Vietnam President’s Cambodia Visit to Boost Bilateral Ties

Vietnam President’s Cambodia Visit to Boost Bilateral Ties

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to Cambodia from today and Wednesday affords both sides a chance to discuss major orientations and measures to further boost bilateral ties in the new period.

The Vietnam Trade Office in Cambodia said despite the COVID-19 pandemic, trade between Vietnam and Cambodia still surged 84 percent year on year to top $8.6 billion in the first 11 months of this year. Of the figure, more than $4.35 billion was from Vietnam’s exports to Cambodia, up 17 percent and the remaining was Cambodia’s exports, up 337 percent year-on-year. The figure is estimated at $9.3 billion for the entire year, marking a rise of nearly 75 percent annually.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Department of Asian-African Markets, Vietnam was one of the leading trade partners of Cambodia. During the 2016-2020 period, two-way trade expanded by 17 percent annually on average, from $2.92 billion in 2015 to 5.32 billion in 2020. Apart from boosting exports to Cambodia, Vietnam continued offering preferential tariffs on Cambodia’s exports to Vietnam.

At present, Vietnam has 188 valid investment projects with a total registered capital of nearly $2.85 billion in Cambodia.

Vietnam and Cambodia have supported each other in the fight against COVID-19. Vietnam presented PCR test kits worth around $300,000 together with $500,000 in cash and medical supplies to Cambodia. Meanwhile, Cambodia also gave Vietnam 200,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses, 1 million medical and 100,000 N95 masks, 100 oxygen generators and $350,000 in cash to Vietnam.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien affirmed that the ministry is ready to partner with Cambodian agencies and the Cambodian Embassy in Vietnam to further boost bilateral ties in the near future. AKP