STATE PROFILE PAPER ABOUT CAMBODIA

State profile paper about Cambodia

State profile paper about Cambodia

Introduction

Cambodia whose official name is the Kingdom of Cambodia (in Cambodia: Preah Reach Ana Pak Kampuchea) is a constitutional monarchy of Southeast Asia with a population of about 14 million people, mostly ethnic Khmer. The main religion is Buddhism Theravada. The country is bordered to the west by Thailand, on the north by Laos, east to Vietnam and south to the Gulf of Thailand. It is traversed by the Mekong River.

General Information about Cambodia

Capital: Phnom Penh, surface area: 181,035 sq km, official language: Khmer, Population: 14.3 million (2010), Exchange rate: A$1= 3,100.91 Riels (July 2010), Head of State: HM King Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni and Head of Government: Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen.

Economy

In the primary sector, Cambodia has specialized mainly in agriculture, fisheries, forestry and mining. This sector is one of the largest relative to GDP and employs 70% of people in connection with agriculture and fishing. For the secondary sector, Cambodia is focused primarily on activities to bring about change more or less refined their raw material, such as manufacturing and construction. These activities, in relation to GDP, account for 27.8%. For cons, the textile industry is the largest in the industry and indicates 80% of the total exports in GDP, as for the tertiary sector consists of services, including insurance, banking, healthcare, education, utilities, and tourism. Rice cultivation remains the main economic activity in the Kingdom.

Cambodia's natural resources are timber, gemstones, iron ore, manganese and phosphate, hydroelectric potential of the Mekong River, unknown quantities of oil, gas, and bauxite. Also, Cambodia can now rely on foreign aid to finance on certain requirements. But tourism is experiencing a real climb. Can be divided into three sectors of Cambodia's income is agriculture which accounts for 33.5% of GDP in 2009, is mainly based on the cultivation of rice, rubber, corn, meat, vegetables, dairy products , sugar and flour. Then there's the industry that evokes 21.7% of GDP (2009). The types of industry are the treatment of clothing and footwear manufacturing, production of rice, tobacco, fish and fish products, timber, textiles, cement, some rubber production, paper and Food. Then there are services (38.8% of GDP, 2009), which are tourism, telecommunications, transportation and construction. Regarding the distribution of labour in each sector of income, 67.9% engaged in agriculture, 12.7% work in industry while 19.5% worked at services.

The colonial experience and independence

The situation in Cambodia was a mess at the end of the war. Free French under General Charles de Gaulle, was determined to recover Indochina, despite offering to Cambodia and the rest of the region a degree of self-government within the so-called French Union. In Phnom Penh, Sihanouk, as head of state, was placed in a very delicate position, trying to negotiate with France for the full independence and, simultaneously, trying to neutralize politicians and supporters of the Khmer Issarak, who considered him a collaborator with the ...