[Editor’s note: Last month, the International Finance Corporation invited Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh to its offices in Washington, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of preferential trade agreements between Cambodia and the US. On his visit, Cham Prasidh testified before the Trade Subcommittee for the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Ways and Means. He also sat with VOA Khmer for an interview at a hotel in Washington. What follows is an excerpt of that interview, in the first segment of an eight-part series.]
Q. What gains has Cambodia received from 10 years of trade agreements with the US?
A. The trade agreement in 1999 provided us with a big opportunity to export clothes for sale to American over other countries. As you know, countries usually export their products within a limited quota by the US. For some countries the US would increase this by 6 percent after the first export. But because Cambodia has this agreement, Cambodia had the 6 percent increased to 14 percent. We exported more than other countries, and around 20 garment factories in Cambodia grew quickly to almost 300 factories.
Q. What is the next strategy to improve Cambodian trade and people’s daily lives?
A. Overall, we need an open market. That means that if the US grants us duty-free and quota-free status, we will have the possibility of selling more products, and we also have the possibility of attracting investors to agriculture. So we’re trying very hard to get the US market. The US market is the biggest market for Cambodia.
Q. You requested that US Congress remove taxes on every product, including clothing. Do you believe this request will be fulfilled?
A. It is our request, but we’ve only come here to lobby them to draft a bill to submit to Congress. I came to lobby them in 2004, and there was a bill in 2005 submitted to Congress. But the bill hasn’t gone further. Among more than 200 Congressmen, 40 of them supported us, but hundreds more still have not yet looked at our bill. Now, in 2009, we started lobbying and submitted it again, but it has not progressed yet because of, as you know, the economic downturn in the US.
We’ve come here this time to reaffirm [our position] as America prepares to review its [generalized system of preferences]. And I’ve come here to express to them that Cambodia needs to have free taxes on our products exported to America, as America considers which countries should be provided the GSP and which countries should be cut back on the GSP. If the US market opens for us, then all the products that come to America will be tax free. Then we will also have to attract many investors to our country, and our people will have better living conditions.
Q. According to your report, Cambodia paid $407 million in tariffs to America on exports worth $2.4 billion. That’s a tariff of 16.7 percent, which is much higher than that for developed countries like the United Kingdom, Thailand, Russia or South America. Do you think it’s fair for Cambodia to pay such a large tax, when its sales are so small?
A. It is extremely unjust for us as an impoverished country. After we told them these tax statistics, they seemed to feel embarrassed. We are also a poor country, like Africa, but they have not allowed us free duty, while some poor countries in Africa can access America’s market with free duty. It is not fair when a small, poor country pays taxes greater than rich countries like France and the UK. They export more products to America but pay less tax. Cambodia exports a small amount of products, but pays a higher tax. So our struggle here is to lobby the US to lower the tax. Then we can export more. Source: VOA news
Monday, December 7, 2009
ined undefined Once-Growing Insurance Market Faces Challenges
Post-war Cambodia only saw its first insurance agency in 1990, when the state-owned Caminco opened. Nearly 20 years later, a number of private companies have established themselves, but experts say they still face challenges in a market where few understand the benefits and many can’t afford premiums.
“Compared with other countries, our market is very small, because many people have limited knowledge about this sector,” said Chhay Rattanak, president of the Association of Insurance Companies in Cambodia.
There are seven companies now in the country: the private companies Forte, Asia, Campubank Lonpac, Infinity and Vietnam; and the state-owned Caminco and Cambodia Re.
Each seeks to help people and businesses manage risk, which in turn promotes economic growth. And while the number of insurance customers is increasing—premium payments rose from $8 million in 2003 to $20 million in 2008—only about 1 percent of Cambodians have it.
“I don’t understand insurance, and I don’t know how they could compensate us,” said Phnom Penh car salesman Lem Meng Lim, who has not considered insurance in the four years he’s been running his business.
In Cambodia, companies offer insurance on motors, property, marine cargo, personal accident and healthcare, engineering and construction and other eventualities. (There is no life insurance.)
Even if they did understand it, with more than 30 percent of Cambodians living on less than a dollar a day, many can’t afford it.
“Because they have such a low income, what is important for them is their daily life,” said Youk Chamreoun Rith, director of Forte Insurance, the largest company here with nearly half the market.
Mey Vann, director of financial industry at the Ministry of Economics, said his ministry is working to educate people and reform some of the insurance law, including all vehicles have insurance.
Now may be a hard time to grow the industry, however. Premiums fell in 2009 for the first time, by about 10 percent, following growth of 20 percent to 30 percent in prior years.
The downturn caused many factories to close, “so that number of customers will decline and premium [numbers] will fall,” he said.
“We know that our customers are looking to save on their expenses,” said David Carter, CEO of Infinity Insurance. “In some cases, they are cutting back the level of insurance they buy.”
That kind of thinking can lead to increased business risk, he said.
“What can happen in a financially difficult time such as this is customers may not be careful in management of their business,” he said, “because they are looking to cut costs. Source: VOA news
“Compared with other countries, our market is very small, because many people have limited knowledge about this sector,” said Chhay Rattanak, president of the Association of Insurance Companies in Cambodia.
There are seven companies now in the country: the private companies Forte, Asia, Campubank Lonpac, Infinity and Vietnam; and the state-owned Caminco and Cambodia Re.
Each seeks to help people and businesses manage risk, which in turn promotes economic growth. And while the number of insurance customers is increasing—premium payments rose from $8 million in 2003 to $20 million in 2008—only about 1 percent of Cambodians have it.
“I don’t understand insurance, and I don’t know how they could compensate us,” said Phnom Penh car salesman Lem Meng Lim, who has not considered insurance in the four years he’s been running his business.
In Cambodia, companies offer insurance on motors, property, marine cargo, personal accident and healthcare, engineering and construction and other eventualities. (There is no life insurance.)
Even if they did understand it, with more than 30 percent of Cambodians living on less than a dollar a day, many can’t afford it.
“Because they have such a low income, what is important for them is their daily life,” said Youk Chamreoun Rith, director of Forte Insurance, the largest company here with nearly half the market.
Mey Vann, director of financial industry at the Ministry of Economics, said his ministry is working to educate people and reform some of the insurance law, including all vehicles have insurance.
Now may be a hard time to grow the industry, however. Premiums fell in 2009 for the first time, by about 10 percent, following growth of 20 percent to 30 percent in prior years.
The downturn caused many factories to close, “so that number of customers will decline and premium [numbers] will fall,” he said.
“We know that our customers are looking to save on their expenses,” said David Carter, CEO of Infinity Insurance. “In some cases, they are cutting back the level of insurance they buy.”
That kind of thinking can lead to increased business risk, he said.
“What can happen in a financially difficult time such as this is customers may not be careful in management of their business,” he said, “because they are looking to cut costs. Source: VOA news
Friday, December 4, 2009
Canno
Detailed Product Description
Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Type SLR
The biggest resolution 3888 x 2592
Low resolution 3456 x 2304, 2816 x 1880, 1936 x 1288
Valid pixel 1010
The biggest pixel 1070
The sensor size 28.7 x 18.7 mm
Sensor type CMOS
The color filter a mirror array RGB
Sensor manufactory Canon
Exposed to light a degree: 100 - 3200 in 1/3 stops, plus 50 and 6400
Auto-focus way: TTL-AREA-SIR with 45-point CMOS sensor
White balance: 8 positions & manual preset and 3 memories
Expose to compensate: -3 to +3 EV in 1/3 EV or 1/2 EV steps
Measure light: 21 area eval, partial, spot (center, AF point, multi-spot), center-weighted average
Battery: Canon Lithium-Ion & double charger
Weight:(contain battery)1335 g(47.1 oz)
Size: 156 x 157 x 80 mm (6.1 x 6.2 x 3.2 in)
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Get Ready for Windows 7 with Acronis True Image Home 2010!
Acronis True Image Home 2010 is the first backup tool compatible with Windows 7 which makes a full backup image of your system before beginning the upgrade and helps your migration go smoothly and eliminate the fear many customers have of losing data or a working system. If you faced some problem, you can instantly restore your full system from the backup to the previous operating system and keep working until you solve it using the following key technologies:
Nokia N97
The Nokia N97 introduces the concept of 'social location'. With integrated A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass, the Nokia N97 mobile computer intuitively understands where it is. The Nokia N97 makes it easy to update social networks automatically with real-time information, giving approved friends the ability to update their 'status' and share their 'social location' as well as related pictures or videos.
The home screen of the Nokia N97 mobile computer features the people, content and media that matter the most. Friends, social networks and news are available by simply touching the home screen. The 16:9 widescreen display can be fully personalized with frequently updated widgets of favorite web services and social networking sites. The Nokia N97 is also perfectly suited for browsing the web, streaming Flash videos or playing games. Both the physical QWERTY and virtual touch input ensures efficiency in blogging, chatting, posting, sending texts or emailing.
HIV Vaccine Research and Development Researchshot2
Researchers within the program draw on the military medical community's vast experience and expertise in vaccine research. Program scientists leverage these skills to develop effective vaccines that will not only protect U.S. troops from infection, but also bring under control the international proliferation of HIV.
MHRP engages in basic research to support HIV vaccine development. Efforts include:
* pre-clinical basic immunology and vaccinology
* molecular biology
* pre-clinical vaccine evaluation in animal and laboratory models
Researchers acquire or develop methods to assess the immunologic evidence of vaccine performance and surrogate markers of protective immunity in HIV disease. The assays are implemented in full cGLP (current Good Laboratory Practices) compliance to ensure reproducibility and robustness of generated data. The projects under this task involve the establishment and diversification of multiple panels of reagents, including large panels of primary HIV-1 isolates and serum/plasma pools from international sites for use in vaccine development and immunogenicity assays, or for use as components of vaccine candidates.
Immunogenicity testing of potential vaccine constructs is evaluated in a fully compliant GLP setting. The preclinical evaluation of candidate vaccines facilitates the down-selection, and advancement to the clinic, of novel HIV envelope subunit vaccines that elicit promising antibodies in early studies.
Vaccine Challenges
There are many barriers to developing an effective vaccine to prevent HIV. No vaccines currently induce broadly reactive and potent neutralizing antibodies against circulating strains of HIV, and there is no consensus as to which biomarkers correlate with protection from disease acquisition or progression. To overcome these obstacles, program researchers are taking a multifaceted approach to vaccine development.
Phase III Trial in Thailand
On September 24, 2009 the U.S. Army Surgeon General announced the results of a study that showed an investigational HIV vaccine regimen was safe and, for the first time, modestly effective in preventing HIV infection. It lowered the rate of HIV infection by 31.2% in a Phase III clinical trial involving more than 16,000 adult volunteers in Thailand.
Although the efficacy is modest, this study represents a major scientific achievement that has important implications for HIV vaccine testing and development. MHRP provided study leadership, and is currently developing follow-up scientific plans in collaboration with outside experts.
DNA/MVA HIV Vaccine
Program researchers are pursuing a prime-boost combination of DNA and an attenuated viral vector—modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA)—to deliver HIV proteins to antigen-presenting cells. Safety is an overriding factor when it comes to choosing vectors. MVA is a modified version of the smallpox vaccine that has been used safely and effectively to eradicate that disease world-wide. Both ours and other MVA products have been shown to safe and immunogenic in numerous Phase I and II clinical trials. The DNA prime has also been safely administered alone and in combination with MVA and other candidate vaccines.
Studies with the MHRP DNA/MVA HIV vaccine are planned for 2009 in the U.S., Thailand and East Africa.
A number of collaborative studies using components of our vaccine are already underway. The Karolinska Institute is currently conducting a Phase I trial (HIVIS03, n=60) in Tanzania testing a prime-boost HIV vaccine regimen using unadjuvanted DNA vaccines followed by a viral vector vaccine. The boost vaccine component, based on Modified Vaccinia Ankara, was developed by MHRP. This HIV vaccine research study is being conducted in collaboration with Muhimbili University (MUHAS).
Phase I/II Clinical Trial
Program sites in East Africa are in the follow-up stages in a study testing the NIAID Vaccine Research Center HIV vaccine consisting of a DNA prime and recombinant Adenovirus type 5 boost. The study, known as MHRP: RV 172 enrolled 326 participants in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. The vaccine was highly immunogenic and well tolerated.
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