Cambodia and Hungary Pledge More Trade
Cambodia and Hungary Pledge More Trade
Cambodia- and Hungary have pledged to boost economic and trade cooperation especially in the agriculture sector development. In the past bilateral trade between the two countries has been relatively small.
The promise was made during the visit of Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto to Cambodia this week, during which three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on agricultural and agro-trade relations were signed.
The cooperation was also reflected in the reopening of Hungary’s embassy office in the Kingdom after 25 years of closure.
Hungary is one of the European Union’s member states after the Czech Republic that supported Cambodia’s efforts to preserve in total the Everything but Arms trade status during Prime Minister Hun Sen’s five-day visit to the EU in October 2019.
Szijjarto told Cambodia’s Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon on Tuesday that the purpose of his current visit to Cambodia is to strengthen and expand agricultural cooperation between the two countries in the future.
“Cambodia’s three main sectors for Hungary to invest in are dairy production and meat processing, aquaculture, crops and food safety and consumption and management,” he said, as quoted in a statement by the Kingdom’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF).
According to Szijjarto, providing loans for agricultural development and short-term and long-term human resource training was also a priority during the visit.
Hungary has provided scholarships to 15 Cambodian students to continue their studies, while considering increasing the number of scholarships next year, especially in the field of agriculture.
Veng Sakhon highlighted the potential of investment in the production of crops for export, such as rice, mango, cassava, cashew nuts, tobacco and aquaculture production. He said this year Cambodia exported 1,839 tonnes of rice to Hungary and 118 tonnes of tobacco.
“We are optimistic that Peter Szijjarto’s visit here will bring fruitful development to Cambodia’s agriculture and agribusiness in the future,” he said.
The bilateral trade between the countries in 2019 was $3.37 million, of which Cambodia exported to Hungary $2.51 million of goods, according to figures from the Ministry of Commerce. For the first eight months of this year the two-way trade was $6.72 million. Cambodia exported to Hungary $5.23 million of goods during the period.
According to the report, Cambodia exported products such as cereals, tobacco and tobacco substitutes, apparel and clothing accessories and footwear. The country imported from Hungary pharmaceutical products, vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling-stock and parts and accessories for various items, including rubber.
With this new cooperation, the government hopes to encourage Hungarian investors to invest in a variety of Cambodia’s potential sectors.
Van David, a senior associate at PLATFORM IMPACT – a Cambodian business and investment firm – said that any bilateral cooperation is always welcome and commended Cambodia’s efforts. However, the key is what specifics may benefit which group and how Cambodia could ride on it to extract the best of the bilateral relationship.
According to MAFF, the cooperation will focus on crop production and seed development, animal health and animal production, fisheries and aquaculture, agro-trade promotion, cooperation on sanitary and phytosanitary inspections, forest protection and reforestation, processing agricultural products and marketing, joint training of human resources in the fields of agriculture, agricultural technology, research and development, exchange of skills, knowledge and experience and promoting the improvement of agribusiness partnerships.
