Cambodia Newsletter 1 (6)

Volume 1, Number 6 November 2003 World Bank Vice-President Visits Cambodia Jemal-ud-din Kassum, World Bank Vice-President, dressed casually, walks into a classroom where a group of stu- dent are sitting waiting for him. Conver- sation is starting between a World Bank delegation and teachers, students' par- ents-committee members and the students themselves. On the desks in front of the students are the diverse tools they use: some are holding plastic piano-harmoni- cas, some reading books, some working the traditional Chinese abacus; others typing on computers. Mr Kassum asks a question. A girl proudly holds her hand up to answer, and the visitors nod at her. "I really want to learn," she smiles hopefully, and continues: "When I have knowledge I can help my family live a bet- ter life." Her answer sets a warm tone for the Jemal-ud-din Kassum (left) Nisha Agrawal and Ian Porter talking to villagers at encounter, and makes the World Bank Po Ta Tres dike, Batheay district, Kampong Cham province. continued on page 2 A look at the region's poverty reduction strategies Most of the countries in the East Asia "Capitalizing on this tremendous op- passion. "Poverty reduction defines and region have completed poverty reduction portunity facing the region will depend to drives the substance, the content, the strategies, thus increasing the poverty a large extent on the determination of gov- heart and soul and entire strategy of our focus of policies, opening up the policy ernments and their domestic and interna- Government," he said. "Poverty reduc- process to a broader range of constituen- tional partners to undertake the necessary tion is not just a requirement of social jus- cies within society, and placing greater steps to ensure that the poor people of tice, an action of conscience, but also prag- emphasis on results. They now face a the region are active contributors and ben- matic economic management." range of challenges around implementa- eficiaries of this growth." The Millennium Development Goals - tion, especially in the areas of gover- The conference (sponsored by the a global commitment to reduce poverty in nance, pro-poor growth, and meeting the Asian Development Bank, the IMF, the its many dimensions by 2015 - are of criti- Millennium Development Goals (MDGs.) United Nations Development Programme, cal importance to the poverty reduction That was the consensus of the Second and the World Bank) focused on ways to strategies. East Asia is at the forefront of Regional Conference on Poverty Reduc- accelerate poverty reduction in low-in- regions in the developing world in meet- tion Strategies held in Phnom Penh from come countries in the region and involved ing the MDGs. Some of these goals, par- October 16 to 18. participants from six East Asian countries ticularly income poverty and primary edu- "The 1990s have brought tremendous - Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, cation, appear well within reach, while gains to our region and the next 15 years Mongolia, Timor Leste, and Vietnam and health and environment present much also hold great promises of sustained observers from six countries -Bangladesh, greater challenges. Poverty reduction growth