I am pleased to be able to join this 1^st International Conference on Belt and Road Green Development via video conference, amidst the terrible global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. I find the theme of promoting Green Cultural Exchange very appropriate as we reflect on ways to enhance our international cooperation under the Green “Belt and Road” so that we can look forward to a promising post-pandemic socio-economic recovery.

Please allow me Please allow me to take this opportunity to congratulate the organisers on their determination to ensure that this important virtual meeting takes place today, without which we would not have the platform to share our perspectives for future cooperation, at a time when the world is facing serious global health threat on top of the existing precarious state of environmental affairs.

The Belt and Road Initiative has come a long way since its soft launch in the Autumn of 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping under its long name, the “Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road”. This multifaceted economic, diplomatic and geopolitical initiative has morphed through various iterations, from its long name to a shorter and shortest ones, the “New Silk Road”, to the “One Belt, One Road”, and finally to the “Belt and Road Initiative” or shortly to the “BRI” as we all know so well today. President Xi’s signature foreign policy initiative has attracted considerable attention from the international community for its ambition to transpose the historical symbolism of the ancient Silk Road into modern-day sustainable development. The way I see it, today’s conference is reinforcing its Green development pillar of the BRI at its best.

The Belt and Road Initiative has come a long way since its soft launch in the Autumn of 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping under its long name, the “Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road”. This multifaceted economic, diplomatic and geopolitical initiative has morphed through various iterations, from its long name to a shorter and shortest ones, the “New Silk Road”, to the “One Belt, One Road”, and finally to the “Belt and Road Initiative” or shortly to the “BRI” as we all know so well today. President Xi’s signature foreign policy initiative has attracted considerable attention from the international community for its ambition to transpose the historical symbolism of the ancient Silk Road into modern-day sustainable development. The way I see it, today’s conference is reinforcing its Green development pillar of the BRI at its best.

Green development is not new on the BRI agenda and to contextualise it, I would like to refer it to what has been developing in the Mekong subregion. We have to bear in mind that all 5 Mekong countries that comprise my country Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam are an integral part of the ASEAN Community.

For several years, we have had a vibrant Mekong-Lancang Cooperation, in which China has consistently shown to be a strong supporter of ASEAN integration and the ASEAN Economic Community, through its “Connectivity” and “Production Capacity” linkages with the Mekong subregion. In that regards, just last month, during the Leaders’ Meeting of the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation, Premier Li Keqiang shared his vision on the future of the subregion and supported four areas of priority, namely: (1) connectivity through building the Mekong-Lancang Economic Development Belt and promoting synergy with the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor; (2) water resources cooperation; (3) sustainable development in agriculture and environment; and (4) public health by establishing Mekong-Lancang Public Health Community.

He praised the breakthrough in finding consensus in dealing with the most sensitive topic of transboundary water management with the successful convening of the 1^st Ministerial Meeting of Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation last December in China. The Leaders have also expressed their commitment to speeding up the realisation of the Mekong-Lancang Economic Development Belt (MLEDB) as a new engine of growth for the Mekong-Lancang subregion as well as to exploring the possibility of developing a New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, which takes into account the national strategies, development vision and development plans of the respective Mekong-Lancang countries.

This leads me to the case of Cambodia. Allow me a short moment to give you a bit of background of my country. Cambodia has made a remarkable achievement in sustaining a robust and inclusive economic growth of around 7.9% per annum over the last two decades. The rapid growth has substantially contributed to the acceleration of the living standard and the huge reduction of poverty from 53% in the 1990s to around 10% nowadays. We have witnessed rapid urbanisation with the urban population now accounting for 21% of the total population and the Government has set a long term vision to transform Cambodia into an Upper Middle-Income Country (UMIC) by 2030 and a High-Income Country (HIC) by 2050 by ways of transforming the country from a labour-intensive to a skill-based economy.

To realise this vision, the Government has implemented various policies and strategies to ensure a sustainable growth, resilient to negative shocks, particularly in light of the country’s high vulnerability to climate change. Accordingly, much work has been undertaken to enhance the country’s institutional capability to analyse the specific effects of climate change, quantify its projected impact on socio-economic development, and design strategies and policy options to minimise the negative impact on the national economy.

Cambodia is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. As an agrarian country, Cambodia’s vulnerability to climate change is mainly due to its geography, high reliance on the agriculture sector, and its weak adaptive capacity, including limited financial, technical, and human resources.

The country’s most agricultural production system is dependent on either rainfall or the annual flooding of the Tonle Sap Great Lake. The sector is therefore particularly sensitive to potential changes in local climate and monsoon conditions. The increasing occurrence and severity of floods exacerbated by climate change are resulting in high costs for the maintenance and upgrading of roads and irrigation infrastructure. This is particularly the case in urban areas where more and more assets and populations are concentrated. These are only two examples I would like to highlight, as my speaking time is running out.

Despite the many climate challenges, Cambodia, as an active contributor to the UNFCCC, has developed and implemented the Climate Change Strategic Plan 2014–2023 that illustrates not only the country’s priority of adaptation needs but also provides roadmaps for the de- carbonisation of key economic sectors and the enhancement of carbon sinks.

Moreover, we have also developed a National Policy on Green Growth and a National Strategic Plan on Green Growth 2013–2030 to balance economic development with environment, society, culture, and sustainable use of national resources through integration, matching, and adaption.

In more concrete terms, our actions include the preparation of energy efficiency standards, the promotion of investment in renewable energy, like solar and hydropower, biodiversity management, and Green finance policy through the implementation of clean development mechanisms (CDMs).

Under the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation, Cambodia has implemented a broad range of practical cooperation activities, ranging from water resource management to carbon emission reduction (REDD+).

Going forward, adhering to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, the Government will continue to advance this sustainable development agenda and work with all development partners, including through the Belt and Road Initiative, to fulfill its responsibility in promoting green development.

This article was adapted from the author’s keynote speech at the 1 st International Conference on Belt and Road Green Development in Beijing, 26th September 2020.

The views expressed are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of the Asian Vision Institute.