Cambodia Receives $600 Million Package from China

Friday, 17 December 2010
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

Photo: AP Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, right, shakes hands with Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen before their meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, 2008.

China agreed to nearly $600 million in deals to Cambodia on Thursday, during a visit of Prime Minister Hun Sen to Beijing.

The money, in grants, loans and investment capital, was below the “billions” Hun Sen had said he expected before leaving.

In all, the two sides signed deals on 13 projects, from energy and infrastructure to finance and agriculture, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Friday as the delegation returned from a five-day visit.

The package included $300 million in projects for national road and irrigation projects in the provinces of Preah Vihear, Mondolkiri and Svay Rieng, he said. Other projects include bridges to Chroy Changvar, across the Tonle Sap from Phnom Penh, and in Takmao, and a dam in Pursat province.

China and Cambodia will also seek to boost trade, Hor Namhong said.

China’s president, Hu Jintao, promised to push Chinese companies to invest more in Cambodia, he said.

Trade between the two for the first 10 months of this year reached $1.1 billion, he said, a number they hoped would reach $2.5 billion by 2015.