PHNOM PENH: The Kingdom of Cambodia and the People's Republic of China have recently held via online the first meeting of the Cambodia-China Joint Industrial Park Construction Committee.

The meeting was co-chaired by H.E. SEANG Thay, Secretary of State at the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce Commerce and Co-Chairman of the Cambodia-China Joint Industrial Park Construction Committee, and H.E. Liao Pinhu, Vice Governor of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the purpose of this first meeting is to introduce the members of the working group and to discuss the cooperation to promote the construction of the Cambodia-China Industrial Park both in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Kingdom of Cambodia.

China is a major investor in Cambodia. Last year, Cambodia approved 268 investment projects and investment expansion projects with a total investment capital of US$4.9 billion. Investment from China ranked first, accounting for two thirds of the total investment capital, while domestic investment ranked second with 24 percent.

Vice-President of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce Mr. Lim Heng attributed the increase in investment project to the country's potential under the new investment law, free trade agreements, mega-regional pact, and trade preferences.

“The new investment law, along with free trade agreements – Cambodia-China FTA and Cambodia-Korea FTA, RCEP – are factors that attracted investment from China to Cambodia as part of production for exports to foreign markets,” he said.