President’s upcoming Cambodia visit to boost bilateral economic-trade ties

Iron and steel of all kinds are one of Vietnam's exports to Cambodia. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s upcoming visit to Cambodia from December 21-22 affords both sides a chance to discuss major orientations and measures to further boost bilateral ties in the new period.

The Vietnam Trade Office in Cambodia said despite the COVID-19 pandemic, trade between Vietnam and Cambodia still surged 84 percent year on year to top 8.6 billion USD in the first 11 months of this year. Of the figure, more than 4.35 billion USD was from Vietnam’s exports to Cambodia, up 17 percent and the remaining was Cambodia’s exports, up 337 percent year-on-year. The figure is estimated at 9.3 billion USD for the entire year, marking a rise of nearly 75 percent annually.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Department of Asian-African Markets, Vietnam was one of the leading trade partners of Cambodia. During the 2016-2020 period, two-way trade expanded by 17 percent annually on average, from 2.92 billion USD in 2015 to 5.32 billion USD in 2020. Apart from boosting exports to Cambodia, Vietnam continued offering preferential tariff on Cambodia’s exports to Vietnam.

At present, Vietnam has 188 valid investment projects with a total registered capital of nearly 2.85 billion USD in Cambodia.

Vietnam and Cambodia have supported each other in the fight against COVID-19. Vietnam presented PCR test kits worth around 300,000 USD together with 500,000 USD in cash and medical supplies to Cambodia. Meanwhile, Cambodia also gave Vietnam 200,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses, 1 million medical and 100,000 N95 masks, 100 oxygen generators and 350,000 USD in cash to Vietnam.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien affirmed that the ministry is ready to partner with Cambodian agencies and the Cambodian Embassy in Vietnam to further boost bilateral ties in the near future./.