PHNOM PENH: The Secretary of State of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation and Secretary General of Disability Action Council (DAC), Em Chan Makara, has thanked the Government and people of Australia for supporting the Royal Government of Cambodia in promoting the disability sector through the Handicap International (HI) Project.

Speaking at the Closing Ceremony of the Physical Accessibility Design Challenge on Friday morning, 28 October, at the Sunway Hotel, Secretary of State Em Chan Makara thanked the Government and people of Australia for supporting the Cambodian government, specifically the General Secretariat of DAC, which is part of the HI Project, through the Australia-Cambodia Cooperation Program for Equitable Services and Sustainability (ACCESS).

The HI Project aims to promote and inspire engineering and architecture students to design new physical infrastructure that is easier for persons with disabilities to use and access, and to expand knowledge on how to build and adjust existing physical infrastructure to become more accessible as well.

The Team Leader of ACCESS, Anne Rouve-Khiev, said that for over a decade now, the Government of Australia has been a longstanding partner to the Royal Government of Cambodia in advancing the rights of persons with disabilities, having provided a total of $37.5 million Australian dollars.

She added that in the last four years, ACCESS has been proud to partner with Government and non-governmental institutions, the private sector, and, most importantly, organizations of persons with disabilities, to advance disability rights in Cambodia.

Secretary of State, Em Chan Makara, also gave mention to the Royal Government of Cambodia’s National Disability Strategic Plan (NDSP), which is focused on the facilitation and improvement of physical infrastructure as well as the improvement of public transportation, means of communication, information technology systems and services for persons with disabilities in Cambodia.