Cambodia, Japan to strengthen economic ties

Cambodia and Japan will strengthen economic ties in a bid to boost trade and investments. This was decided at a business matching event held at the headquarters of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Tokyo recently.

Sun Chanthol, Deputy Prime Minister and First Vice-Chairman of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), accompanied by Tuy Ry, Ambassador of Cambodia to Japan led the Cambodian delegation at the event on Wednesday.

At the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to “friends who organized a valuable matching programme on the occasion of the investment door-knocking mission of the CDC.”

The Deputy Prime Minister also emphasized that the enterprises that were participating in the meeting had also participated in the Cambodia Investment Seminar 2023, presided over by Prime Minister Hun Manet on December 19, 2023, in Tokyo.

The Deputy Prime Minister expressed strong hope that the Cambodian private sector will seize this golden opportunity to attract Japanese enterprises to invest in Cambodia.

Participants at the meeting included investors in the logistics, manufacturing, aluminium, agriculture, agro-industry, pharmaceutical and information technology and communications sectors.

It may be recalled that Japan is now the fifth biggest trading partner of Cambodia with bilateral trade (exports and imports together) reaching $507 million in the first three months of this year, an increase of 11 percent year-on-year.

Cambodia’s exports to Japan reached $365 million in the first quarter (Q1), an increase of 18.4 percent compared to the same period last year. The rising exports also ensured that Japan is now the fourth biggest export destination of Cambodia, accounting for 5.8 percent of the Kingdom’s export market.

Cambodia also maintained a surplus of $223 million in the trade with Japan for Q1, 2024. The Kingdom’s main exports to Japan are garments, bags, footwear, furniture, cosmetics, paper and office supplies and leather goods. The main imports are machinery, automobiles, electronic items, furniture, fabrics and plastics.

The growing trade between the two countries has also helped in strengthening the bilateral relations, which is seen in the increased assistance by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for various infrastructure development initiatives of the Royal Government.

Among the major projects supported by JICA in the Kingdom include three main bridges (Chroy Changvar Bridge, Kizuna Bridge in Kampong Cham and Tsubasa Bridge linking Kandal Province with Neak Loeung in Prey Veng Province), 26 schools, Cambodia Japan Cooperation Centre and Institute of Technology of Cambodia buildings, six roads (568 km) and eight hospitals.

Most of JICA’s support for Cambodia is people-centric covering sectors such as water supply, public transport, sewerage management, flood mitigation, technical and vocational training and healthcare besides major infrastructure development such as roads, ports and digitalization of the economy.

Japan is also supporting the expansion of Cambodia’s only deep-sea port in Sihanoukville. JICA is helping the construction of the new international terminal at the port with a soft loan of $203 million.

Once operational, the new terminal will help PAS to match the ocean freight cost of the neighbouring countries in the region, or even better them, and this could further boost the trade and economic development of Cambodia.

Earlier on Wednesday, Chanthol, while participating at the ‘Japan-Cambodia Investment Forum’ held at the ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) in Tokyo, spoke about the positive investment environment in the Kingdom, including political stability and favourable macroeconomic situation which included a dynamic young workforce.

Source:Khmer Times