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National Conference on “One Village, One Product” Movement
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 More than 500 guests attend the event |
The APO supported the national conference on the “One Village, One Product” Movement in Cambodia, organized by the National Productivity Center of Cambodia (NPCC) and the Cambodian OVOP National Committee, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 5 June. This historical event was attended by more than 500 guests, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, two deputy prime ministers, 10 ministers and 20 vice-ministers from related line ministries, ambassadors from various countries, representatives of international organizations and NGOs, 24 provincial governors, 188 district governors, representatives from the private sector such as chambers of commerce, and the mass media.
Following the welcome remarks by Secretary-General Son Koun Thor of the Cambodian OVOP National Committee, APO Secretary-General Shigeo Takenaka remarked, “Now the time has come for Cambodia to launch its OVOP movement in a big way” after touching on the success stories of Oita, Japan, and Thailand in his address. He also expressed the APO’s willingness “to continue cooperation so that every rural community in Cambodia will find a way to stand on its own feet economically.”
Prime Minister Hun Sen, in his opening remarks, introduced the government policy related to the OVOP movement in Cambodia, highlighting four principles: find a production method suitable to a village’s conditions and meet market demand; encourage people to produce by improving market access, providing credit, transferring technology, and supplying seeds; build up management capacity and human resources; and enable the establishment of agricultural communities to ensure price stability of products. He also shared his impressions after observing the OVOP in Oita, Japan, in 2001 and stated that, “All relevant ministries, institutions, and local authorities have to facilitate and cooperate closely with the National Committee for OVOP to assist in the administrative and technical work and other resources in order to effectively implement the OVOP.” Prime Minister Hun Sen also called for the cooperation of “the Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Professions, microenterprises, and Rural Development Bank as well as domestic and overseas financial institutions” along with “the APO and other countries implementing the OVOP.”
 Dr. Hiramatsu introducing the original OVOP |
 Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and APO resource speakers at the closing ceremony |
The APO deputed three resource persons for the conference, President Dr. Morihiko Hiramatsu of the Oita OVOP International Exchange Promotion Committee and former governor of Oita prefecture, Japan; Director Auscharawan Maneeket of the Policy and Community Enterprise Development Division, Ministry of Interior, Thailand; and PhD Researcher Rika Fujioka of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Dr. Hiramatsu made a presentation on “The One Village, One Product Movement—Spreading throughout the World” and introduced the experiences of the original OVOP movement in Oita, which focused on 1) local yet global; 2) self-reliance and creativity; and 3) human resources development. Auscharawan made a presentation on “One Tambon, One Product (OTOP)—The Strengthening of Thailand’s Grassroots Economy,” explaining how Thailand had rapidly succeeded in promoting OTOP nationwide since 2001. Fujioka spoke on “The OVOP Movement Strategy—Lessons Learned from OVOP in Japan and OTOP in Thailand” and suggested that Cambodians find the best strategy fitting the socioeconomic conditions of their country based on a comparative analysis of the two successful but different approaches in Japan and Thailand.
Secretary-General Son Koun Thor introduced the “OVOP Strategic Plan in Cambodia” covering national-level projects and a representative of the Ministry of Commerce gave a briefing on promoting the “One Province, One Product (OPOP)” project. A number of comments and questions from various participants made the conference interactive. A high point of the closing ceremony was an address by Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, who made ad-lib remarks on his impressions of the OVOP movement in addition to his prepared statement.
Following the national conference, a seminar on the One Village, One Product Movement was held 6 June, attended by more than 470 students from the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Royal University of Agriculture, Royal University of Art, National Institute of Management, University of Science and Law, and private universities. During the opening ceremony, after welcome remarks given by Secretary-General Son Koun Thor of the Cambodian OVOP National Committee, Japanese Ambassador Katsuhiro Shinohara delivered the opening remarks in Khmer, which was greatly appreciated by the participants.
 Q&A session during the seminar |
Thanks to a special cash grant from the Government of Japan, the APO has been conducting a five-year Integrated Community Development project through the OVOP movement in the Mekong region since 2005. In 2006, the APO organized a workshop on Integrated Community Development for the Mekong Region: “One Village, One Product” Movement in CLMV Countries in Oita, Japan, and Bangkok, Thailand, in December with 24 participants from the four CLMV countries of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam and four local and four APO Japanese resource persons in attendance. The workshop was designed with a preparatory and a follow-up phase. In the preparatory phase, a distance-learning session was held in collaboration with the World Bank Global Development Learning Network at which Dr. Morihiko Hiramatsu provided basic information on 25 October 2006. The workshop itself consisted of a study visit to Oita and the workshop in Bangkok. In the follow-up phase, national seminars on OVOP were organized with the support of the APO. The conference in Cambodia was one follow-up activity; Lao PDR organized a similar conference 28–29 March and Vietnam on 10 April 2007.
