheme to

renovate three key ferry crossings was launched... in a ceremony presided over

by First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh. The three-year US$18.6 million

project is expected to boost commercial ties with neighboring Vietnam and open

up eastern and isolated northeast Cambodia to increased economic

activity..."

Sept 15: Reuters reported: "Exports from Phnom Penh port rose

substantially in the first eight months of this year over the same 1994 period,

but a row with Vietnam caused imports to plummet, a port official said. A total

of 43,759 tonnes of dry cargo, mainly rubber and logs, were exported from the

Cambodian Capital's river port between January and August, against 29,329 tonnes

in the corresponding 1994 period, port statistics show."

Sept 16: His Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk left Phnom Penh for Beijing

to undergo an eye operation to help improve his vision.

Sept 16: British American Tobacco held a launch for its Player's Gold

Leaf brand cigarette in Cambodia at the Naga Resorts gaming ship. According to a

press statement, BAT's marketing manager Jean Chin said "...market research

shows that consumers in Cambodia prefer the 'British blend'.

Sept 17: The International Committee of the Red Cross issued a press

statement calling for a total ban on land mines to end human tragedy. The

statement said "A total ban on the production, stockpiling, transfer and use of

all mines targeted at persons is the most effective solution to put a stop to

this senseless waste of human resources. The ICRC is committed to this total

ban. In the prevailing mood, governments lack a political will to effect their

total ban."

Sept 18: Reuters reported that Cambodian troops had surrounded a Khmer

Rouge rebel base at Koh Slar, about 100 kms south of Phnom Penh and may have

trapped Khmer Rouge general Nuon Paet who is blamed for killing three western

hostages last year.

Sept 19: The Cambodian Communication Institute held a morning seminar

on the "United Nations and Peacekeeping" to mark the United Nations

International Day for Peace.

Sept 21: The Preah Sihanouk Raj Academy opened a two day workshop

entitled "The Institutional Role of Business in Economic Development and the

Political Process" with sponsorship by The Center for International Private

Enterprise. First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh delivered the opening

address and Second Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen gave the closing address on

Sept 22. Workshop panelists included Chai-Anan Samudavanija of the Institute for

Public Policy Studies in Bangkok, Richard Loomis of the U.S. chamber of

Commerce, Mark Pilgrim of the Sequa Foundation, Edilberto de Jesus of the Asian

Institute of Management and Jose Antonio Guzman from the Chilean Confederation

of Manufacturing and Commerce.