Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said the government is working on draft laws on civil registration and identification aiming to ensure that each citizen has a single identity.

Sar Kheng made the remarks during a meeting with Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) via video conference on November 4.

Alisjahbana met with Sar Kheng to discuss civil registration and vital statistics and she also briefed the minister on the second ministerial-level roundtable meeting on this subject scheduled to take place on November 19. She invited Sar Kheng to attend this video conference and share Cambodia’s good experience in the matter.

“The intent of the second roundtable ministerial meeting is to push all the participating countries to share experiences related to civil registration,” Alisjahbana said.

She appreciated Cambodia's efforts to draft the civil registration law with the intent to achieve the "one person, one identity" goal.

Sar Kheng accepted the invitation, saying the coming meeting is an opportunity for Cambodia to forge new partnerships which can contribute to the country’s civil registration efforts.

“Cambodia has been actively working on this subject and has been enforcing our 2016-2021 strategic plan on civil registration,” he told Alisjahbana, adding that civil registration had been destroyed almost entirely during the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime.

He said civil registration is an important work that serves the daily living activities of the people.