PHNOM PENH: Australia has expressed its appreciation for Cambodia's effort to attract foreign investment and physical infrastructure development so far.

The praise was made by H.E. Justin Kevin Whyatt, Ambassador of Australia to Cambodia, while he was paying a courtesy call on H.E. SUN Chanthol, Deputy Prime Minister and First Vice President of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), at the CDC headquarters here on Feb. 14.

On theoccasion, H.E. SUN Chanthol was optimistic that the figure of foreign investment in the Kingdom would additionally increase even though the world was facing challenging situation, detailing that the country approved 268 investment projects worth some US$4.9 billion, up from almost US$4 billion in 2022. In the first month of this year, Cambodia endorsed 32 investment projects, more than twice compared to the same period last year.

The First Vice President of CDC stressed that such endorsement was a result of the effort of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) to attract foreign investors.

In this regard, H.E. SUN Chanthol added that the RGC issued Comprehensive Intermodal Transport and Logistics Master Plan (CIT-MP) 2023-2033 to reduce transport and logistics costs, including Cambodia's aim to consume clean energy up to 70 percent of the total energy by 2030.

On the occasion, he further updated his guest about the progress of development project of Techo Funan Canal, the first historic project in Cambodia's waterway transport sector to connect the Mekong River system and the sea route.