Masterton played host to a delegation of Cambodian civil servants on Tuesday who were in town to learn about budgeting in local government and the degree of autonomy councils have from central government in setting budgets.
The visit was under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade with funding provided by a grant from the Asian Development Bank.
Project Team leader Terry O'Donnell said the Cambodians had taken a look at the way Parliament works in New Zealand and had visited several other organisations including Niwa and the Wellington City Council before coming to Masterton to see how a district council operates.
The 14 Cambodians worked for four ministries in their own country: economy and finance; rural development; water resources and meteorology and agriculture; forestry and fisheries. They were officially welcomed to Masterton by Mayor Lyn Patterson and presented Mrs Patterson with a carved statuette as a gift.
Cambodia is introducing a range of public financial management systems and looks upon New Zealand as being advanced in that area.
