Cambodia on Tuesday requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to consider providing aid – especially to the elderly, people with disabilities and orphaned children.

In the meantime, the bank is studying the country’s social welfare system before announcing a raft of technical assistance as part of the execution of its Social Protection Development Fund project.

The ADB is conducting studies from this year until 2021 – the first step being to produce technical jurisprudence documentation for the Kingdom.

Following discussions between Minister of Labour and Vocational Training Ith Sam Heng and ADB principal social development specialist Sri Wening Handayani on Tuesday, the ministry said the bank could not yet assess how much funding the project would realise.

During the meeting, Sam Heng requested that research be conducted into the rights of vulnerable people, including the elderly, people with disabilities and orphaned children.

The minister also requested that Handayani assess the financial sustainability of social protection.

In a Facebook post, Sam Heng said: “I have assigned the Technical Working Group of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training’s National Social Security Fund, who are working on the Technical and Vocational Education and Training programme, to collaborate with the ADB’s team and do whatever is necessary to achieve a positive outcome.”

Handayani said she had sought opinions from Cambodia as a key to executing the Social Protection Development Fund project.

She said the project was another large initiative to help some countries develop their labour sectors and vocational training and social protection systems.

The Social Protection Development Fund is another new project, Handayani said, which would see the ADB conduct studies in six countries – Azerbaijan, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Myanmar and Uzbekistan.

“Technical assistance is already being implemented in three countries – East Timor, Indonesia and Myanmar – and three others – Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Uzbekistan – will be provided with technical assistance next,” she said.

Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training undersecretary of state Ngoy Rith gave an interview after the meeting and said the studies aimed to discover the risks involved in implementing social protection in the Kingdom.

Rith said Cambodia had successfully implemented some parts of the National Social Security Fund’s plans in the past, and would next move forward with a retirement pension scheme.

“The ADB will provide technical assistance as we study the impact of implementing social protection.

“After the research is complete, the bank will produce documentation to help our government introduce other action plans to meet our Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.