The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a new country partnership strategy for Cambodia, spanning the period 2024–2028. The new strategy, closely aligned with the first phase of the national Pentagonal Strategy for the same period, aims to strengthen pathways for a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient economy in Cambodia.
According to a press release issued by ADB, the five-year strategy focuses on working with the government and other partners to accelerate private-sector-led economic diversification, advance human development, and strengthen climate resilience.
The comprehensive strategy also incorporates crosscutting priorities to address climate change, enhance governance and institutional capacity, improve gender equality, promote digitalization, and deepen regional cooperation and integration.
“Shaped in close collaboration with diverse stakeholders, ADB’s new country strategy is a partnership with Cambodia for its prosperity, its people, and the planet,” said Scott Morris, ADB Vice-President for East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
“It heralds an exciting new chapter of growth and opportunity in Cambodia’s development journey, one that aims to set the country on the path to high income status in the decades ahead,” Morris said.
The strategy emphasizes prosperity by accelerating economic diversification, recognizing the pivotal role of the private sector in driving sustainable growth. Key to this approach is enhancing high-quality, climate-resilient infrastructure to attract private sector investments, and creating an enabling business environment, particularly beneficial for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
Placing people at the heart of the development agenda, the strategy seeks to ensure inclusive access to quality and affordable services, including education, skills development, healthcare, and clean water supply and sanitation services. ADB will also ramp up its efforts to enhance digital service delivery by subnational administrations, and improve food security and nutrition for those most in need, thereby paving the way for enhanced economic productivity.
Aligned with ADB and the government’s climate commitments, the strategy aims to strengthen climate resilience through targeted climate adaptation initiatives spanning agriculture, water resource ecosystems, and urban infrastructure. Further, it prioritizes the expansion of renewable energy sources and mobilization of concessional climate finance, in a concerted effort towards a greener and more resilient future for Cambodia.
The statement added that ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. (khmertimeskh)
