Cambodia to Co-host WEF Summit

Khmer Times/May Kunmakara

 

Wednesday, 27 January 2016

 

Cambodia will co-host a World Economic Forum (WEF) on the Mekong Region this year – along with Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam – while the Kingdom is lobbying to hold the annual WEF on East Asia in 2017, Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol said.
 

Mr. Chanthol wrote on his Facebook page over the weekend – while he was attending the WEF in Davos, Switzerland – that its organizers were considering holding its annual East Asia Summit in Cambodia in 2017. 
 

“The WEF is considering to hold the Annual East Asia Summit in Cambodia in 2017,” Mr. Chanthol said, adding that he had met with the managing director of the WEF and representatives of a number of companies to request their support in lobbying the WEF to hold “the prestigious event in Cambodia next year.” 
 

Mr. Chanthol said it was the fifth time he represented Cambodia at the annual forum in Davos, noting that it drew more than 2,000 world leaders, ministers, businesspeople, social entrepreneurs, representatives of NGOs and professors. He said that he had met world leaders, entrepreneurs, and presidents and chief executive officers of major corporations to explain Cambodia’s business environment as well as the investment opportunities here. 
 

“My objectives are to attract investments into Cambodia to create jobs for our people, find ways to open new market access for our agriculture products, learn best practices, and inform the participants about the true picture of our country,” Mr. Chanthol added. 
 

David Van, managing director of Bower Group Asia (Cambodia) told Khmer Times that an agreement was reached at a WEF summit in Jakarta last year that Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, as well as Thailand, would hold a WEF summit this year. Mr. Van also said that Cambodia was lobbying hard to host the WEF East Asia Forum in 2017.