Chinese Province Donates 300 Tractors to Cambodia

The Chinese province of Guangxi Zhuang will donate 300 tractors to Cambodia in order to help rural areas recover from recent flooding and boost agricultural development, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said yesterday. “It’s a very good gesture of the Chinese government to Cambodia,” he said. Chan Saruth, director of the Ministry of Agriculture’s machinery department, said the ministry would operate the tractors in flood-affected areas. “They will help reduce the burden of our government to rehabilitate farmland and speed up new planting,” he said. Massive floods along the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap lake plagued 21 provinces in September and October, destroying 10 percent of the annual rice crop, affecting 1.5 million people and causing $520 million in damage. Chinese Embassy spokesman Yang Tian Yue said Prime Minister hun Sen had visited Guangxi province in October, and that the donation had followed from this visit. “They [Guangxi province] promised to help,” he said. Government news service Agence Kampuchea Presse reported that the deputy governor of Guangxi province, Yang Daoxi, met with Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An during a visit to Cambodia on Friday to announce the donation.