Central area of Preah Sihanouk province (Source:Internet) Cambodia has decided to establish a special economic zone in Preah Sihanouk province in an attempt to attract investment and develop its economy as the ASEAN Community forms by the end of this year.
According to the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC)’s General Secretary Sok Chanda Sophia, the province will be developed to become a driving force for the country’s industry since it is a convergence of all favourable conditions for economic development and investment attraction.
Cambodia has so far set up 30 special economic zones nationwide, but only 13 of them are operating with 215 companies in the fields of electronic assembling, garment and footwear.
Insufficient capital and underperforming infrastructure have hindered the operation of most of the economic zones.
Xavier Forneris, investment specialist from the World Bank, said the Cambodian government should focus on retaining investors after their initial capital flow into the country to ensure stable and sustainable foreign investment.
According to a statistic from the CDC, total investments in the country hit 3.9 billion USD in 2014, with China, Malaysia and Japan being the three biggest investors with 953 million USD, 85 million USD and 67 million USD, respectively.-VNA
