PRIME MINISTER Hun Sen has invited Vietnamese businessmen to invest in the country’s rice processing sector.
He said annual rice exports to Vietnam were between one and two million tonnes, and their investment could benefit the people of both nations.
“I am optimistic that Vietnamese and foreign investors will choose Cambodia as an investment destination,” he said at an annual dinner with the Vietnamese business community in Cambodia.
Vietnam Business Club (Cambodia) chairman Nguyen Thanh Dung said bilateral trade reached US$5.2 billion last year.
“Vietnam is the kingdom’s third-largest trading partner, with 214 registered projects here worth a total investment of US$3.074 billion. Of these, 176 are ongoing with a total registered capital of US$2.77 billion.
“Vietnamese investors focus mainly on Cambodia’s sectors such as agriculture, banking, telecommunications, information technology and processing industries.”
The Phnom Penh Post reported that the Vietnamese accounted for nearly 70 per cent of total investments in the agricultural and forestry sector, and 9.4 per cent in the finance, banking and insurance sector. Data from the Vietnamese embassy here shows that the Vietnamese have invested in the aviation, mineral, manufacturing and processing, warehousing, transport, healthcare, construction, tourism and real estate sectors.
Cambodia’s investments in Vietnam encompass 21 projects worth a total of nearly US$64 million.
It ranks 54th out of 132 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, embassy data shows.
Between 2015 and 2018, the kingdom’s exports to Vietnam reached slightly more than US$1.18 billion, while Vietnam’s exports to the kingdom amounted to US$6.96 billion, a Commerce Ministry report said.