Cambodia to Open Ports to Laos Exports
Cambodia Daily | 28 November 2016
Cambodia will soon open both its roads and ports for Laos to use in
exporting goods abroad, according to an announcement posted on Prime
Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook page on Sunday.
The announcement
followed a meeting between Mr. Hun Sen and Laotian President Pany
Yathotou in Phnom Penh on Saturday, during which the two discussed
strengthening ties.
The
Facebook post did not specify when ports would be open to Laotian
exports, or which ports these would be, and the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs could not be reached on Sunday for comment.
Soeung
Sophary, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Commerce, said opening
Cambodia’s roads and ports to exports from Laos had been raised during
diplomatic meetings in the past, but never agreed upon.
“As Laos
is a landlocked country, this is the first time for Cambodia to let Laos
export through us,” she said, adding that she did not know the details
of the agreement.
Hun Sen’s meeting with Ms. Yathotou follows a
meeting between the leaders of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in Siem Reap
last week, during which the prime minister denied that the Don Sahong
dam had any downstream effects on Cambodian villagers and warmly agreed
to Laos’ offer to sell Cambodia cheap hydropower.
Laos’s main
export is timber, with U.N. Comtrade putting it at 40 percent of the
nation’s exports. An internal WWF report leaked late last year asserts,
however, that illegal logging in Laos is rampant, and the actual volume
of timber leaving the country is poorly documented.
Denis Smirnov,
a consultant for environmental group WWF focusing on the timber trade
in Southeast Asia, said it’s unlikely that any illegal exports will find
their way through Cambodia, owing to an ongoing crackdown on the trade.
“The
Lao government in May started to enforce the export ban on unprocessed
wood for the first time,” he said, adding that it was uncertain whether
it would last past the end of the rainy season.
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