A week after Prime Minister Hun Manet concluded his first official
trip to Thailand, hundreds of Thai businessmen have shown keen interest in exploring investment opportunities in three potential projects across Cambodia in early March to the tune of $1 billion.
This came during the economic diplomatic forum hosted on February 16 in Bangkok, Thailand under the theme ‘Cambodia New Page – Business and Investment Opportunities’ attended by Suon Sophal, Deputy Secretary General of the Cambodian Investment Board (CIB) of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC).
During his discussion, Sophal highlighted Cambodia’s stable and attractive investment environment, the current investment regime and the propensity to support the growth of the private sector, the investment facilitation mechanism, a flexible incentive package adapted to the lasted trends of the global economy and investment trustworthy services for international investors.
According to a CDC press release, Thai investors – who participated in the Cambodia-Thailand Business Forum on February 7 presided over by Prime Minister Hun Manet – have expressed commitment to examining investment possibilities in Cambodia on three potential projects with an estimated total investment worth approximately $1 billion. They are scheduled to visit the country in early March this year.
The economic diplomatic forum discussed four major topics: First, the political stability and economic growth which is a favourable environment for business operations and foreign direct investment presented by Phan Phalla, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).
Second, ‘Business Opportunity in Cambodia’ was introduced by Sok Sopheak, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC).
Third discussion was on ‘Business and Investment – Why invest in Cambodia’ by CDC Deputy Secretary General while the last selected topic about ‘Tax procedures and processes’ related to Cambodian legal aspect of investment and tax procedure, capital transfer, terms and overview of the Overlapping Tax Agreement (OTA) which was presented by Bun Neary, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Taxation (GDT).
The forum organised by the Royal Embassy of Cambodia to the Kingdom of Thailand saw the participation of 230 high-level delegations including ambassadors, diplomats from foreign embassies, representatives of international organisations, representatives from relevant ministries, institutions and the private sector.
During the Cambodia-Thailand Business Forum on February 7, Kith Meng, President of Cambodia Chamber of Commerce (CCC), who accompanied the Prime Minister, said, “Khmer businessmen and Thai investors should join hands in grabbing the investment opportunities from existing mechanisms along the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) that are conducive to trade facilitation and transportation, a strategic location to set up the production base and export the goods to ASEAN market, China, Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
Speaking to Khmer Times, Lim Heng, Vice-President of CCC said, “The GMS is a strategic location for joint economic development projects that is favourable for transportation and business connectivity between five countries including – Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia through support and guidance from Japan, China and the United States.”
He said that this area has been used as an economic corridor and is currently well-known as the world’s largest agricultural export zone.
The main purpose of this event is to promote bilateral trade and investment between both nations as well as to create discussion opportunities for Khmer and Thai major companies to explore the possibility of cooperation on joint investment projects. khmertimeskh
