Policy Talk

Good evening ladies and gentlemen!

Thank you very much for joining our event this evening at The Asia Foundation. Before we start our program this evening, I would like to provide some background information.

On January 23, 2018, a local newspaper featured an article regarding the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training and Ministry of Public Works and Transport’s plan to launch a national policy to reduce the number of traffic accidents involving garment workers being driven to and from factories. The policy encourages employers and drivers to prioritize road safety.

On May 22, 2018, the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training announced that 12 domestically-produced trucks were being donated to two NGOs tasked with getting factory workers in Svay Rieng province to work safely. The donated trucks are enclosed and have seats for the workers, a safer option than the open flatbed trucks that currently carry standing workers across the country.

Early this month, a traffic accident took place in Kampong Speu Province causing 25 among 30 workers injured.

In 2017, there were about 3,531 traffic accidents that killed 1,800 people. In particular, there were about 1,691 traffic accidents involving garment workers that killed 33 people and 219 people injured. As of the first five months in 2018, there were about 698 garment workers injured and 10 died. The number has reduced significantly. Most of the cases involved drivers speeding, vehicle faults, and overtaking.

This evening, The Asia Foundation is delighted to host this Policy Talk with representatives from Ministry of Public Works and Transport and AIP Foundation to get to know more from these institutions on what their institutions have been doing regarding this topic.

Please join us to welcome,

• E. Ms. Min Meanvey, Secretary of State, Ministry of Public Works and Transport, and Secretary-General of the National Road Safety Committee. She will share with us about the efforts the ministry has made in dealing with the safety for garment workers on the road.
• Pagna Kim, Director of the AIP Foundation. He will share with us about the work of the AIP Foundation in Cambodia regarding the promotion of road safety.

Note: The views expressed in this talk represents the opinions of the speakers only and do not reflect the position of The Asia Foundation. We are hoping to have this free and open discussion and therefore please do not quote or publish anything from this discussion. If anyone wants to do so, please individually approach the speakers after the discussion. It will be the speakers’ personal decision if they want to be interviewed and/or quoted.