Private car owners could soon be required to buy motor insurance if a planned law amendment gets the green light, stoking optimism that such a bill could put the brakes on Cambodia’s high rate of hit-and-run accidents.
Currently, only commercial vehicles, such as buses, legally require motor insurance. However, the Ministry of Economy and Finance – which oversees the insurance industry – has proposed that private car owners be forced to take out third-party liability insurance, which covers damages in an accident caused by the insured. …
The proposed amendment excludes motorbike owners because “they may not have enough money”, he said. The IAC also has to discuss premiums with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, although costs would, “of course, be cheaper” than current rates for commercial vehicles, to keep the proposed insurance affordable, he said. …
The National Assembly of Cambodia on Friday ratified the agreement on maritime transport between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, saying the agreement is essential to develop trade and economic ties between ASEAN and China. …
“The agreement aims to facilitate and foster cooperation in passenger and cargo transport by sea among the signatories,” Nin Saphon, Chairwoman of the National Assembly’s Commission on Public Work, Industry, Mines, Energy, Commerce, and Land Management, said during the session. …
Cambodia and Bangladesh on Friday signed a visa-free agreement for diplomatic and service passport holders in a bid to strengthen bilateral ties in politics, trade, investment and tourism, officials said.
The deal was inked here between Long Visalo, secretary of state at Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Kazi Imtiaz Hossain, Bangkok-based Ambassador of Bangladesh to Cambodia. …
Trade and investment ties between the two nations are relatively small. On tourism side, only 1,367 Bangladeshis visited Cambodia last year, up 4 percent year on year, said a tourism report.
Cambodia has so far signed mutual visa exemption agreements for diplomatic and official passport holders with all ASEAN member countries as well as India, China, South Korea, Australia, Iran, Pakistan, Cuba and Uruguay.
About a decade ago, global manufacturing firms staged a mass exodus to Asia in search of low-cost alternatives to increasing domestic wage demands and operational costs.
The consensus was the continued development of a regional supply chain that had formed in countries like Vietnam and Indonesia, while taking advantage of low wages offered by the world’s largest exporter in China. It was an idea that bolstered many a bottom line, but now things are changing.
Since then, China has become increasingly prosperous with a rapidly growing middle class. The demands of this new wealth have had Chinese manufacturers rightfully turning their attention to their growing customer base, leaving some exporters in cold.
What’s more, growing wage demands in China as well as in Southeast Asia’s light-manufacturing countries is forcing foreign manufacturers to consider other options as they search for the next low-cost destination.
The result has been a speedy realignment of the jigsaw puzzle that is Asia’s manufacturing supply chain. China has become bullish on foreign markets, investing billions of dollars at a time in new factories and infrastructure development projects abroad.
Vietnam, meanwhile, has earned the title of Asia’s new tech hub as its workforce moves away from sewing t-shirts to assembling microchips for consumer electronic goods.
Cambodia – a country where the low-value garments last year made up nearly 90 percent of all its exports – too is overdue for an upgrade as investors have begun to flood market with value-added manufacturing plants, producing things like automotive parts, sporting equipment and small motors for various consumer products. …
Such is the case with Japanese auto parts maker Yazaki Corp., who christened their new $24 million wire harness factory in Koh Kong province. …
Most recently, global automotive components manufacturer Denso announced in January that it would invest a modest of $400,000 for the development of its new subsidiary Denso Cambodia Co. Ltd., which will produce sensor components at their new facilities in the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ).
But Denso is not PPSEZ’s only new customer: Yamaha Motor, Laurelton Diamond, a subsidiary of the popular U.S.-based jeweler Tiffany & Col, and Japanese firms Marusan Plastic and Nikko-Kinzoku Cambodia – a firm that makes wax casting – are all in the process of building factories there, according to recent PPSEZ data. …
Cambodia and Uruguay on Thursday signed an agreement on visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders, aiming at creating close contacts among the two countries’ diplomats, officials and business people, officials said.
The deal was inked here between Long Visalo, secretary of state at Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Gerardo Prato Rodriguez, Malaysia-based Ambassador of Uruguay to Cambodia. …
In order to boost the Kingdom’s trade performance and improve the quality of lives of farmers along the Thai-Cambodia border, Thailand has agreed to remove import restrictions on Cambodian cassava and maize.
Speaking to reporters after the forth meeting of the Joint Trade Committee between Cambodia and Thailand yesterday, Cambodian Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said the committee aims to develop greater economic relations and bilateral trade between the two countries, targeting a 30 per cent increase of trade activity per annum. …
According to export data from the ministry of commerce, Cambodia exported 20,443 tonnes of maize to Thailand in 2012, down 42 per cent from 35,381 a year earlier. Despite this downturn the Kingdom’s total Cassava exports jumped by 160 per cent in 2012 to 722,273 tonnes from 2011. …
The US embassy in Phnom Penh intends to hold a webinar on doing business in Cambodia, providing information on the benefits and challenges of working in the country for US firms.
“This is the first webinar that will focus on investment opportunities and an overview of Cambodia’s current business climate,” Sean McIntosh, the US embassy’s publicaffairs officer, told the Post yesterday. …
In 2012, Cambodia’s exports to the US were worth about $2 billion, 36 per cent of the Kingdom’s total exports, according to figures from the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Furthermore, figures from the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) show that from 2005 to 2011, US investment reached about $922 million. …
Thailand will forge closer ties with Cambodia and other neighbouring countries to increase competency in rice trading and boost the bargaining power of Asean countries by setting up a rice-trading zone soon.
Also, Thailand will expand crop cooperation to cassava to raise farm incomes in the region. …
Thailand will help Cambodia promote its cassava under the same concept of rice trading. It will help encourage more trading of cereals, such as cassava and maize, by promoting contract farming to ensure stable incomes for farmers.
The JTC will discuss a strategy to promote bilateral trade with an emphasis on cross-border shipments, which account for 65 per cent of two-way trade value. …
Last year, two-way trade was valued at US$4.03 billion (Bt116 billion), or 0.84 per cent of Thailand’s total trade. Exports to Cambodia were worth $3.78 billion against only $249.5 million for imports from that country. …
Despite steady economic growth in recent years, Cambodia remains one of the least-developed countries in the Asia-Pacific region and faces the challenge of diversifying its economy and moving up the production value chain, the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) said in its annual report yesterday. …
Describing Cambodia as one of the least developed countries in the region, the ESCAP report notes that only 24 percent of Cambodians have access to electricity, 64 percent to clean water and 31 percent to proper sanitation. …
But “an important concern,” according to the report, is that education in Cambodia is still in need of serious development. ESCAP said the literacy rate in Cambodia of 75 percent is still too low, particularly compared to its Asean counterparts, which range from 90 to 95 percent, except for Laos. …
China has pledged another $548 million in aid to Cambodia for infrastructure and irrigation systems, extending assistance that some critics say has bought it Cambodia’s diplomatic support. …
Agreements covering $500 million in soft loans and $48 million in grants were signed when Prime Minister Hun Sen visited China and met Premier Li Keqiang over the weekend, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh told a briefing on Wednesday. …
Chinese investment in Cambodia has totaled $9.1 billion since 1994, including almost $1.2 billion in 2011, eight times more than the United States, according to the Cambodia Investment Board.
Cambodia’s economic growth is forecast at 7.2 percent in 2013, picking up to 7.5 percent next year as recovery in Europe and the United States takes hold, according to the Asian Development Bank’s annual economic outlook released on Tuesday.
The United States and Europe are the largest purchasers of Cambodia-made garment and footwear products. …
The report noted that net foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Cambodia surged by an estimated 75 percent in 2012, to 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, funding new industries including automotive parts, electronics, and processing of agricultural products, as well as diversifying garment production into higher- value products and tourism into new areas. …
The following is the full text of the joint press communique between China and Cambodia issued on Tuesday during the official visit by Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Pedei Techo Hun Sen of the Kingdom of Cambodia to China:
Joint Press Communique Between the People’s Republic of China and the Kingdom of Cambodia
1. At the invitation of Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Pedei Techo Hun Sen of the Kingdom of Cambodia paid an official visit to the People’s Republic of China on 6-10 April 2013. During the visit, Prime Minister Hun Sen met with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China and Mr. Zhang Dejiang, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and held talks with Premier Li Keqiang. ….
A Lao government delegation visiting the Kingdom’s capital last week anticipates that a joint visa scheme that would allow entry to both countries on a single visa will take at least two to three years to implement.
Manoxay Vilayhane, second secretary at the Lao embassy in Cambodia told the Post on Thursday that a Lao delegation was in Phnom Penh to meet with the department of foreign affairs to discuss the scheme, but that it would still be years before it was introduced. …
Cambodia recorded a sharp rise in milled rice export in the first three months of 2012 thanks to increasing international market demand and more investment in post- harvest technologies, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Friday.
A commerce report showed that the country exported 95,230 tons of milled rice during the January-March period this year, up 148 percent from 38,400 tons in the same period of last year. …
The Ministry of Agriculture announced in January that the country produced 9.31 million tons of paddy rice last year. Of that, around 3 million tons of milled rice is for export this year.
For the whole year of 2012, Cambodia exported 205,717 tons of milled rice, up only 2 percent year-on-year. …
China-Cambodia relations have become a model of friendly coexistence and close cooperation among countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at an international forum that opened on Sunday.
China and Cambodia are good neighbors, friends, partners and brothers, Xi said while meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2013 in Boao, a coastal town in south China’s Hainan Province. …
The two sides have decided to establish an intergovernmental coordinating committee to carry out the action plan on the China-Cambodia comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation and push forward bilateral cooperation in all fields, said Xi.
Xi also said China will work with Cambodia to advance China’s relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) along the right path. …
Asia and the Pacific continued as a hot spot for international tourism in 2012, attracting what is expected to be in excess of 350 million international visitor arrivals, expanding its collective inbound count by more than 5% and generating more than 18 million additional foreign visits, year-on-year. …
Within this sub-region, Myanmar had a staggering increase of almost 52% in arrivals, while Cambodian and Lao PDR reported gains of 24% and 22% respectively. …
According to the figures by the Ministry of Tourism, the number of visitor arrival in 2012 was 3,584,307, an increase of 25 percent in comparing to 2011 and earned 2 billion US dollars for nation income this year. Through tourism industry, it created 350,000 labor forces and in 2015, it is expected that it will attract about 4.5 million foreign investors and in 2020, it could reach to 7 million. …
2012 has been an impressive year for Cambodia’s economic resilience. Among the many sectors that had positively grown are the construction and property development [sic] and they are expected to be among the highest growth achievers in the current year as well. …
In 2012, the Ministry of Land Management recorded investments on construction had grown by 72 percent to US$2,109 million for 1,694 projects covering 6.5 million square meters, an increase from the previous US$1.2 billion for 2,125 projects covering 4.2 million square meters in 2011. …
Amid the last year’s strong recovery, construction on residential projects such as ‘Borey’ and apartments claimed a large proportion (about 70 percent off the total projects) and is likely to surge higher responding to the growing local populations (about 10,000 new families are added to Phnom Penh annually), along with more incoming foreign nationals for living and business purposes which require more residential supplies. …
Due to development disparity, growth varies between zones. The property market recovery has appeared vigorously only at the popular industrialized zones such as Phnom Penh’s downtown, leaving the low industrialized areas like suburbs and rural areas less commercialized. …
With more investors coming, Kheng observes now international firms are competing with the local property developers as they begin to understand more about the local markets, knowledge which they previously lacked. …
The important thing in this property business, according to Cheng Kheng is having accurate data. “The key to improve this industry is to have a one-stop recording center where all transactions have been recorded properly and published to the public. In that way, it will be easier for the public to keep themselves up-to-date with the market.” …
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra promised on Saturday to complete a missing rail link with Cambodia to foster closer ties with the neighbouring country.
Ms Yingluck inspected the damaged tracks from Aranyaprathet district in Sa Kaeo to the border with Poipet in Cambodia and directed officials to speed up restoring the connection.
The six-kilometre section has been left unmaintained for years, making rail travel to and from Cambodia impossible. The link is part of the 10 Asean countries’ plan to build a regional railway network to connect with China. …
The border trade in Surin province has reportedly reached 1 billion baht for the first time. The figure is said to be the new record high as the situation on the border of Thailand and Cambodia remains calm.
Surin’s trade official Sitthiporn Bangkeaw … said these factors have prompted the export of fuel and everyday items from Thailand, while we need cassava from Cambodia for the industrial sector.
According to Mr. Sitthiporn, the export to Cambodia last year through the checkpoint was valued at 888 million baht, while the import from the country was worth 173 million baht. … …
Other products in demand in Cambodia include fruit juice and condensed milk, whereas Thailand imports cassava, used clothes and plastic items.
Malaysia-based agricultural and commodities company Felda Global Ventures Holdings is considering investing in palm oil, sugar and rubber crops in Cambodia.
Felda Global head of corporate communications Izan Hussain said yesterday the company had received numerous business proposals, but had not made any decisions.
“Our discussions and explorations of possible business activities in Cambodia are still in the early stages, and we are not able to divulge these yet,” Hussain told the Post. …
