Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) and his Cambodia counterpart Samdech Techo Hun Sen (Photo VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam and Cambodia could make their two-way trade value at 7-8 billion USD by 2020 as they have established sound cooperation across sectors and their governments have regularly taken measures to remove difficulties for businesses, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said.
PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Cambodia counterpart Samdech Techo Hun Sen attended the Vietnam-Cambodia Business Forum in Hanoi on December 6.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment reported that Cambodia is always among the top three countries absorbing Vietnam’s investment.
Vietnamese investors have so far poured 3 billion USD in 210 projects in agriculture, banking, telecommunication, IT, industry, processing and manufacturing, trade and healthcare in Cambodia. Many of them have contributed greatly to socio-economic development in localities hosting their projects.
In turn, Cambodia has had 20 operating projects with nearly 65 million USD, engaging in agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, and trade in Vietnam.
The two countries have been working to maintain high two-way trade value growth and expected the value would reach 5 billion USD this year, the volume that was previously set for 2020.
Vietnam ranks second in terms of the number of tourists visiting Cambodia with around 500,000 people spending holidays in the neighbouring country in the first 10 months of this year. In 2017, 220,000 Cambodians visited Vietnam.
Addressing the forum, PM Phuc said the two countries need to work more closely and more efficiently in the coming time when the regional and global economic situations will have a lot of challenges.
Once the two countries work with each other well to tape their huge potential, they can bring mutual benefits for their peoples, he noted.
He urged the two countries’ businesspeople to make the best use of the ASEAN economic community’s regulations on opening door to capital, commodities, laborers and services.
“The Government and Prime Minister of Vietnam always support and provide all possible conditions to assist Vietnamese businesses to invest in Cambodia,” he said.
He reminded Vietnamese investors to provide training, transfer technology, along with realizing social responsibility, and protecting the environment in Cambodia.
He asked big groups, like Viettel, PetroVietnam, and EVN to pioneer in doing profitable business in the neighbouring country.
He expected the Cambodian Royal Government and Prime Minister Hun Sen will continue unlocking difficulties for Vietnamese investors so to make it easier for the investment flow between the two countries for their win-win benefits.
PM Hun Sen hailed trade and investment cooperation between the two countries, saying the Vietnamese Government and PM managed the economy professionally, thus reining in inflation, which had positive effects on Cambodia’s economy.
He said Cambodia is pursuing a policy on developing industries to implement a new growth strategy in the 2015-2025 period, along with reforming administrative procedures in taxation and customs, and calling for investments into deep-water seaports, highways, and national roads to connect to ports and neighboring countries.
Cambodia posted an average GDP growth rate of over 7 percent and is expected the growth of 7.3 percent this year. It is working to become a high middle-income country by 2030, he said.
The Cambodian Royal Government is revising laws relating to investment and working to adopt the law on special economic zones. It will modernize the customs and tax systems and encourage the development of smart city and the training of high-quality human resources, he told participants.-VNA
VNA
