Phnom Penh (FN), Mar. 20 – Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen requested the Japanese counterpart to import more Cambodia's agricultural products and encourage more Japanese investors to invest in the kingdom.

The premier spoke in a joint conference with Japanese premier Kishida Fumio on 20 March 2022.

Premier Hun Sen said, "In order to promote economic cooperation, in particular bilateral trade and investment, I would like to request Japanese prime minister to import more Cambodian products, agricultural products to be specific, and consider the establishment of a Cambodia-Japan Free Trade Agreement (FTA), in addition to the implementation of the RCEP Agreement.”

Premier Kishida welcomed the enforcement of Cambodia’s new investment law, which promotes business expansion, in October last year. In order to promote investment by Japanese companies, the two prime ministers consented to further enhance the investment environment of Cambodia by relevant ministers themselves through such means as the bilateral investment agreement and the Public-Private Sector meeting, according to a joint statement seen by Fresh News on Sunday.

The premier requested three main points to Japanese counterpart as follows:

1. Import more Cambodian products, agricultural products to be specific,

2. Consider the establishment of a Cambodia-Japan Free Trade Agreement (FTA), in addition to the implementation of the RCEP Agreement.

3. Encourage Japanese companies to invest more in Cambodia, especially to have well-known companies such as Panasonic, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, and Yamaha, to set up factories in the kingdom.

"Despite of COVID19, Cambodia-Japan trade volume remained stable at around USD 2 billion. Japanese investment in Cambodia rebounded in 2021 after a sharp decline in 2020," the premier underlined.

Cambodia is Japan's eighth largest trading partner in ASEAN. In 2021, the trade volume reached approximately USD 1.7 billion.

Cambodia exports goods to Japan, including clothing, footwear, furniture, cosmetics, paper, stationery, leather, animals, and metals, while the imports are machinery, cars, meat, electrical appliances, furniture, paper, cotton, fabrics, all kinds of plastic products, sports equipment, and all kinds of spare parts.

As for investment, from 1994 to 2020, there are 144 Japanese investment projects in Cambodia, worth nearly USD 3 billion of capital investment.
=FRESH NEWS