PHNOM PENH: (Bernama-Xinhua) Cambodian Permanent Deputy Prime Minister and Cabinet Minister Vongsey Vissoth (pic) on Friday (June 20) urged investors to reap maximum benefits from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), Xinhua reported.
Cambodia is a member of the RCEP agreement, which engages with 15 Asia-Pacific countries, and the kingdom also has bilateral FTAs with China, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Under these free trade pacts, Cambodian products have been exported to those countries with preferential tariffs.
"I would like to urge investors to maximise the opportunities and benefits from the RCEP agreement and Cambodia's bilateral FTAs with China, South Korea, and the UAE," Vissoth said in a speech to hundreds of investors and business executives at a Cambodia-international investment promotion platform in Phnom Penh.
He said these free trade pacts have played a crucial role in "diversifying markets for garment products to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), East Asia, and other regions besides the United States and Europe."
Entering into force in 2022, RCEP comprises 10 Asean member states of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and their five trading partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
Zheng Xianjiang, co-president of the Cambodia Confederation of Investors Association, said Cambodia is a "golden hub" for investment as the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway, the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, and the international deep-sea port of Sihanoukville have provided convenience for trade exchanges between Cambodia and the rest of the world.
Moreover, under the RCEP and the FTAs, trade between Cambodia and these countries has been conducted with no barriers, he said at the event.
Zheng added that these trade pacts have created favourable trade and investment opportunities for investors in Cambodia.
Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's Secretary of State and spokesperson Penn Sovicheat said the RCEP agreement and bilateral FTAs will help Cambodia realise its ambitious goals of becoming an upper-middle income country by 2030 and a high-income nation by 2050.
"These free trade pacts have not only given a big boost to Cambodia's sustainable trade growth in the long run, but also become a magnet to attract more foreign direct investments to the kingdom," he told Xinhua.
Kin Phea, director general of the International Relations Institute of Cambodia, a think tank under the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said the RCEP has emerged as a key advocate for free trade and multilateralism in the wake of escalating protectionist policies, particularly from the United States.
"The RCEP has become a stabilising force, fostering economic integration across the Asia-Pacific," he told Xinhua.
At the forum, 21 memoranda of understanding were signed between representatives of Cambodian and foreign enterprises, covering a wide range of business areas. - Bernama-Xinhua
