Opening Speech by Mr. THY Try, Executive Director of Open Development Cambodia

 

 

 

 

Remarks by Mr. Thy Try, Executive Director, Open Development Cambodia (ODC) 
During the Opening Ceremony
The 1st Cambodia ICT Camp 2018
At Sokha Siem Reap Resort & Convention Center
17 December 2018

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

  • Mr. Mok Khemera, Director of the Department of EGovernment and a representative of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
  • Mr. Norbert Klein, Board member, Open Development Cambodia
  • Ms. Pyrou Chung, Senior Adviser, Open Development Initiative-East-West Management Institute
  • Ms. Puangchomphu Rammuang, Resource Mobilization Manager, Thai Fund Foundation
  • And all participants of the Cambodia ICT Camp 2018.

Very good morning!

  • Chomreabsuor
  • Sawasdee krub
  • Suh-bye-dee
  • Mingalabar
  • Selamat Pagi
  • Nǐ hǎo

First of all, on behalf of the Cambodia ICT Camp Committee 2018 and the Open Development Cambodia (ODC) organization, I would like to thank Mr. Mok Khemera, representative of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication for your presence with us today to deliver opening remarks for the first Cambodia ICT Camp 2018.

I am very excited to meet our new friends and speakers from Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia, and Taiwan at this camp, especially representatives of the Seed Innovation Fund of the Mekong ICT Camp 2017 to share their success stories about implementing their projects. You will hear their stories during this five-day event. They are the experts from information communication technology community, Civil society, Government, university, and private company.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to the facilitators, speakers, volunteers and in particular our Cambodia ICT Camp Committee members and the ODC team. All of them have been working with us since the beginning of the planning stage and they are still here today for all of us, even though they are very busy with their responsibilities at their agencies. We truly appreciate your dedication.

I would like to take this opportunity to share with you the story of the Cambodia ICT Camp 2018.  In 2015, I attended the Mekong ICT Camp as a participant together with other participants from the Mekong sub-region. At the time I could see the potential for having an event like this in Cambodia and started discussing how to bring this event here. We reflected on the requirements of the location and the capacity needed to run the event.

Follow discussions, in 2017 the ODC team was encouraged by the Thai Fund Foundation and the committee of the Mekong ICT Camp to host the 5th Mekong ICT Camp in Cambodia. It was first time the Camp had been held outside Thailand. Following the great achievement of a very successful Mekong ICT Camp in 2017, this year we have great pleasure in hosting and welcoming all of you to the first Cambodia ICT Camp. We hope we will be able to make this camp a regular event.

The objectives of the 1st Cambodia ICT Camp 2018 are:

  1. To create, expand and sustain a peer-coaching network of trainers and a learning space that establish a national network focusing on open technology and digital rights issues through experts, journalists, researchers and community practitioners for consultation, information exchange and resource sharing.
  2. To document national issues and practices for sharing with technology developers, researchers, trainers, and digital rights communities by the use of open technologies, open source softwares, and open standards that equip the target audience with robust and reliable network connectivity.
  3. To promote the role of sustainable technological infrastructure that enhances evidence based and effective policy-making decisions with open data for social innovation.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

This year the Cambodia ICT Camp 2018 is focusing on four thematic areas: Cybersecurity, Open Source for Good, Open Data for Sustainable Development, and Social Innovation.

Again, this Cambodia ICT Camp 2018 program could not have been made possible without USAID, Development Innovations and East-West Management Institute- Open Development Initiative. I hope that everyone would take the results of this Camp to apply in their daily life, organizations and also institutions.

I hope the accommodations are comfortable and you enjoy the hospitality during your stay in this special part of Cambodia. And I hope you enjoy it here as much as the people here enjoy having you.

Finally, I would like to wish distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, and all participants good health, renewed successes, and happiness.

I hope that all of you will enjoy the Camp, and I trust that our visitors from abroad will have a very pleasant stay in Siem Reap province.

Thank you. Arkoun chraen!

CICTCamp Opening Speech
Mr. Thy Try, Executive Director of Open Development Cambodia (ODC) is giving speech during the opening session to the camp.