Free-trade pact may kick-start Cambodia

More opportunities for Cambodia to attract foreign investment may result from the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, many at the recent trade and investment fair.

increased investment could help Cambodia boost its share in international markets with the temporary advantages granted by C-AFTA, which went into effect on January 1, according to Malaysia’s K-konsultgroup Chief Executive Officer LL Koong of Malaysia said.

Cambodia, along with fellow transitional economies in Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar, has been given an extended deadline of 2015 to lower trade barriers on the majority of imports.

The exhibition, held at the Diamond Island Convention Centre, was one example of ways Cambodia could maximise its advantage in the situation, he said.

Malaysia-based Juara Steel Berhad Executive Director Yeow Ho Lam that it was his firm’s first time looking to Cambodia for business opportunities.

“We want business here and want to cooperate with a Cambodian partner, to see whether we can do business here,” he said.

The firm’s specialty is road construction, and it has partners in Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines, he said.

Firms specialising in areas such as real estate, banking and IT are attending the three-day business fair ending today. Representatives from at least five countries – Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, China and South Korea attended.