Holding the first donor meeting of its own hosting, Cambodia has upped its request for donor dollars to 689 million -- a 15% increase on the previous year.

In a joint statement, donors said that reforms and progress has been made by Cambodia and the country has achieved double-digit economic growth for the pastseveral years while financial management reforms have also been put in place and,diplomats and participants said they are encouraged by a more conciliatory Cambodian government because the climate has changed on both sides — there's more open dialogue and the commitment of the Cambodian Government to reform in key sector is moving forward in the right direction.

Calling it a "win-win situation of strong and solid partnership", the Cambodian take also suggests this is a "... a clear response to the conspiracy fomented by some international watchdogs hidden behind their political agenda and some crooked criticism to discredit the image of the Royal Government of Cambodia."

VOA takes a look from a different angle in their report titled, "Donors Continue to Give to Cambodia, But Corruption Concerns Remain".

"We would like the donors to link the aid to the improvement of respect of human rights, rule of law, principle of democracy," said Kek Galabru, the president of the Cambodian human rights group Licadho. "You know like, we would like to see the result of the problem of land grabbing. How about the democratic space for Cambodian people - can they demonstrate peacefully? Can they have access to information and have freedom of expression?"

In the true spirit of such meetings, however, in the end, the aid was given with no strings attached.

(I have to wonder why folks continue to pretend that aid ever comes with strings. Look at Zimbabwe, North Korea, Sudan or other nations where human rights count for squat for a pretty clear view of the fact that countries get away with whatever they want to get away with, and none of the 'donors' ... countries or organizations ... are ever much worried about anything more than appearances. Hence ... I love hence ... the never-ending cycle of genocide our species manages to keep perpetuating with little consequence.

Speaking of which, there's no significant news on the Khmer Rouge trials this week.)

Anyone interested in travel to Cambodia or neighboring countries might want to keep an eye on news of the International Travel Expo HCMC 2007 coming up in October in Ho Chi Minh City.

More than 100 exhibitors will be taking part and Qatar Airlines, United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Jetstar Asia, and Vietnam Airlines are said to be offering free air tickets and other services.

I'll take four, please ...

And finally, Kari Grady Grossman, author of "Bones That Float, A Story of Adopting Cambodia" is featured in this article about the "defining moments" that set her off down the path that eventually brought her to her son and her life's work in Cambodia.

One of the world's interesting and passionate women, Kari's contributions to the betterment of the planet are admirable, and make for a heck of a good read.

Have a great weekend. See you next Friday for another week of news from Cambodia. Feel free to stop by in the meantime, too, for a whole range of international adoption-related news.

For a daily look at all the news that impacts the adoption world, check out the new News Blog.