Lucky Lucan wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 1:45 am
kungfufighter wrote: ↑Sun Jul 05, 2020 11:19 pm
The last paragraph of the article is quite portentous.
The King has also criticized an independent initiative by the two Prime Ministers to give the military the right to sell timber abroad.
The ban on logging and trade with the KR came along with a promise to sell one million cubic meters of already cut timber to Thai businessmen. The deal fell through.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... eals-thais
Where does it say the deal fell through?
Are you talking about the deal to try to stop the two prime ministers etc from exploiting Cambodia's forest's for personal profit at a time when a lot of their poor were starving?
"
Aid donors - preparing for July's Donors' Consultative Group meeting in Toyko where Cambodian aid would be discussed - are losing patience with the Government over logging.
"If the Government is selling natural resourses in excess of $100 million, and
the money doesn't get to the Budget, then the taxpayers in Japan, the United States,
Australia and everywhere else would be entitled to ask why are they are giving money to Cambodia," said one high-ranking donor official.
Despite Seng Huor saying there was no new cutting going one, Global Witness visited the Thai border rest areas and has proof there is. The donor official said it appeared that the Thai deals were not consistent with Cambodia's export and cutting ban. "It's horrible," he said of the deal, "but it's their resourse, they can do what they want."
The secrecy of the deal has been criticized, especially at a time when "transparency" is being sought.
"If the deals signal an end to the logging ban, then why was there no public or Parliamentary discussion," one source said.
"If they needed to cut trees to get money to feed the poor, why wasn't it done in the open, under debate? And why are these deals marked 'Confidential'?"