SRP MPs' letter to US Senator John Kerry on concerns over Oil Revenue transparency
KINGDOM OF CAMBODIANation Religion King
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Senator John Kerry
Chair
Foreign Relations Committee
US SENATE
218 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
August 12, 2010
Dear Senator Kerry,
We, the Parliamentarians of the Sam Rainsy Party of the Kingdom of Cambodia, are encouraged by the passage of the extractive industries transparency amendment to the recent finance legislation in the United States. The impact in Cambodia of this transparency provision will be significant as we approach the risk-laden task of managing of our newly discovered off-shore oil supplies.
Cambodia is ripe for disastrous extraction of our oil reserves. The use of our country's natural resources has been nothing short of tragic. We had an opportunity to turn mineral, timber and sand reserves into a sustainable flow of income for national development. Instead, 99-year concessions for enormous swaths of land were provided to companies in exchange for private pay-offs to a small number of associates at the top of the ruling political party. Environmental and social impact assessments are not performed. Quite to the contrary, the military is employed in forcing local residents off of land they have inhabited for decades,' and in denying access to the sites to environmental investigators.
We expect this pattern to repeat itself in our nascent oil extraction industry, which is why we welcome the United States' new law regarding transparency.
Cambodia is ripe for disastrous extraction of our oil reserves. The use of our country's natural resources has been nothing short of tragic. We had an opportunity to turn mineral, timber and sand reserves into a sustainable flow of income for national development. Instead, 99-year concessions for enormous swaths of land were provided to companies in exchange for private pay-offs to a small number of associates at the top of the ruling political party. Environmental and social impact assessments are not performed. Quite to the contrary, the military is employed in forcing local residents off of land they have inhabited for decades,' and in denying access to the sites to environmental investigators.
We expect this pattern to repeat itself in our nascent oil extraction industry, which is why we welcome the United States' new law regarding transparency.
