By Agencies
The ties between Cambodia and China in trade, investment and tourism
have steadily grown from year to year thanks to good relations between
the two countries, Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said
Tuesday.
"China is one of our key trading partners. The two-way
trade volume was about 2.5 billion US dollars last year and the two
sides are committed to doubling the amount to 5 billion US dollars in
2017," he told reporters after a forum to promote Cambodia's business
and investment potential to Chinese business people.
Cambodia saw
China as a large market for Cambodian products, particularly garment
and textile items, because China has provided duty-free treatment for
Cambodian garments and textiles, he said.
"China is a huge market
for Cambodia. While the Europe and the US are facing economic slowdown,
China's economy remains high-- more than 7 percent so that China
remains the world's growth engine," the minister said.
China
remains Cambodia's largest investor. Currently, more Chinese investors
have come to do businesses in Cambodia, he said, adding that he has
granted licenses to about 10 garment factories from China each month.
"Chinese
investors choose Cambodia for their ventures because Cambodia has
preferential law and regulations and labor cost is cheaper than that in
Thailand or Vietnam," he said.
The country attracted about 183
million US dollars in investment from China in the first seven months of
this year, bringing the total Chinese investment in the country to 9.05
billion dollars from 1994 to July, 2012, according to a report of the
Council for the Development of Cambodia.
On the tourism side, the
minister said that Chinese tourists are the third largest arrival
groups to Cambodia thanks to Cambodia's political stability and
attractive tourist destinations.
Some 265,330 Chinese visitors
came to Cambodia in the first 10 months of this year, a 34-percent rise
compared with the same period last year, according to the latest tourism
statistics.
No comments:
Post a Comment