A vendor carries fruit for sale in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia. (Photo: www.globaltimes.cn/) Hanoi (VNA) - China and Cambodia signed a free tradeagreement (FTA) in Phnom Penh on October 12, with Cambodian Prime Minister HunSen and visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attendingthe signing ceremony.
TheFTA, Cambodia's first such bilateral deal, was completed after just threerounds of talks that started in January and finished in July. It was signedvirtually by Cambodia's Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak and his Chinesecounterpart Zhong Shan.
Covering a wide range of cooperation areas of investment, trade, tourism,transportation and agriculture, the deal is aimed at slashing tariffs and boosting marketaccess between the two countries.
“The signing of theagreement signifies even stronger ties between the two countries and marksanother key historical milestone for Cambodia China relations,” Pan Sorasaksaid at the signing ceremony.
He hoped the agreement, to come into effect early next year, would provide a more robust economic partnerships through a higher degreeof market access, liberalisation for goods, services and investment.
Currently,Cambodia's domestic demand is gradually recovering. In the October 2020 updatereport on the economic outlook for East Asia and the Pacific, announced onSeptember 29, the World Bank (WB) predicted that Cambodia's economy willdecline by 2 percent in 2020.
A report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) expected the Cambodian economy torecover with a 5.9 percent growth in 2021./.
VNA
