JAKARTA -- New Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Monday (Sept 4) laid out his vision to lift the Southeast Asian country into the high-income category by 2050, in his first public remarks at an international forum since taking office. The 45-year-old took over power from his father Mr Hun Sen last month after a lopsided general election that all opposition parties were barred from contesting. Speaking at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) business forum in the Indonesian capital, the Western-educated leader said Cambodia had recently launched an overarching national economic vision to "safeguard the nature of hard-gained peace and accelerate national development to achieve the milestone of becoming a high-income country by 2050". The vision involves developing human capital, the digital economy and inclusivity and sustainability, he said, referring to it as the "pentagon strategy". In a country once riven by decades of war, Cambodia has now evolved to a lower-middle income nation with economic growth rates of 7 per cent, he said. Speaking ahead of the annual Asean summit on Tuesday, the Westpoint graduate and four-star general acknowledged a tightening of geopolitical rivalry among major powers, which he said was putting pressure on "peace, security and prosperity for Asean as a whole". Observing that "war cannot be ended by war", Mr Hun Manet called on Asean and international communities to oppose the threat of force against a sovereign state, and said Asean and the United Nations must "adhere to the spirit of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference". Cambodia's parliament approved Mr Hun Manet as prime minister in August. His father, Mr Hun Sen, ruled Cambodia for almost four decades, a time analysts said was marked by increasing autocracy, the suppression of political opposition and shuttering of a free press. Mr Hun Sen, one of the world's longest ruling leaders, has said he expects his son to continue his leadership style and will himself remain in politics. REUTERS
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