US companies will re-establish their commitment to Cambodia and the
region today at the US-ASEAN Business Forum in Siem Reap, a high-profile
meeting involving several heads of state and some of the biggest companies in
the world.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton will lead the largest- ever delegation of American businesses to the
10-country economic bloc.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, Thai
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Myanmar President Thein Sein will
address the conference, at which US conglomerate General Electric is expected
to sign a power agreement with a Cambodian firm.
“The forum, which will bring
about 200 companies here, is a very important event for us to show the [US]
about our integrity, our location and our business climate,” In Channy,
president and chief executive of Acleda, Cambodia’s largest locally owned bank,
said.
Location was the key word for
attracting new business to the Kingdom, he said.
Insiders say Cambodia’s location
in the centre of peninsular Southeast Asia will play an increasingly important
role for logistics and the development of the so-called “Southern Economic
Corridor”, a potential industrial belt that would run from Bangkok, through
Phnom Penh, to Ho Chi Minh City.
“We are at the middle of ASEAN,
connected to some of the other main economic countries in the region such as
China, Korea and Japan,” In Channy said.
The forum will also serve as a
one-day think tank for business leaders.
Cambodian Chamber of Commerce
president Kith Meng would lead a delegation of leading local
telecommunications, financial and agricultural businesses to exchange ideas with
their US counterparts, chamber director-general Nguon Meng Tech said yesterday.
General Electric was expected to
sign a partnership agreement for rural power development today wirh locally
owned MOSA, a US embassy official, said.
US foreign direct investment in
Cambodia grew substantially last year. Companies poured US$144.4 million into
the Kingdom in 2011, a jump of more than 300 per cent compared to the year
before, according to data from the Council for the Development of Cambodia.
Cambodia’s total exports to the
US rose by 3.3 per cent to $1.08 billion in the first five months of the year
compared to the same period last year, according to the Office of the US Trade
Representative.
China has also made great efforts
this year to boost bilateral trade with Cambodia. The two countries agreed in
April to double their trade relationship to $5 billion by 2017.
“To neutralise [the increase in
trade with China], much stronger ties between Cambodia and the US are
indispensable,” Hiroshi Suzuki, chief executive at the Business Research
Institute for Cambodia, said yesterday.
May Kunmakara
Business & Investment Opportunities
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