Kuwait loans Cambodia $546 mln, plans embassy

PHNOM PENH, Aug 22 (Reuters) – Kuwait has agreed to give Cambodia loans totalling $546 million to develop agriculture, build hydro-power facilities and construct roads, a Cambodian foreign ministry official said on Friday.

This is the second-biggest aid pledge ever received by Cambodia, after aid and loans totalling $601 million offered by China last year.

“ This is showing a stronger relationship between Kuwait and Cambodia, both political and economic,” Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman Sin Bunthoeurn told Reuters late on Thursday after the ministry hosted bilateral ministerial talks.

He said they planned to open embassies early next year. The two countries have had diplomatic ties since 1997.

A Kuwaiti newspaper reported that Kuwait had leased rice fields in Cambodia to secure food supplies after Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah met Cambodian leaders earlier this month.

Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, paid his first official visit to Cambodia in April 2008 and Qatar plans to invest $200 million in Cambodian farmland.

Some $486 million from the Kuwaiti loan will be invested in irrigation systems and hydro-power on the Stueng Sen river in the northeastern province of Kampong Thom.

The remaining $60 million will be used for building roads in the northwestern province of Battambang, a rice-growing area, Sin Bunthoeurn said.

Kuwait has signed more than $27 billion of investment agreements with nine Asian countries during an Asian tour this month, its finance minister was reported as saying on Aug. 17.

(Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Alan Raybould)

Kuwait signed $27 bln of deals in Asian tour-paper

KUWAIT, Aug 17 (Reuters) – Kuwait signed more than $27 billion of investment agreements with nine Asian countries, including Brunei and the Philippines, during an Asian tour this month, its finance minister said in remarks published on Sunday.

The agreements were in the economic, oil, health and foreign affairs sectors, daily Awan cited Mustapha al-Shamali as saying.

“ The value of the accords and economic and commercial protocols are more than $27 billion, with $3 billion to $4 billion of investments and possible commercial partnerships with each country,” Shamali said.

Shamali and Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah went on a tour of eight Asian countries this month to boost trade ties.

Kuwait would also “ cooperate with South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines, in the health sector” , Shamali said, without giving details.

Kuwait is talking with Asian countries, including Cambodia, about securing food supplies and investing in agriculture as the Gulf state looks to diversify its sources of food, the state news agency KUNA reported on Saturday. [ID:nLG655656]

A delegation including the Kuwait Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund, will visit Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar this month to look at investments in agriculture and industry, KUNA cited Shamali as saying on Saturday.

Kuwait wants to boost investments across asset classes in Asia with a focus on Japan, China and India, Shamali said last month.

Cambodia: Kuwait Pledges US$5 Million For Cambodian Muslims

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: Kuwait has pledged US$5 million to help support religious activity and education for Cambodia’s Muslims, a government official said Friday (8 Aug).

Prime Minister Sheik Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah made the pledge during his visit here earlier this week, said Ahmad Yahya, a government adviser who heads the Cambodian Muslim Community Development.

He said the fund was in response to a request Cambodian Muslim leaders brought to Kuwaiti officials during the visit.

The money will be used for renovating a mosque in the capital Phnom Penh and building a 2-hectare (5-acre) Islamic center near the mosque, in addition to several schools and mosques in a northeastern Cambodian province, Ahmad Yahya said.

Kuwait and other Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia, have long funded schools and mosques in Cambodia and neighboring Thailand, both of which have small and generally poor Muslim populations.

Ahmad Yahya said the Kuwaiti prime minister announced the new pledge to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen during their dinner meeting on Monday.

“ Prime Minister Hun Sen very much welcomed the pledge,” he said. “ The money is not here yet, but when its comes the Cambodian government will manage it accordingly.”

Cambodia has an estimated 700,000 Muslims, representing about 5% of the country’s 14 million people, according the U.S. State Department’s annual report on religious freedom.

Most of them live in the rural areas and, in the past decade, have been experiencing a revival of their religious freedom that was abolished, just like all religious practices, when the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

With the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the past decade, there have been concerns that some projects funded by Middle Eastern money may become breeding grounds for extremists.

In May 2003, Cambodian authorities closed down a Saudi-funded Islamic religious school outside Phnom Penh and arrested three of its members on charges of alleged links to Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian Islamic extremist group connected to al-Qaida.

During his visit, the Kuwaiti leader also expressed his country’s interest in investing in Cambodian farmland to produce food for the oil-rich Gulf state.

The two countries also signed agreements to foster economic cooperation, protect investments, and establish direct flights between them.

Cambodia also asked Kuwait for assistance in training its workers in offshore oil exploration and production.

Source: The Associated Press

Kuwait to Fund Phnom Penh Islamic Center

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh

Kuwait
has pledged $5 million to build an Islamic center at Phnom Penh’s most conspicuous mosque,
following an official Kuwaiti delegation earlier this week.

The center will be built, via the Cambodian government, on the grounds
of Boeung Kak Mosque, in the north of the city.

Construction on the Islamic center will be started this
year, said Ahmad Yahya, a government adviser and president of the Cambodian
Islamic Development Community.

The Kuwaiti government also agreed to train Cambodian
officials in oil exploration and open direct flights to Cambodia, and
both sides agreed allow embassies in their respective capitals.

Source: VoA Khmer

Kuwait rents rice farms in Cambodia

Sheikh Nasser with Cambodian premier Hun Sen

Kuwait has leased rice fields in Cambodia and plans to import food from the Asian country, a government official said.

Soaring food prices are a key driver of inflation in the desert state, hitting 11 percent in April and May. Kuwait imports most of its food and has said it wants to invest in chicken and other farms as part of a national food plan.

Daily Awan quoted Foreign Minister Undersecetary Khaled Al-Jarallah, who is with Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah on an Asian tour, as saying the rice fields would meet the country’s food demand.

“ Kuwait has rented many rice fields which will secure the country’s needs, and will export the surplus to the international markets,” the paper quoted Al-Jarallah as saying.

Kuwait has also discussed investments in the oil, industrial and tourism sectors, he told the paper.

Kuwait is interested in investing in the agricultural sector in Cambodia and boosting trade in food products, state news agency Kuna said late on Tuesday after a meeting between Finance Minister Mustapha Al-Shamali and Cambodian officials.

In June, Commerce and Industry Minister Ahmad Baqer told parliament the world’s seventh-largest oil exporter could work with fellow Gulf Arab states to invest in food production and farming to secure food supplies.

The Saudi government is negotiating on behalf of Saudi investors to set up projects in Sudan, Egypt, Ukraine, Pakistan and Turkey for wheat, barley, soybeans, rice and animal fodder.

Source: Reuters

Cambodia, Kuwait ink trade pacts

Prime Minister Hun Sen (left) and visiting Kuwaiti premier Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmed al-Sabah (centre) held talks in Phnom Penh where officials from both counties signed the deals. — PHOTO: AP

PHNOM PENH – IMPOVERISHED Cambodia and oil-rich Kuwait on Monday inked five agreements, including trade, aviation and investment deals, during a meeting by prime ministers of the two countries, a spokesman said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen and visiting Kuwaiti premier Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmed al-Sabah held talks in Phnom Penh where officials from both counties signed the deals, Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.

The officials signed agreements on economic cooperation, trade, investment, foreign affairs cooperation and civil aviation, the spokesman said.

‘Prime Minister Hun Sen welcomes any investment by Kuwait’s companies in Cambodia because it has a big potential in developing economic growth,’ Mr Khieu Kanharith said.

He said the two countries would discuss more ways to boost trade and investment, and that Kuwait had promised to help Cambodia develop its agricultural sector.

The two premiers also discussed cooperation in oil, with Cambodia asking Kuwait to help train local experts on the petroleum industry, which is starting to take root here after the discovery of offshore deposits.

Cambodia expects to begin producing oil from its offshore fields in 2011, following the discovery of oil in 2005 by US energy giant Chevron.

But it remains unclear how much oil can be recovered, or whether any potential revenue would be used to benefit Cambodia, ranked among the world’s most corrupt countries.

Cambodia has climbed back from decades of civil unrest to emerge as one of the region’s most vibrant economies, marked by an unprecedented building boom that is radically changing the face of the once-sleepy capital.

The Kuwaiti premier arrived in Cambodia on Sunday for a three-day visit.

Source: AFP

Cambodia: Kuwait Eyes Cambodian Farmland For Investment

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: Kuwait is eyeing Cambodian farmland for investment in agriculture to produce food supply for the oil-rich Gulf state, a minister said Monday (4 Aug).

Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheik Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah discussed the idea during his meeting with his counterpart Prime Minister Hun Sen, said Khieu Kanharith, the Cambodian Information Minister.

“ Kuwait has a lot of money, but Cambodia has a lot of fertile land,” he told reporters Monday, adding that investment in agriculture was the main subject of discussion during the visit by the Kuwaiti leader.

The minister said officials from the two countries will hold more talks to discuss investment opportunities but did not elaborate on how much farmland Kuwait would be investing in.

Kuwait, an oil-rich country with a population of a million people, is the second Gulf state after Qatar to express interest in Cambodian farmland.

During his visit in March, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al-Thani also discussed a similar investment plan with Cambodian officials.

“ Kuwait is rich in oil but it is covered mostly with desert … the cost of (agricultural projects) must be high,” Khieu Kanharith said.

“ We have a rice farmland of 2 million hectares (5 million acres) nationwide,” he added. “ It still has a potential to increase yield.”

On Monday, Cambodian and Kuwaiti officials also signed agreements to foster economic cooperation, protect investment, and establish direct flights between the two countries.

The Cambodian government also asked Kuwait for assistance in training its workers in the field of offshore oil, Khieu Kanharith said.

Source: AP