PHNOM PENH: Cambodia is ready to be a strategic partner of businessmen and investors to seize ASEAN's viable economic opportunities and is committed to working closely with ASEAN member states and dialogue partners to build a resilient, sustainable and competitive ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) for the common interest of the region.

The remarks were underscored by Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, while presiding over the official opening ceremony of Cambodia-ASEAN Business Summit, held here this morning.

With her strategic location, Cambodia provides a seamless connectivity and creates an ecosystem of collaboration that focuses on mutual benefits and common well-being throughout the region, the Premier said.

At the same time, he continued, Cambodia's strategic membership in major regional and global trade agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) makes the Kingdom a highly integrated player in the global market. “Made in Cambodia” products such as clothing and bicycles are now internationally recognised for their quality and competitive prices, which demonstrates Cambodia's growing presence in the global market.

According to Samdech Thipadei, Cambodia firmly believes that a strong, resilient and integrated ASEAN Economic Community can bring common prosperity to all member states. In this spirit, the Royal Government of Cambodia has been promoting the implementation of the “Plus-One Strategy” by attracting investment in the production of spare parts or semi-finished products to supply large factories in neighbouring ASEAN countries, and has approved the new Investment Law to provide investors with potential and strategic excellence with many incentives for investment projects in key priority areas.

Moreover, he underlined, Cambodia is investing in developing connectivity infrastructure, including highways, deep seaports and international airports, and modern logistic centre, which will promote smooth and efficient regional connectivity to key economic corridors in Cambodia and the ASEAN region as a whole, and these strategic investments will help reduce the logistics costs and increase the efficiency of businesses operating in Cambodia so that they can draw huge potential from the regional market.