(Unofficial Translation)
Siem Reap-Angkor, 13 April 2014
− Venerable Monks
− H.E. Mr. Khim Bunsong, Governor of Siem Reap Province
− H.E. Mr. Hun Many, President of Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia
− Excellencies, Distinguished National and International Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
− Beloved Youth,
My wife and I have a great pleasure to be here again in the opening ceremony of the Angkor Sangkran 2014 to celebrate with you all the Khmer New Year in the historic city of Angkor, Siem Reap. Last year, my wife and I also attended the opening of the Sangkran, which was successfully organized by the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia and which can be considered one of the landmark events of 2013.
Indeed, the year of 2013 was a very meaningful year for Cambodian people as the Royal Government made many major achievements, particularly in the realm of heritage. Cambodia successfully hosted the 37th World Heritage Committee Session, attracting over 1,460 participants from 128 countries and international institutions. Proudly, in Asia, only three countries had previously hosted the gatherings before Cambodia. Certainly, it was a great honour and privilege for me to chair this prestigious UNESCO Committee. 19 new heritage sites were added to the World Heritage List during the 37th World Heritage Session in Cambodia. On that occasion also, the Youth Forum featured the theme: “Living Heritage: Temple, Environment and People”, in order to raise awareness of the harmonious relationships between Culture, Environment including water forest, and Community.
2013 also saw other landmark events, such as the UNWTO Regional Conference on Tourism Development in Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites, the commemorative celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Inscription of Angkor on the World Heritage List, and the 3rd Intergovernmental Conference on Angkor after the 2nd and the 1st ones were held respectively in Paris, France, and Tokyo, Japan. Moreover, as we entered the year of 2014, we also maintain the important role in the field of heritage as well, by hosting the 20th Congress of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, which was the biggest ever of its kind, attracting 729 international speakers from 40 countries and 32 Cambodian speakers to deal with 63 main themes comprising 580 sub-themes, in 101 different sessions.
− Venerable Monks
− Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
− Beloved Youth,
According to our Cambodian calendar, today is the final day of the year of the Snake and we gathered here at Angkor, one of the most impressive cultural heritage sites in the world, to celebrate entry into the year of the Horse. I see that this year’s Angkor Sangkran program features diverse, but unique, events, but all of them aim not only at providing joys, but also at encouraging the participation of the public, especially youth, in understanding and safeguarding our invaluable heritage and traditions. In this sense, I am very proud of the youth fulfilling such noble tasks, as these are the duties of youth from one generation to another to safeguard our national heritage, both tangible and intangible. In fact, Angkor is a testimony of a past, great civilisation left behind by our ancestors. Through Angkor, we can feel their dreams, thoughts and spiritual values as well as their skills, strengths and wisdom. These constitute a major part of our national identity, which you the youth must learn to know well and participate in transferring such invaluable heritage to future generations.
Of course, we know that our heritage is not only our identity, the symbol and the value of the national culture, but also contributes enormously to social and economic development. In this regard, the Royal Government of Cambodia, under the wise leadership of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, has been paying a high attention to the protection, conservation and development of national heritage in a prudent manner in line with the motto “Conservation for Development and Development for Conservation”.
I wish to take this opportunity to briefly elaborate on the inscription of Angkor on the World Heritage List and some major achievements and actions which the Royal Government and the APSARA Authority have been undertaking to safeguard and develop the Angkor Site.
Angkor was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992 following the appeal of our late King Father Norodom Sihanouk to the international community and especially to UNESCO to “Save Angkor”. Considering the circumstances at that time, when Angkor was facing numerous risks such as insecurity, presence of landmines and UXOs left behind during decades of wars, and looting of artefacts, the World Heritage Committee placed the Angkor site on the List of World Heritage in Danger. The rather special decision to inscribe Angkor on the World Heritage List at that time was made due to its Outstanding Universal Values representing a masterpiece of the humanity, in spite of its lack of some necessary mechanisms for ensuring the protection and conservation. Thus, the World Heritage Committee laid down a number of conditions, namely: (1) to enact adequate legislation on heritage protection; (2) to establish a national institution for managing the site; (3) to define protection zone; (4) to create the necessary buffer zone; (5) to institute an international mechanism for coordination of the projects in the Angkor site.
Thanks to the participation and support from our friendly countries, especially under the coordination of UNESCO, the Royal Government overcame all hurdles to ultimately fulfil all the conditions: the International Coordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor, known as ICC-Angkor, was established in 1993, thus meeting condition 5; the Royal Decree on the Zoning of Siem Reap-Angkor and the Guidelines for their Management was created in 1994, meeting conditions 3 and 4; and the Authority for the Protection of Angkor and the Management of Siem Reap Region, called the APSARA Authority, meeting condition 2. Such efforts and success led to the removal of the Angkor site from the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2004. It is clear today that over the past 20 years, the Royal Government, with the APSARA Authority being the executing agency in the field, has realized successive major achievements in lifting Angkor from the perilous state and in contributing to social and economic development of the Siem Reap-Angkor region and of the country at large. In addition to success in restoring and conserving the monuments, the APSARA Authority has been working on rehabilitating a number of ancient water works in order to put the water resources into an optimum use for the sake of the livelihood of the local population and the stability of the monuments, as well as to prevent the Angkor region and Siem Reap town from flooding. Taking this opportunity, I would like to congratulate and express my admiration for the hydrological experts from the APSARA Authority for their great achievements.
Nevertheless, we still have some puzzles to solve to ensure the Angkor site’s sustainability. In this sense, the APSARA Authority has before it enormous missions -- not only to restore the temples per se, but also to participate in tourism development and poverty reduction in the local community.
For instance, the APSARA Authority has been implementing a wide range of projects aimed at improving the living conditions of the population, such as the Community Development project in collaboration with New Zealand and the Green Belt project in collaboration with Germany.
Moreover, the APSARA Authority in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism is implementing the Angkor Tourism Management Plan (TMP) so that we can better welcome the increasing number of tourists while minimising negative impacts on the temples and community. TMP is a component of the Heritage Management Framework, a collaborative project of the APSARA Authority, the Government of Australia and UNESCO.
− Venerable Monks
− Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
− Beloved Youth,
As we can see, heritage conservation and development is an endless, demanding, and complex task which requires prudence and high technical skills, and must be implemented in accordance with international standards and best practices, especially when it comes to the World Heritage. Thus, patience, good understanding and active participation from all circles in the society, especially you, the youth, are necessary. To illustrate, it took over 16 years to complete the Baphuon Restoration Project, by French and Cambodian experts; and the Bayon Restoration Project, carried out by Japanese and Cambodian experts, has so far taken 20 years, since being initiated in 1994, but only about a third of the restoration work has been completed. Therefore, I am really pleased to see that the program of Angkor Sangkran this year features the so-called “Pachekkaselathan”, a display workshop to demonstrate to the public how a temple was constructed based on a hypothesis of the temple-building concepts, so as to raise their awareness of the heritage conservation work and encourage their participation in such enormous and significant tasks since the conservation of heritage brings about many benefits for the nation and its people.
On this point, I wish to stress that putting our national heritage on the World Heritage List is not merely to boost our image, but rather is to ensure the safeguarding of the properties; in parallel, this can help with tourism promotion to lure more tourists to visit Cambodia, which constitutes an important source of national income toward socio-economic development and poverty reduction.
Proven facts disprove some negative commentaries. On the one hand, for the Angkor site only, we have mobilised some 500 million dollars for nearly 70 projects participated by some 20 countries and about 30 international organisations, who have been doing great work under the coordination of ICC-Angkor – the close partner of the APSARA Authority. Today, ICC-Angkor is considered a model for international cooperation in heritage protection and management. Indeed, it was ICCAngkor that contributed to the successful removal of Angkor from the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2004. On the other hand, the number of international tourist arrivals in Cambodia has been steadily increasing from only around 120,000 in 1993 to over 4.2 million in 2013, and most of them are cultural heritage tourists and go to the Angkor site. The number of 4.2 million tourists generates approximately 2.5 billion dollars into the national economy, accounting for some 16% of the GDP, and provides jobs directly to about 400,000 people and indirectly to tens of thousands. On current projections, we are expecting to welcome some 6.5 million foreign tourists in 2018, with approximately 4 billion dollars injected into the national economy and jobs directly provided to about 650,000 people.
We can see clearly how the protection and the conservation of our heritage bring about concrete benefits to our nation and people. This diverse cultural heritage is a potential resource which must be capitalised properly for our socio-economic development in accordance with the global tendency for cultural heritage to be considered an innovative source for sustainable economic development and poverty alleviation.
In this regard, I would like to call on all concerned, especially our youth, to join these efforts in the protection and conservation of our heritage, be it tangible or intangible. I am pleased that this event attracts a large number of youth from around the country to participate in the volunteerism of promoting and safeguarding our national heritage in the actual site of one of the best national and world heritage.
Before concluding, I would like to express my appreciation to the leadership, management and members of the Union of Youth Federations, especially its president H.E. Mr. Hun Many, for organising this glamorous Angkor Sangkran 2014. I would also like to thank all the ministriesinstitutions, local authorities at all levels, companies, organisations, associations, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen for their kind cooperation with and support to the Union of Youth Federations, and I hope that your generosity will continue for the sake of our beloved nation.
Finally, I wish you all good health, success and happiness and a joyful Angkor Sangkran. Happy New Year!
I now declare the opening of Angkor Sangkran 2014!
Thank you!