PHNOM PENH: Samdech Techo Hun Sen, Cambodian Prime Minister has encouraged small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and handicrafts to pay attention to the promotion of agro-industrial processing and export.

The Premier made the encouragement at a get-together and solidarity dinner with more than 5,000 SMEs and handicraft representatives at Koh Pich Convention and Exhibition Centre in Phnom Penh on April 10.

Samdech Techo Hun Sen also insisted on internal export through the tourism sector and the export to foreign markets under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Cambodia-Korea FTA and so on, as well as with neighboring countries.

The Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Commerce to form an inter-institutional technical working group to promote trade facilitation in order to reduce trade costs and boost Cambodia's exports, especially agro-industrial products.

According to the President of the Federation of Associations of Small and Medium Enterprises of Cambodia (Fasmec), Oknha Te Taing Por, there are in total more than 700,000 bases of SMEs and handcrafts in Cambodia, of which 7 percent are in the manufacturing sector, equivalent to more than 40,000 bases, and about 80 percent are food processing factories, and 2,000 are large-scale factories.