Japan firms see fresh potential in Kingdom

[PHNOM PENH POST]

A delegation of more than 30 Japanese businesspeople yesterday met with the Council for the Development of Cambodia to discuss investment opportunities in the Kingdom, after seeing what they said were vast improvements in domestic legal and tax regulations.

Yoshiharu Komiyama, a member of Japan’s House of Councillors and the delegation’s leader, said the changes made Cambodia a much more attractive investment.

“Our mission is focused on the garment industry in particular, with the aim to find opportunities for our investors and better understand these industries,” he said, though other members of the delegation claimed interest in agriculture as well.

However, no definite decisions had yet been made to invest, the investors said.

CDC secretary general Sok Chenda yesterday said he encouraged Japanese firms to invest here, highlighting the duty-free status many Cambodian exports enjoyed abroad.

Agriculture, garments, infrastructure, tourism, human resource development and mining are some of Cambodia’s most viable investment areas, he said, adding the Kingdom had already garnered attention from Japanese investors.

“Ten Japanese companies came to invest in here in the first half of 2011, and we do hope that they will come to invest more and more in next years,” he said.

Still, Sok Chenda called for greater investment from Japan considering its large economy and strong relationship with the Kindom.