Vietnam, Cambodia look to foster trade, investment partnership

Phnom Penh (VNA) - Local management officials and representatives of the business communities of Vietnam and Cambodia joined a Vietnam-Cambodia trade and investment promotion conference in Phnom Penh on December 17.

Opening the event, Phan Van Truong,  who is in charge of the Vietnam Trade Office in Cambodia, said that after more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vietnamese and Cambodian economies have recovered and developed strongly.

Bilateral trade and investment partnership has been growing fast, while businesses of both nations have strengthened their collaboration, he said.

Truong said that the conference aimed to connect businesses of the two countries and give them a chance to seek partnership and develop markets, thus expanding their investment and business activities.

Meanwhile, Tan Yuvaroat, Vice Director of the General Directorate of Trade Promotion under the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce, said that Cambodia and Vietnam have shared a long history of trade relations, and the two governments have worked hard to promote official trade exchange on major products of fertilizers, plant varieties and construction materials, and foodstuff.

He held that Vietnam has an attractive tourism market that is suitable to Cambodian visitors' demand. Cambodia had attracted a number of investment projects in agriculture and industry, but they were halted due to COVID-19 impacts, he added.

The official said he hoped the conference would provide more information for businesses to seek partnership opportunities

According to Ngo Van Tuat, Minister Counsellor of the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia, in the first 11 months of this year, trade between Vietnam and Cambodia reached 9.77 billion USD, up 13.2% year on year. The figure is expected to reach over 10 billion USD in 2022, he added.

Tuat held that agriculture is one of the priority area of Cambodia and Vietnam's strength, suggesting that the two sides support each other in promoting the processing industry for agricultural products, thus forming a supply chain for the regional and global market.

He believed that with the new investment law of Cambodia and the signed agreements, investors and businesses of the two countries will foster their partnership in the fields of agriculture, agricultural product processing, construction, tourism, services and trade, especially border trade./.