PHNOM PENH: Cambodia exported 7.21 billion U.S. dollars worth of products to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) members in the first 11 months of 2023, up 27 percent from 5.67 billion dollars in the same period last year, a Ministry of Commerce report said on Tuesday.

During the January-November period, the kingdom’s top five export destinations under the regional mega trade deal are Vietnam, China, Japan, Thailand, and Singapore, the report said.

Cambodian Ministry of Commerce’s Secretary of State and Spokesperson Penn Sovicheat said the RCEP, which took effect in 2022, is a catalyst for long-term export growth and a magnet to attract more foreign direct investment inflows to the kingdom.

“RCEP is a huge market for Cambodia, accounting for about 34 percent of our 21.3 billion U.S. dollars total export in the first 11 months of this year,” he told Xinhua.

“With preferential tariffs provided under the RCEP agreement, I believe that Cambodia’s exports to other RCEP members will continue to rise in coming years,” he added.

Sovicheat said this world’s largest trade deal, together with other bilateral free trade agreements, will help Cambodia achieve its goals of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income nation by 2050.

The RCEP agreement comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries including 10 ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member states, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, and their five trading partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Xinhua