Ambassador highlights good results in Vietnam-Cambodia economic ties Phnom Penh – Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Vu Quang Minh emphasised the goods results of the bilateral economic cooperation in an article published on the Khmer Times newspaper on July 10. Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Vu Quang Minh (L) at a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (Photo: VNA) In the article, entitled “Cambodia-Vietnam economic cooperation yielding good results”, the diplomat highlighted some economic achievements of Cambodia in recent years.  According to the latest figures of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Cambodia, the country has made impressive economic performances over the last few years. Its gross domestic product (GDP) rose by nearly 7 billion USD from 2013 to 2017, reaching 22.1 billion USD last year and it is likely to reach 24.5 billion USD by the end of 2018. Thanks to strong economic growth, the country’s per capita income has risen remarkably from 393 USD in 2013 to 1,435 USD in 2017 and is expected to rise to 1,568 USD by the end of this yar, he noted. Ambassador Minh attributed Cambodia’s such impressive growth partly to the good results of economic ties with Vietnam in recent years. Two-way trade between Vietnam and Cambodia in 2017 reached about 3.8 billion USD, up more than 25 percent from 2016. Of the total, Vietnam’s exports to Cambodia was 2.77 billion USD, rising 26.1 percent against the previous year. Vietnamese key exports to Cambodia included steel and iron products (521 million USD, up 69.7 percent year-on-year) and oil and petrol (375 million USD, up 30 percent). Meanwhile, Vietnam’s imports from Cambodia reached 1 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 40.6 percent, mainly timber and wood products (214 million USD, up 16.9 percent), cashews (168 million USD, up 46 percent) and rubber (138 million USD, up 64 percent). The ambassador wrote that leaders of Vietnam and Cambodia have agreed to enhance the comprehensive cooperation between the two nations. As a result, they intend to raise the bilateral trade value to 5 billion USD in the coming years. With regards to investment, up to now, Vietnam has had 196 investment projects in Cambodia with a total registered capital of 2.94 billion USD, primarily focusing on agriculture and forestry. Vietnam is also among the top five foreign investors in Cambodia. Cambodia, in its turn, is running 18 projects in Vietnam with a total investment capital of 58.12 million USD. About 835,000 Vietnamese tourists visited Cambodia in 2017, making Vietnam the second-largest source of tourists to Cambodia, after China. Minh said the two countries signed the Framework Agreement on Vietnam-Cambodia Economic Connectivity in 2017, and they are working on the details of the Master Plan. On March 31, they signed the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement. The countries are also completing negotiations to sign the Agreement on Border Trade.  Furthermore, the recent 16th Meeting of the Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Committee on Economic, Cultural and Scientific-Technological Cooperation took place in Hanoi on May 17 with great success. It laid out specific orientations for multi-faceted cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia, especially in economic sectors. The diplomat added: “I do believe that these economic frameworks will greatly help facilitate and further promote economic relations between the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Royal Government of Cambodia, especially in the fields of trade, investment and tourism.” VNA