Published in Xinhuanet on 16.12.2012
Cambodia holds forum to promote business, investment
Cambodia held a business and investment forum on Sunday in order to inform investors about the country's potential sectors and investment-related rules and regulations.
The forum was attended by about 150 local and foreign business representatives. It was held annually in conjunction with the 7th Cambodia Import-Export Promotion Exhibition, which kicked off on Saturday at the Diamond Island Exhibition Center.
Addressing the event, Mao Thora, secretary of state at the Ministry of Commerce, said the forum was very important for participants to seek business and investment opportunities in the country.
"All investors, before their decision to invest in a country, will consider three major factors -- political stability, macroeconomic stability, and protective and incentive investment law," he said, "Cambodia meets these requirements."
He added that the government has been strongly encouraging investment activities in agriculture and agro-industry, transport and telecommunication infrastructure, energy and electricity, labor intensive industries and export-oriented processing and manufacturing, tourism-related industries, human resources development, processing industry, oil and gas and mining.
At the forum, there were also a number of presentations by Cambodian officials about the business and investment climate in the country.
Suon Sophal, deputy director of the public relation and investment promotion department at the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), said at the event that the country treats all investors equally and all investors are protected by the investment law.
According to Suon Sophal, most foreign investors in Cambodia are from China, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, the United States, the United Kingdom, China's Taiwan, China's Hong Kong, Singapore, France and Japan.
According to the CDC's figures, the country attracted a total investment of 845 million U.S. dollars in the first seven months of this year. Those investments were made in the fields of fertilizer manufacturing, beverage manufacturing, rice milling, tapioca powder processing, garment factories, hotel and resort development, and information technology.
On the trade side, the country's total import and export volume was 12.31 billion U.S. dollars in the first eleven months of this year, up 17.5 percent from 10.47 billion U.S. dollars at the same period last year, according to a report of the Commerce Ministry.
The country's major trading partners are the United States, European countries, China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia.
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