•    H.E. Sok Puthyvuth, Secretary of State, Ministry of Post and Telecommunications 
•    H.E. Chun Vath, Secretary of State, Ministry of Post and Telecommunications
•    Excellencies, esteemed guests and colleagues,

Good morning / Arun Suo-sdei!

I am delighted to be here with you today to mark an important milestone we have achieved in the development of the M&E Framework for the Digital Economy and Society Policy Framework. I would like to begin with a sincere appreciation to the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications as the Secretariat of the National Council for Digital Economy and Society for the collaboration and the trust in UNDP to support this very important initiative.

Since we last met in March 2024 and through the subsequent technical discussions, we have now achieved the first draft of the M&E Framework with indicators across all dimensions of the Digital Economy and Society Policy Framework. Your inputs in this journey have been instrumental. We meet again today to validate the draft framework and complete the remaining tasks in order to finalize the document. From there, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) can take the next steps to formalize the framework and move towards implementation.

Taking this opportunity, I’d like to share my appreciation of the commitments from all of you and the RGC to this exercise and the wider digital transformation mission of responding to the need to navigate the fast-changing digital development landscape and the emerging threats such as digital scams and frauds. Most notably, I would like to commend the recent establishment of the Digital Security Committee (DSC) and the Commission for Combatting Online Scams, the deployment of verify.gov.kh platform, the launch of the Strategy for the Development of E-service for Businesses 2025-28 and the development of AI and machine learning tools that improve public services and the needs of the citizens, among other things.

UNDP is proud to have accompanied Cambodia on this journey. We have supported digital solutions in many areas of our work, including cash transfer to poor households in our social protection work, digital business acceleration during Covid-19 pandemic, online platforms for environmental and socio-economic data management leveraging satellite imagery and artificial intelligence for poverty and vulnerability mapping, digital platform for citizen’s feedback on public services (yobol.org) and block-chain based Universal Trusted Credential (UTC) portal to support lending decisions and access to affordable finance for MSMEs.

To mitigate the risks of digital scams on the most vulnerable people, UNDP in partnership with MPTC, NBC and MOI has convened a multi-stakeholder dialogue to tackle digital scams in Cambodia. Together with UNDP Kazakhstan and the Astana Civil Service Hub, we are facilitating the knowledge sharing and partnership building on digital government across 12 countries in the Asia and Caucasus regions, including Cambodia. We are working with the Ministry of Interior on digital identification and finally, the work on M&E in the Digital Economy and Society Policy Framework that we are discussing here today.

Excellencies, esteemed guests and colleagues,

This is a critical moment. As we gather here today, we have already achieved one- third of the journey towards the full digital transformation by 2035 goal of the Digital Economy and Society Policy Framework. This calls for the necessity to take stock of the progress and review areas where targets may need to be adjusted or where acceleration may be needed.

The Pentagonal Strategy phase 1, the Digital Economy and Society Policy Framework, the Digital Government Policy, and the Strategy for the Development of E-services for Businesses all place high emphasis on keeping “people” at the core of digital development and transformation. This is a key principle that I believe will guide the discussion today and throughout this exercise. With this consideration, I strongly encourage the workshop to prioritize areas to bridge the digital divide, especially in terms of gender and geography. As much as possible, disaggregated indicators and data should be considered to inform targeted policies and interventions to address implementation gaps or to identify learning needs.

The input from today’s discussion will serve as crucial input for the National Council for Digital Economy and Society to finalize the M&E framework. Yet, it is only the beginning for the RGC to embark on a more exciting task of monitoring and evaluation which enables you to monitor progress and results and draw insightful evidence for policy decision and development of different interventions to achieve an inclusive whole-of-society digital transformation agenda where no one is left behind.

Excellencies, esteemed guests and colleagues,

Before concluding, I would like to assure you of UNDP’s continued commitment to support the government on this journey as much as we can. I thank you all for your active participation in this process. My appreciation goes to H.E. Sok Puthyvuth, Secretary of State of Ministry of Post and Telecommunication and senior leadership and staff of the ministry for leading this work with high commitment, as well as our experts and my own team at UNDP for their support and contribution. Last but not least, my appreciation goes to UNDP core donors for their financial contributions that make this work possible.

I wish you all productive deliberations and a successful workshop.

Thank you/ Saum Orkun.