Cambodia-Korea Special Economic Zone on cards
Cambodia-Korea Special Economic Zone on cards
Top Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) officials and a delegation of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Cambodia Thursday held talks on the possibility of setting up the Cambodia-Korea Special Economic Zone (Cam-Kor SEZ).
The project was initiated by Prime Minister Hun Manet and Yoon Suk Yeol, President of Korea during the Premier’s first official trip to Seoul from May 15-18.
On June 20, Sun Chanthol, Deputy Prime Minister and First Vice-Chairman of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) and Park Jung-Wook, Ambassador of Korea in Cambodia held a meeting in Phnom Penh, to discuss ways to establish the Cam-Kor SEZ.
Also, the meeting aimed at providing information about the potential benefits of investment projects in the Kingdom’s special economic zones along with the effort of the RGC to encourage and facilitate business operations.
During the discussion, Chanthol told the Korean delegation that Cambodia is ready to coordinate all investment and trade activities with foreign and domestic investors.
He requested the ambassador to collaborate in pushing more potential investors to invest in the establishment of the Cam-Kor SEZ as well as allow the Cambodia delegation to tap investors in Korea to provide comprehensive information and investment facilitation.
Hem Vanndy, Minister of Industry, Science, Technology & Innovation (MISTI), Keo Rattanak, Minister of Mines and Energy (MME), Chea Vuthy, Secretary General of Cambodian Investment Board (CIB) of CDC and Yung Heng, Deputy Secretary General of CIB of CDC, were present at the deliberations.
According to a CDC press release, the proposed Cam-Kor SEZ is the outcome of the fruitful meeting held between Mr Hun Manet and the Korean President on May 16 in Seoul to create a favourable environment for investment, trade and business operations for mutual benefit.
It may be recalled that on May 16, the Premier and Yeol witnessed the signing ceremony of four Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and two agreements aimed at expanding multifaceted cooperation in financial development, investment flow, intellectual property, drug management, vocational training and concessional loan for rural development. One of the MoUs was signed between CDC and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of the Republic of Korea (MOTIE) to strengthen investment flow between the two countries.
During the Cambodia-Korea Business Forum (CKBF) held on the same day, Mr Hun Manet announced that the bilateral trade volume between Korea and Cambodia reached $751 million, while Korea’s foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Kingdom recorded $30 million last year, taking the total FDI from the country to $5 billion.
Interestingly by May this year, CDC has approved 44 SEZ projects of which 26 SEZs are operating nationwide with 20 administrations in charge, making the SEZ development budget reach $6.2 billion.
The CDC statement added that there are 734 projects in all SEZs in Cambodia with an investment capital of $8.9 billion, creating jobs for 180,779 people across five areas such as Phnom Penh city, Kandal, Svay Rieng, Preah Sihanouk, Kos Kong and Banteay Meanchey provinces (Poipet town).
