The two nations are in throes of joining hands in the transport sector with new expressway projects from Phnom Penh to Bavet and from Bavet to Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam currently ranks as the third largest trading partner and the biggest among ASEAN nations for Cambodia. In 2022, Cambodia’s exports to Vietnam rose 9.25 percent and imports from the country witnessed a 26.20 uptake annually. The figures mark the expansion of Cambodia’s trade deficit with Vietnam by 55.25 percent, from $1.158 billion in 2021 to $1.799 billion in 2022.
A year earlier exports from Vietnam to Cambodia totalled $4.91B, with primary items comprising light rubberized knitted fabric at $450M, refined petroleum at $396M and raw iron bars worth $296M. The last 21 years have seen growth in Vietnam’s exports to Cambodia annually at 16 percent from $217M in 2000 to $4.91B in 2021.
In an October 12 meeting with Prime Minister Hun Manet, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Nguyen Huy Tang exulted on the growing bonhomie between the two ASEAN neighbours, results of which are reaping dividends for both the countries’ economies.
“The Vietnamese government is committed to expanding existing cooperation at all levels, especially in the fields of trade, tourism, defence and security, and looks for new potential areas,” he said, at the time.
Vietnam is the second biggest export market for Cambodia’s products. Cambodia exported $2.03 billion worth of products to Vietnam in the first nine months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 30.7 percent.
In the first nine months of this year, Cambodia approved fixed asset investment projects owned by Vietnam companies worth $73 million, or 1.95 percent of the total investment value of $3.76 billion, according to a CDC report.
The two countries are also in the throes of joining hands in the transport sector with new expressway projects from Phnom Penh to Bavet and from Bavet to Ho Chi Minh City. Apart from providing greater connectivity, they would translate into greater business and investment opportunities for both sides.
Earlier So Naro, Minister Delegate attached to the Prime Minister told the Khmer Times that a technical meeting of officials from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) with counterparts from Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport will be held in Ho Chi Minh City. He revealed that an end-of-the-year deadline for the expressways to merge was being contemplated.
In an October 20 meeting between the prime ministers of the two counties, Prime Minister Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that the new Phnom Penh-Bavet and Ho Chi Minh-Moc Bai Expressway would require just one day for a return trip to Phnom Penh from Ho Chi Minh City.
“He said that people will able to enjoy their breakfast and purchase products in Ho Chi Minh City and return to Phnom Penh on the same day. It will be much more efficient,” Naro said.
At the signing ceremony of the contract for the expressway project by the former Minister of MPWT Sun Chanthol and CRBC’s General Manager Zhou Yong, the former referred to the inter-ministerial taskforce formed for collaborating with Vietnam on choosing a point on the international border. “It would be impossible if the two expressways would not be connected,” he said.
An October 27 meeting between Hung Viet Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam with Deputy Prime Minister Chenda Sophea Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cambodia acknowledged the giant strides in bilateral trade irrespective of the crippling constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic. The duo were in consonance with the need for a new trade target up to 2030.
Source: Khmer Times
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<p>Time: 2024 By: Ministry of Industry and Trade</p>
