[PHNOM PENH POST]
CAMBODIA must further integrate with its East Asian neighbours for
future economic development, said Minister of Economy and Finance Keat
Chhon.
The financial crisis highlighted the need to diversify
production, and Asia’s markets are ripe for increased Cambodian exports,
he said.
“The strengthening and deepening of integration in East Asia … is indispensible,” he said.
Speaking
at the 7th annual Asia Economic Forum in Phnom Penh on Saturday, the
minister highlighted the Kingdom’s efforts to increase transport
linkages with its neighbours, such as the missing 257 kilometre rail
link from Phnom Penh to Loc Ninh, Vietnam, which would allow trains to
travel from Singapore to Kunming, China.
Ministry of Foreign
Affairs Secretary of State Kao Kim Hourn urged Cambodia to focus on
developing its export industries, aiming particularly at fellow ASEAN
member states.
“The Cambodian economy is small and that’s why we have to reach out to other regional economies,” he said.
ASEAN
members have pledged to remove tariffs and quotas by 2015, aiming to
create a single market for the bloc’s 600 million people.
Keat Chhon said bilateral disputes, such as at the border, “have become the foremost critical challenge for ASEAN”.
He said a dispute mechanism should be established to reduce the problem in the future.
Economic
Institute of Cambodia President Sok Hach said the Kingdom’s
agricultural industry is crucial to its future economic growth.
“Cambodia’s rice industry has huge implications for the economy,” he
said.
US Ambassador Carol Rodley praised Cambodia’s efforts to
develop its agriculture industry, pointing to it as an area of future
growth.
“There’s a remarkable story of economic development that
has gone on in the rice sector of Cambodia,” she said. “In 2000,
Cambodia exported zero rice. In 2009, Cambodia exported over 800,000
tonnes.”
However, Rodley said it would be difficult for Cambodia
to export rice to the US, as the country had a robust rice-production
industry of its own.
“Our producers are very efficient,” she
said. “They also have the benefit of much cheaper energy prices, better
technology and easy access to improved inputs, so it’s going to be a
struggle for Cambodia and other developing countries to compete in that
particular market.”
No comments:
Post a Comment