In a move that’s become de rigeur for the lead-up to Cambodia’s ASEAN
summits, the chair and China last night signed off on hundreds of millions of
dollars in trade agreements and reiterated their desire to boost bilateral
trade to $5 billion by 2017.
Eang Sophalleth, personal
spokesman for Prime Minister Hun Sen, told reporters that the inking was done
following a bilateral discussion between Hun Sen and his Chinese counterpart,
Wen Jaibao, who arrived in Phnom Penh yesterday evening.
He said that during the bilateral
meeting – held behind closed doors and sealed off to the media – the premier
told Wen Jibao that the development of Cambodia was tied in part to Chinese aid
and loans, and requested further assistance.
“Prime Minister Hun Sen has
proposed boosting the trade volume between the two countries to $5 billion by
2017,” said Eang Sophalleth, referring to a figure first advanced in April
during a meeting between Hun Sen and Chinese President Hu Jintao on the eve of
the ASEAN summit.
The two leaders also witnessed
the signing ceremony for a number of joint ventures, said Sophalleth. The
projects total hundreds of millions of dollars and include a water treatment
plant in Kampong Thom, an education, training and rehabilitation center in
Preah Sihanouk and a cement factory in Kampot.
While details were not
immediately forthcoming on all the projects, officials at the Cambodia Cement
Chakrey Ting Factory confirmed the premiers signed off on a $67 million Bank of
China loan for the $100 million-plus joint venture.
According to Sophalleth, Wen Jiabao
said that China will review Cambodia’s request for further aid. China has
already assented to provide approximately $52 million in grant aid to Cambodia
for the development of its water resources.
“China will continue to fully
support Cambodia for its social and economic development and will cooperate
with Cambodia whether bilaterally or multi-laterally for the development of
Cambodia,” Eang Sophalleth quoted Wen Jiabao as saying to Hun Sen.
In recent years, China has
drastically increased loans, aid and investment into Cambodia – which has
welcomed the country’s “no strings” policies even as economists and political
observers have warned that the loans’ high interest rates could prove
problematic for Cambodia in the future.
The jump follows a regional
trend, which has seen a marked uptick in Chinese investment over the past
decade. Surin Pitsuwan, the outgoing secretary general of ASEAN, praised the
arrangement, saying Chinese money had been a major boon to the region.
“Our free trade agreement with
China has been working wonderfully, the countries of Southeast Asia have been
benefiting a great deal, trade has jumped almost 20 per cent a year and we hope
that there will be more investment from China into the landscape of Southeast
Asia,” he told the media during a press briefing on Sunday.
“Trade overall has grown
tremendously. We welcome China’s accommodation, we welcome China opening up the
markets and, as I said, we expect more investment from China,” Surin said.
Cheang Sokha
Business & Investment Opportunities
No comments:
Post a Comment