Citing “difficulty with the national budget,” Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong has announced a reduction of diplomatic staff and has ordered spending cuts at all Cambodian embassies worldwide, according to an open letter released Wednesday.
In the letter, signed Jan 20, Hor Namhong said Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered the Foreign Affairs Ministry to “reduce diplomatic officials, military attaches and commercial advisers as much as possible.”
The minister also announced that the government would stop paying salaries for the spouses of all ambassadors and consuls, starting January 2004, as the ambassadors are adequately paid.
Hor Namhong wrote that the ambassadors are given “very high salaries” in order to fulfill their duties.
The letter did not specify how many jobs would be slashed, nor did it state the value of the salary cuts.
Hor Namhong asked for the public and government officials “to understand the situation of the national budget and for the Royal Government to take this measure in order to enable the government to achieve the only goal of serving our supreme national interests.”
He added that the government has also decided to open two new embassies in London and Brussels. He did not elaborate on those plans.
Currently, Cambodia has more than 20 embassies around the world, including in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan and the US.
Hor Namhong could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
Sieng Lapresse, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Wednesday said he was not aware of the minister’s order.
But, he said: “Every ministry has a shortfall…especially because of the political deadlock.”
The political deadlock, which has lasted more than five months, has delayed the formation of the new government and the National Assembly, requiring the old government to continue its work by carrying over the previous year’s budget. According to the 2003 budget, the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s spends about $13 million a year.
“We have to save pennies and make everyone worth it so the government can run another mile,” Sieng Lapresse said, though he said lack of funding was not a serious problem.
“It’s really not too much of a concern,” he said.
Hor Namhong’s statement follows a letter last week by Oum Sarith, the secretary-general of the Senate, warning that the legislative body was in debt.
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith, however, said he did not believe the government was facing a cash crunch.
He said the government continues to generate money to sustain itself through taxes and foreign assistance. About 25 percent to 30 percent of the government’s approximately $768 million budget comes from foreign assistance, Khieu Kanharith added.
He did not know about the foreign minister’s plans to open new embassies nor of the order to cut jobs and eliminate salaries.
Ok Socheat, secretary of the National Assembly’s information and foreign affairs commission and a deputy secretary-general for Funcinpec, said ambassadors’ wives receive about $300 per month in health insurance and $500 in expenses for their salary. The costs, however, fluctuate depending on where the embassy is located, he said.
Ok Socheat, a former diplomat to the UN in New York, said ambassadors in countries where the cost of living is high, such as in the US or Australia, are paid about $3,500 per month. Elsewhere, ambassadors’ salaries range from more than $1,000 to about $2,500 per month, he said.
