Representatives from 17 mega firms from the United States have evinced interest in exploring investment opportunities in the Kingdom.
A delegation, led by Brian David McFeeters, Senior Vice President and Regional Managing Director of the US-ASEAN Business Council along with US Ambassador to Cambodia W. Patrick Murphy met Prime Minister Hun Manet at the Peace Palace on Wednesday and discussed the broad contours of investment opportunities.
McFeeters said that the US companies are keen to explore more investment opportunities and expand their investment in Cambodia.
The US delegation has 17 major companies with business operations in the fields of modern technology, social media, tourism, finance, energy, retail markets and manufacturing and energy insurance, he said.
The US firms include Abbott, ADM, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Estée Lauder Companies, FedEx Express, Ford, Jhpiego, Manulife, Mastercard, Meta, Pfizer, Philip Morris International, RMA Group, Roche, Tilleke & Gibbins and Visa.
“US investors expressed interest and intention to expand investment in the Kingdom of Cambodia and requested to learn more about the Royal Government’s policy on investment,” Brian said.
The Premier spoke highly of US investment in Cambodia as well as the interest of the US-ASEAN Business Council to expand investment in Cambodia.
He encouraged the US-ASEAN Business Council to continue to work with Cambodian ministries, institutions and stakeholders to prepare action plans to improve relations such as investing in the private sector in Cambodia.
“The Cambodian Government supports investment by providing a favourable investment environment with the assurance of peace, political stability and social order, and in particular with the policy of providing incentives for investors and launching initiatives of new business models, such as new models of special economic zones according to the type of industry and the needs of each country,” Prime Minister said.
The US continued to be the biggest export destination for Cambodian products despite the trade preference scheme, Generalized System of Preference (GSP).
Figures from the General Department of Customs and Excise showed that the Kingdom exported $8,897 million worth of goods to the US, which inched down 0.8 percent over that in 2022.
The country imported some $257 million worth of goods from the US, a year-on-year increase of 17.7 percent, read the report.
Cambodia enjoyed the GSP for travel goods until it expired in December 2020.
Products such as garments, footwear, and light manufacturing products are subject to pay tariffs under the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) treatment to the US market.
The US is the Kingdom’s largest market, and in Cambodia the US companies uphold strong labour, environment and community values, said the US Ambassador to Cambodia.
“I was honoured to present a US-ASEAN Business Trade Delegation to Prime Minister Hun Manet to discuss improving the climate for business and investment in Cambodia,” Patrick tweeted on Wednesday. khmertimeskh
