Indian businesses urged to consider Cambodia as gateway to ASEAN

PHNOM PENH, 10 December 2012 (The Cambodia Herald) - The Indian ambassador to Cambodia has urged small and medium-sized enterprises from India to consider investing in Cambodia, the SME Times reported Monday.

Ambassador Dish Patnaik told a conference in Phnom Penh that such businesses should "look at Cambodia as its key partner" for accessing ASEAN markets, the report said.

The Indian news portal said the conference coincided with the visit of an Indian SME delegation to Cambodia and an ASEAN-India car rally from November 26 to December 20, which passed through Cambodia last week.

Oknha Te Taing Por, head of the Federation of  Associations for Small and Medium Enterprises of Cambodia (FASMEC), reportedly highlighted "many sectoral synergies" between SME businesses in Cambodia and India.

The report said the conference included the signing of two memoranda of understanding between FASMEC and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

It added that the Indian visit to Cambodia was expected to lead to cooperation in capacity building and database  management as well as exchanges of visits and collaboration with the CII Center for Excellence.

"India and Cambodia enjoy strong and warm relations," the report said.