Also included in the delegation were His Excellency Mr. CHHAY Than, Minister of Planning, His Excellency Mr. UCH Kiman, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, His Excellency Mr. OUK Rabun, Secretary of State for Economy and Finance, and other senior government officials.

Here is the Keynote Address delivered by Samdech Prime Minister HUN Sen:

Mr. President
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honor for me to address this summit and am very pleased to represent and speak on behalf of Cambodia and its people at this very august meeting. I would like to take this opportunity to express, on behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia and myself, our appreciation and profound gratitude to H.E. FIDEL CASTRO RUZ, the government and the people of Cuba for the excellent organization of this summit and warm hospitality extended to all our delegations during this summit.

We are meeting here in a country, which has been excluded by the rich nations, at the higher end of the global spectrum, from the mainstream of globalization through inhuman economic embargo. This is a tragic example of punishment of the poor in the developing world through a boycott and an economic blockage in order to achieve a political agenda of the big nation contrary to the humanitarian principles, the respect for human rights and the rights of the martyred nation to self-determination. It is my confidence that, as leaders of poor and undeveloped nations, which represent the vast majority of people on Earth, we have the daunting tasks of joining hands to eradicate injustice and inhumanity; and to establish a new world order with a view to ensuring peaceful international co-existence, based on the principles of mutual respect, shared interests, fair and shared responsibility between the rich and the poor, on the one hand, and developing and developed nations on the other.

For this Summit I have prepared a longer version of my speech to inform all of you on the aspirations, needs and concerns from our perspective in respect of the establishment of a new world order. However, due to time constrain, I will not read this full text now. Instead, I have asked the Secretariat to distribute the complete version of my presentation to all of you during the course of this meeting. For now, I will try to focus only on some of the major points, which I think would contribute into shaping a direction for the new world order and strengthening the cooperation among the countries of the Group 77.

Indeed, the topic of our deliberation here i.e. Globalization, is one of the most popular and well discussed on many fora including the UNCTAD-X conference held recently in Bangkok. For most part, "Globalization" is talked of in economic terms; of free trade without borders, which we all heartily subscribe to. However, in practice, this free trade has been acting mainly in favor of those who seek abundant resources, markets and profits. But, for those who want to get on the band-wagon of fast growth and prosperity and sell goods to developed markets, this free trade philosophy, sadly, also comes with domestic-policy based barriers in the consuming countries. Protection of one's labor force against healthy competition is the basic driving force and the cause for creation of such barriers. For example, commodity prices stand artificially lower through substantial subsidies in the developed countries. Modern technology and even life-saving medicines on the other hand are over-priced and beyond the means of the needy. Free competition is still a somewhat one way street. The various dogmas, strategies and formulas tried so far all around the world have worked successfully for some, for some time or have certainly catered to their "present". At the same time, these achievements mask many continuing failings and seem to expose more future dangers. We all witnessed and continue to face painful inequality and unfairness exist in modem free political and economic systems where the rich and the strong impose on the other their agenda and rule of the game. In addition, high economic growth in some part of the world, which is considered main benefit of globalization; will not alone start a trickle-down effort for the billions of poor people elsewhere. Innumerable people are living in absolute poverty as compared to the few who have excesses. The gaps or economic-divide between the rich and poor nations have not been reduced, but become even larger.

Relying too much on free market mechanism to reap short-term benefits has wrecked havoc to Southeast Asia and East Asia during the last two years. The impacts of the financial turmoil in the region have resulted in large-scaled tragedies that cannot be gauged billions of dollars were lost, tens of thousands of children were dropped out of school. The experiences drawn from this crisis show that the poor are the most vulnerable and the most affected by the crisis. Therefore, there is a dire need for the establishment of a social safety nets to prevent future crisis and for the enactment of regulations and the adoption of some policy measures to ensure smooth operation of the market mechanism. The race for high growth leads to a large-scale depletion of irreplaceable resources and environmental and atmospheric degradation to such an extent as to threaten human survival in the longer term and etc.

I have no ready solutions or answers to the myriad issues involved in charting the future. But, as I had said on another recent occasion, the world leaders have a rare and grave responsibility to do some real soul-searching as we step into the new millennium. We have to consider establishing a new world order; through new institutions or new agendas, or by improving or re-directing the existing institutions in order to make sure that all developing countries can share fairly and equitably the fruits of globalization. In this context, I believe that strengthening the cooperation between the North and the South, and among the countries of the South is very crucial in charting the agenda for our world order. May I raise a number of issues related to this important topic in addition to what I have said.

First, developed countries have their duties to formulate and implement the economic and financial policy, aimed at creating favorable conditions for stability and acceleration of the world economy, including prudent conduct of monetary policy, expansionary interest rate and fiscal policies to boost demand and the development of a transparent and accountable world financial order.

Second, We have to consider the new partnership between the North and the South to put forth measures allowing developing countries to meet effectively the challenges of globalization. Especially the developed countries should discharge their duties with regard to global free trade by opening access to their own markets and by providing unconditional, favorable treatment for developing countries. At the same time, care should be taken to design policies to promote the flows of investment, technology and new knowledge to poor countries in the South

Third, we should pay much attention to strengthening cooperation among countries in the South. G 77 countries should join forces into one block to protect the interests of developing countries on the international arena, especially in the United Nations and at other international negotiations, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). To this end, we have to consider measures to promote and improve our world body. Cambodia voices support for the reform of the United Nations. We understand that it is necessary for all of us to strictly uphold the Charter of the United Nations and strengthen the role of the Security Council in the peace-keeping process in the world. At the same time, we believe that developing countries should enhance their role in charting the future of the world within the framework of the UN Security Council. In this sense, Cambodia expresses full support for India as a candidate to occupy the permanent seat at the Security Council. Moreover, we warmly welcome the initiatives to establish a mechanism to coordinate the positions and follow up the work of the South. Cambodia feels that the idea to create the Monetary Fund, the Stabilization Fund and the Economic and Social Development Fund, proposed by Madagascar at the Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries held in Durban, South Africa, in 1998, is a good initiative, which deserves thorough consideration.

Fourth, we should make common efforts to strengthen cooperation among the South in the economy, technology and science, which I believe, will largely benefit all our people and ensure efficient use of the potentials, comparative advantages and our domestic resources with the view to ensuring long-term, sustainable development.

In concluding, Mr. Chairman, may I appeal once again to all world leaders to seize the opportunities presented by the dawn of the new millennium to make a careful assessment of the past achievements and the price that we have paid to attain this achievements. We should also envision any future disaster and put forth the initiatives to establish a new world order and new partnership among us, between the North and the South, and among the South. I am confident that this will be able to save the world and ensure its safety, sustainability and equity in thousands year to come. We can achieve these important objectives through coherent cooperation. Should we work in collaboration and solidarity, we will be heard as a single voice, full of courage, ambition and strong will in the march to achieve our sacred goals, i.e. to make a new face and to chart a new world order for the new century and the new millennium. Though Cambodia's capacity is still limited, we are well prepared to participate in these world efforts.

I thank you for your attention.