[Demographic Vietnamization: Border] VN-Cambodia Trade and Investment Forum opens in Phnom Penh

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

VN-Cambodia Trade and Investment Forum opens in Phnom Penh

 Vietnam Plus | 20 November 2017

Phnom Penh (VNA) – The Vietnam-Cambodia Trade and Investment Forum 2017 was held in Phnom Penh on November 20, drawing around 300 delegates and representatives from 250 businesses of both countries.

Chargé d’affaires at the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia Nguyen Trac Toan said that bilateral trade reached over 3.1 billion USD in the first 10 months of 2017, up 31.5 percent year-on-year. The figure is forecast to hit 3.5 billion USD this year.

Vietnam is currently running 196 investment projects in Cambodia with the registered capital of 2.94 billion USD, making it among the five biggest investors in the country.

For years, Vietnam has also ranked first in terms of the number of tourists to Cambodia with nearly 1 million arrivals each year, Toan added.

He believed that this forum would help the two countries fully tap their cooperation potential through the provision of the latest information about trade and investment policies and incentives for both sides’ enterprises.

It was also a chance for participating enterprises to meet, share experience and make proposals to authorised agencies, he said.

Ho Sivyong, Director of the Export-Import Department under the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce, affirmed that Cambodia still maintains its open investment policy that allows operations of foreign-invested businesses and is carrying out intensive reforms to facilitate investment and business activities in the country.

Vietnamese companies will surely benefit from these reforms, he emphasised.

At the forum, representatives from Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade and Ministry of Planning and Investment shared that the Government is implementing measures synchronously to push up investment cooperation between the two countries, including simplifying administrative procedures, negotiating and signing treaties and agreements with Cambodia, and upgrading roads linking to the neighbour.

Participating enterprises suggested both sides cooperate closely in investment promotion activities and state management over investment activities, regularly hold dialogues between Vietnamese businesses and the two countries’ competent offices to timely solve difficulties.

They also urged the signing of an agreement on double taxation avoidance, together with improvement in administrative procedure reforms.-VNA