Macroeconomic policies affect both the rate of growth of the economy and the distribution of the benefits of growth across economic sectors and social groups. The process of structural change that is currently underway in many Asian countries adds new dimensions to the linkage between macroeconomic policies and poverty reduction. With these considerations in view as well as in the context of supporting the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, UNDP's Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific launched in early 2002 the Asia-Pacific Regional Programme on the Macroeconomics of Poverty Reduction.

The objective is to identify and promote more pro-poor macroeconomic policies in the region. With two-thirds of the world's poor living in the region such pro-poor approaches are critical to the process of poverty reduction. Fostering greater consistency between country's macroeconomic framework and its national poverty reduction strategy and broadening the policy options and dialogue on poverty reduction issues have been the pillars of the programme.

This publications is also available in Khmer.

The establishment of Export Processing/Industrial Zones (EPZs/IZs) has been adopted by the Cambodian government as a key strategy to develop and diversify the country’s industrial and export basis, sustain economic growth, generate employment and reduce poverty. The establishment of IZ/EPZs is intended to support the creation of an enabling and competitive environment for foreign investments. However, the Cambodian government is also concerned by the social and poverty impacts of this strategy. The Cambodian National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) emphasizes the need to ensure “access for the poor to trade induced income and employment benefits”, along with a “sustainable use of natural resources and improved conditions for workers (gender equity, health, safety and appropriate wage levels)” and explicitly recommends that agencies concerned “conduct poverty and social impact analysis to better predict both the positive and negative consequences of the trade strategy”. As regards Foreign Direct Investment and the development of EPZs, the NPRS acknowledges that “FDI and export activity will not provide opportunity for poverty reduction if concerns about types and conditions of investment, ownership, labor standards and environmental regulations and accountability mechanisms” are not adequately addressed. It also stresses the need to “guarantee backward linkages, address the possible intensification of income inequalities between rural and urban areas, increased rural to urban migration and the creation of urban and peri-urban slums”1.

In February 2003, UNDP was requested to assist the Cambodian government in getting a better understanding of the social impacts of EPZs in the particular context of the Koh Kong EPZ project. The EPZ project is a joint Cambodian-Thai initiative and ranks as a high priority within the framework for cooperation between the two countries.

Cambodia was once the center of a mighty empire that stretched from the edge of India to the South China Sea. But within the last fifty years, the country has been ravaged by civil war, and lost a generation through genocide, disease and starvation.

While many countries were grappling with the HIV-AIDS pandemic at the end of the last Century, Cambodia was emerging from decades of conflict and trying to re-build its society. Because it lost so many of its best people, Cambodia needs many individuals from all walks of life who have vision and commitment to help address these challenging times