[Demographic Vietnamization] Floating school for Vietnamese students opens in Cambodia

The Consulate General of Vietnam in Battambang, Cambodia on July 9 inaugurated a floating school for overseas Vietnamese (OVs) students who live on Tonle Sap Lake in Koh Kek village, Kan Dieng district of Pursat province (Illustrative photo: BookMundi)

Floating school for Vietnamese students opens in Cambodia

Vietnam Plus | 10 July 2018

Phnom Penh (VNA) – The Consulate General of Vietnam in Battambang, Cambodia on July 9 inaugurated a floating school for overseas Vietnamese (OVs) students who live on Tonle Sap Lake in Koh Kek village, Kan Dieng district of Pursat province. 

The wooden facility was funded by the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs under Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry.

Koh Kek village is home to 289 Vietnamese households. There are nearly 100 students of first to third grade who study Vietnam’s curriculum. 

Speaking at the event, head of the Khmer-Vietnam Association in the village Ngo Van Ly said the school serves as a foundation for youngsters to preserve their homeland’s culture while learning the local one, helping them integrate in the Vietnamese and Khmer communities.

In March, another floating school for Vietnamese students was also built on the Tonle Sap.

Pursat province has the largest number of overseas Vietnamese in Cambodia’s north western region, with about 1,900 families of 7,000 residents, with most of them working as fishermen.-VNA

[Demographic Vietnamization: Tonle Sap] Critically Endangered Giant Fish on Menu at Luxury Restaurants

Phoen Sok Phoen, a fisherman who caught 250-plus-pound giant barb in his net on two separate occasions last year but called the fisheries officials to released the fish, drives his boat back home through Kompong Loung floating viallage on Tonlé Sap Lake, Cambodia. It was the first time in 10 years of fishing the Tonle Sap Lake that he’d caught one giant barb, let alone two. “I was very surprised and very afraid, because giant barb is like a god or spirit,” he says. “I prayed to it, ‘Please don’t harm me!’”

Critically Endangered Giant Fish on Menu at Luxury Restaurants 

Vietnamese restaurateurs are illegally sourcing rare Mekong River megafish from Cambodian fishermen.

National Geographic | 2 July 2018

Read the article, view more photos, watch video here

[Demographic Vietnamization: Tonle Sap] Việt Nam, Cambodia discuss legal procedure for Vietnamese Cambodians

Vietnamese and Cambodian agencies met in Phnom Penh yesterday to discuss the handling of legal residency procedures for Vietnamese Cambodians.— VNA/VNS Illustrative Image

Việt Nam, Cambodia discuss legal procedure for Vietnamese Cambodians

 | 24 April 2018

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese and Cambodian agencies met in Phnom Penh yesterday to discuss the handling of legal residency procedures for Vietnamese Cambodians. 

The Vietnamese side included representatives from the Ministry of Public Security and the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs, while the Cambodian side consisted of officials from the General Department of Immigration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation. 

Both sides said historical factors have resulted in shortcomings in the licensing of legal documents to Vietnamese Cambodians, creating conflicts with Cambodia’s current law. 

The issue has caused difficulty for local authorities and hindered the community from carrying out their responsibilities to the country and protecting their legal rights. 

Relevant Cambodian agencies have assessed the current conditions of local document licensing and management for over 170,000 Vietnamese Cambodians. About half of the group has completed their related legal procedures; many of them with adequate documents to prove their legal immigration have received permanent residency permits. 

The Vietnamese side welcomed the Cambodian side’s policy on tackling the issue for Vietnamese Cambodians, which facilitated them to settle their life and make contribution to the host country. The work not only helped Cambodia manage local security affairs more effectively but also reflected the country’s traditional relationship with Việt Nam. 

The two sides agreed that Cambodian relevant agencies should speed up the completion of legal procedures for the community in line with local law. The Vietnamese side will coordinate with Cambodia during the process. The Vietnamese Embassy and other diplomatic representatives in Cambodia will also encourage Vietnamese Cambodians to obey local regulations and quickly complete their relevant legal documents. — VNS

[Demographic Vietnamization: Tonle Sap] ."...bring Vietnamese settlers into Kampuchea..." "...most Vietnamese settlers have been located around the Tonle Sap.", 1983

The Kampuchean Problem: A Southeast Asian Perspective (Mahbubani)

Kishore Mahbubani, Foreign Affairs magazine (Winter, 1983)

Deputy Chief of Mission at Singaporean Embassy in Washington, D.C.

[Demographic Vietnamization: Tonle Sap] Vietnam contributes to sustainable development in Mekong River

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) will attend the third Mekong River Commission (MRC) Summit in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from April 4-5 at the invitation of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen (R) (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam contributes to sustainable development in Mekong River

Vietnam Plus | 3 April 2018

Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will lead a Vietnamese delegation to attend the third Mekong River Commission (MRC) Summit in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from April 4-5 at the invitation of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen.

The event, themed “Joint Efforts and Partnership towards Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Mekong”, will create an opportunity for countries to review the operation of the MRC over the past four years and work to realise sustainable development goals.

 

[PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc to attend Mekong River Commission Summit]

Vietnam has actively participated in regional and international organisations such as the MRC, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum, the United Nations (UN), the World Water Forum (WWF), the Global Water Partnership (GWP) and the International Rivers (IR) as well as enhanced cooperation with department partners such as the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to enhance effective management of water resources in the Mekong River.

Vietnam hosted the second MRC in Ho Chi Minh City in April 2014. In 2015, the country held a panel discussion on water security within the framework of the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU-132) in March and an international workshop calling for joint actions in water resources management as part of the Asia-Europe Meeting in June that year.

Within the MRC framework, Vietnam has work with member countries to push the MRC Joint Committee to issue a statement on prior consultation for the Pak Beng hydropower project, calling on the Laos government to step up measures to mitigate the cross-border impacts of the project.

With the support of Lao and Cambodian experts, Vietnam completed a study on the impacts of Mekong mainstream hydropower on the Mekong Delta in 2015 and joint research on sustainable development and management of the Mekong River basin in 2017.

In April 2014, Vietnam became the 35th member of the 1997 UN Convention on Non-Navigation Uses of International Watercourses. Vietnam was the first country in the MRC to join the convention, which came into force in August 2014.

Vietnam is persuading other ASEAN member nations to join the convention to strengthen legal mechanisms to facilitate the management and sustainable development of water resources in the Mekong River.

The country has also promoted the protection and effective use of water resources in regional cooperation mechanisms such as the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), the US Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI), the Mekong-Japan Cooperation (MJ), the Mekong-Korea Cooperation and the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation.

The 4,800km-long Mekong River flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Its basin spreads over 795,000 square kilometres with 65 million people in the four countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Mekong Committee was established in 1956 under the auspices of the UN to coordinate aid and manage resources in the river basin. In 1995, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam signed an Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River and set up the MRC as a replacement for the Mekong Committee.

The MRC holds its summit every four years, starting from 2010. The first MRC summit was held in Hua Hin, Thailand in 2010 and the second one took place in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2014.-VNA

[Demographic Vietnamization: Tonle Sap] Threats to Tonle Sap Lake outlined at start of Mekong River Commission summit

An aerial view of the Chong Kneas floating village and a number of traditional arrowhead-style fish traps exposed by record low water levels on the Tonle Sap Lake in Siem Reap province in 2016. Over 80,000 people live directly on the lake, and experts say their livelihoods are at risk. Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon

Threats to Tonle Sap Lake outlined at start of Mekong River Commission summit

Phnom Penh Post | 2 March 2018

SIEM REAP – A warning about the increasing threats to Tonle Sap lake, one of the world’s richest freshwater fisheries and a vital source of food for Cambodians, offered a sobering start to the third summit of the Mekong River Commission in Siem Reap on Monday.

[Demographic Vietnamization: Tonle Sap, Battambang, Pursat] Floating school built for overseas Vietnamese pupils in Cambodia

The floating school (Photo: VNA)

Floating school built for overseas Vietnamese pupils in Cambodia

Vietnam Plus | 16 March 2018

Hanoi (VNA) – The Consulate General of Vietnam in Battambang, Cambodia inaugurated a floating school built for children of overseas Vietnamese living on Tonlé Sap Lake in Pursat province on March 16.

Funded by the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs under Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry, the wooden facility consists of two classrooms which can accommodate about 100 pupils.  

Chairman of the Association of Vietnamese-Cambodians in Pursat Le Hoang said there was no school in the area in the past.

He said with delight that now the Vietnamese expats here can send their children to school and use the facility to hold community activities.

On the occasion, a Vietnamese company presented four tonnes of rice to disadvantaged overseas Vietnamese and Cambodian families in the locality, while staff at the Consulate General of Vietnam in Battambang supported health check-ups at Long Hai Pagoda, a pagoda of the Vietnamese expats in Tonlé Sap.-VNA  

[Demographic Vietnamization: Tonle Sap, Pursat] កំពង់ហ្លូង, ស្រុកក្រគរ, ខេត្តពោធិសាត់ បាត់ខ្មែរ, សល់តែយួន

កំពង់ហ្លូង, ស្រុកក្រគរ, ខេត្តពោធិសាត់

បាត់ខ្មែរ, សល់តែយួន

- Chham Chhany

[Demographic Vietnamization: Tonle Sap, Mekong] ទូកយួន អណ្តែត ពេញទន្លេខ្មែរ គ្រប់ស្រុក-ខណ្ឌ័-ខែត្រ | Polluting Cambodia's rivers and the policy of demographic Vietnamization

 

ទូកយួន អណ្តែត ពេញទន្លេខ្មែរ គ្រប់ស្រុក-ខណ្ឌ័-ខែត្រកម្ពុរដ្ឋ 
តេជោ ឲ្យសិទ្ធរស់នៅ ប្រាកដ អចិន្ត្រៃយ៏ កំនត់តពូជពង្ស៚
- Koy Tep

[Demographic Vietnamization: Fisheries, Tonle Sap] Government, experts differ on fisheries outlook

A man casts a net into the Mekong River from the back of a fishing boat near Phnom Penh’s Koh Pich island.

Government, experts differ on fisheries outlook

Phnom Penh Post | 11 December 2017

Government officials presented a rosier outlook for the Kingdom’s imperiled freshwater fisheries than that espoused by scientists and conservationists at a global workshop on fisheries, food security and nutrition that wrapped up in Siem Reap on Friday. 

In his opening remarks, Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly claimed the government has strengthened enforcement of the Fisheries Law. 

“The Royal Government of Cambodia ... has paid close attention to conserving natural resources for development and building capacity for conservation,” he said, in an 11-minute speech that covered the threats to Cambodia’s fisheries, noting their importance to the national economy, migration and food security. 

Eng Chea San, the director general of the fisheries administration, speaking on the sidelines of the conference, backed up Chhay Ly’s position, stating that since the start of the year authorities have confiscated some 1.5 million metres of illegal fishing nets. 

“We have done a lot of cracking down on illegal fishing activities,” he said.

The comments, however, did little to challenge the assessment of many leading experts: that thanks to a combination of overfishing, climate change, deforestation and the destruction of wetlands, Cambodia’s Tonle Sap lake – one of the most productive inland fisheries on the planet – is at serious risk of out-and-out failure.

[Demographic Vietnamization: Tonle Sap]< Kampong Chhnang Vietnam looks to give fishery assistance to Cambodia

Background / related:

Support given to Vietnamese expats living on Tonle Sap Lake

Tonle Sap

...

Vietnam looks to give fishery assistance to Cambodia

Phnom Penh Post | 18 September 2017

Vietnam has expressed interest in investing in Cambodia’s aquaculture sector and providing technical support to help boost fisheries production, according to Vietnamese media reports.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vu Hong Nam said during a visit to Tonle Sap Lake late last week with the governor of Kampong Chhnang province that an official initiative for bilateral collaboration was in the works to help Cambodia promote economic development by using Vietnamese fisheries technology and experience.

[Demographic Vietnamization: Tonle Sap] Support given to Vietnamese expats living on Tonle Sap Lake

The Vietnamese government delegation presents gifts to needy families living on Tonle Sap Lake on September 15 (Photo: VNA)

Support given to Vietnamese expats living on Tonle Sap Lake

 Vietnam Plus | 15 September 2017

Phnom Penh (VNA) – A Vietnamese government delegation on September 15 visited Vietnamese expatriates and Cambodians in Kampong Luong commune of Kro Ko district, Pursat province, which is located on Tonle Sap Lake of Cambodia.

The delegation, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Vu Hong Nam, presented needy families in the locality with more than 800 gift packages.

Nam affirmed that the Vietnamese Party, State and people always pay attention to overseas Vietnamese and poor Cambodians, especially those living on Tonle Sap Lake, and want to help them address difficulties.

Through this fact finding trip, the delegation will suggest the Vietnamese Government and call on businesses to increase investment in this area, which will help enhance the two countries’ cooperation and assist Cambodia to attain the targets of economic development, social stability and environmental protection, he added.

During their visit to Cambodia from September 11 to 17, the Vietnamese delegation is scheduled to tour provinces bordering Tonle Sap Lake and the coastal province of Preah Sihanouk to seek investment and business opportunities for Vietnamese firms.-VNA

[Demographic Vietnamization: Kampong Chhnang, Tonle Sap, Indochina] Vietnam steps up aquaculture cooperation with Cambodia

Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Vu Hong Nam has suggested Vietnam and Cambodia join hands in aquaculture

Vietnam steps up aquaculture cooperation with Cambodia

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vu Hong Nam suggested Vietnam and Cambodia join hands in aquaculture when visiting Kampong Chhnang, one of the five Cambodian provinces adjacent to Tonle Sap Lake.

Vietnam Net Bridge | 15 September 2017

At a working session with Kampong Chhnang’s Governor Chhua Channdoeun on September 14, Nam highlighted the province’s great potential for aquaculture, the field where Vietnam has technologies and experience. 

The bilateral aquaculture collaboration is expected to help Cambodia reach its targets of promoting economic development, ensuring local people’s stable life, protecting the environment, the official said. 

Chhua Channdoeun credited attention and support of Vietnamese ministries, agencies and localities to Kampong Chhnang in particular and Cambodia in general, which, he said, has given a facelift to the province and the country as well. 

He called on Vietnam to increase its investment in and support to Cambodia and Kampong Chhnang in areas of the country’s strengths, in order to promote the relationship between the two nations. 

Earlier the same day, Nam and his entourage presented 800 gifts to overseas Vietnamese and Cambodian people who are living in difficult circumstances in Boribo district. 

They are on a working trip to Cambodian provinces around Tonle Sap Lake and the coastal province of Preah Sihanouk from September 11-17, in a bid to seek investment opportunities for Vietnamese businesses. 

They are scheduled to visit Pursat province on September 15.

HCM City ready to boost ties among Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia women

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