Sok Chenda Sophea, Minister attached to the Prime Minister and Secretary-General of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) said that the Kingdom, which recovered from the ill effects of Covid-19, presents the right opportunity for Malaysian businesspeople for investments.
While welcoming the delegation from the Malaysia SME Association during a seminar at the Naga World, Sophea said, “The Malaysia SME Association has received great support from the Malaysian Business Council of Cambodia (MBCC). If you want to do business, MBCC, Embassy of Malaysia and CDC are the right places to ask for information. The foreigners can invest 100 percent in the banking, insurance and telecom sectors. Besides, there is no capital control in Cambodia.”
The Malaysia-Cambodia Business Forum yesterday held a discussion on Leveraging on RCEP: Enhancing Bilateral Trade Between Malaysia & Cambodia.
While mentioning the untapped potential for Cambodia in agriculture, he urged Malaysian businessmen to consider the prospects of investing in the sector.
Other speakers at the forum were Sim Sokheng, Secretary of State, Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia (MOCI), Oknha Tan Khee Meng, President of Malaysian Business Council of Cambodia, and Ding Hong Sing, President of SME Association of Malaysia. Dr Sok Siphana, Senior Advisor to the Royal Government of Cambodia, was the moderator at the forum.
The SME Malaysia embarked on its first trade mission in the post-pandemic era to the nine Asean countries and its first destination is Phnom Penh with 53 business people from 36 companies.
The trade mission is in Cambodia, seeking to enhance trade and investment opportunities between the two countries. SME Malaysia has been meeting representatives of local chambers of commerce and businessmen.
Ding Hong Sing said that he has been working towards promoting Malaysian SMEs to have better cooperation with their counterparts from other Asean countries.
In November last year, an MoU was signed between Cheuy Vichet, Ambassador of Cambodia to Malayasia and Ding Hong Sing, president of SME Malaysia. The MoU aims to explore opportunities to develop and support each other to promote investment and facilitate business matching between members of Malaysian associations and entrepreneurs in Cambodia.
“In line with the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Cambodia and Malaysia in 2022, this trade visit to Cambodia has three main purposes – to promote bilateral trade between Cambodia and Malaysia, exploring potential business opportunities in Cambodia, and promoting diplomatic relations and business exchanges between the two countries,” Ding said.
Over the years, the business communities of Cambodia and Malaysia have undertaken close cooperation in the economic and trading fields. For example, in 2021, the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) approved a total of 162 qualified investment projects from Malaysia with a total investment value of $3.15 billion.
The Business Forum yesterday is a realisation of a consensus reached by Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Prime Minister Hun Sen during the former’s official visit to Cambodia on February 23 and 24 this year.
Both prime ministers encouraged businesses and investors to seek more opportunities to explore business and investment opportunities in each other’s countries given that the Elimination of Double Taxation with respect to taxes on income and the Prevention of Tax Evasion and Avoidance between the two countries has entered into force on January 1, 2021, and the new Investment Law of Cambodia which provides a more open, transparent, predictable and efficient legal framework for investment in Cambodia.
“Both sides also prioritise the strengthening of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and startups, and recall the agreement between MRANTI (previously known as MaGIC Malaysia) and Impact Hub Phnom Penh to promote startups and entrepreneurial ventures of youths in both countries.”
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
