Vietnam becomes Cambodia’s third largest investor

Vietnam has initiated 63 projects in Cambodia, with a total investment of US$900 million, generating jobs for 30,000 local people and making Vietnam Cambodia’s third largest investor.

The figures were announced at a seminar on Vietnam-Cambodia trade relations held in Phnom Penh on August 5 with the participation of 150 businesses from the two countries.

Representatives of the Vietnamese Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Cambodian Trade Ministry introduced some new investment incentives that are aimed at boosting bilateral trade relations.

During the past ten years, the two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Cambodia has increased steadily from US$146 million in 2001 to more than US$1 billion in 2009. Turnover reached US$862 million in the first half of this year, including US$728 million from Vietnamese exports, up 34.2 percent from the same period last year.

Cambodia is one of Vietnam’s key investment destinations. According to the Vietnam Ministry of Planning and Investment, since July 2009 seven Vietnamese-invested projects have been licensed in Cambodia, with a total capital of about US$400 million. These projects focus in such areas as finance, energy, aviation, agriculture and mining.