HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam continued to be among the top five investors in Cambodia as of December 2016, with US$2.85 billion registered capital invested in 183 projects.

Việt Nam is also Cambodia’s third largest partner, with bilateral trade reaching $3 billion until the end of last year. The two countries are striving to raise the figure to $5 billion in the following years. 

In the first two months of the year, two-way trade turnover reached $624.1 million, up 21.2 per cent compared with the same period last year. 

In addition, Việt Nam was always among the highest number of visitors to Cambodia, and vice versa, as Cambodian tourists consider Việt Nam their top choice for travel.

The information was presented by Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Thạch Dư at a seminar in Cambodia, held by the Vietnamese Embassy with the participation of some 100 Vietnamese firms. 

Traditional friendship, favourable geographical conditions and concerns of the two governments were the foundation for promoting economic, trade and investment co-operation between Việt Nam and Cambodia in recent years, Dư added.

The seminar was aimed at helping Việt Nam’s enterprises better understand the situation and business opportunities in Cambodia to continue to maintain the leading position in the country. It provided an opportunity to connect with other businesses investing in Cambodia.

Many representatives of companies attending the seminar, such as the Association of Vietnamese Investors in Cambodia (AVIC), Việt Nam Rubber Group (VRG), Metfone, Angkor Milk and Chak Angre Hospital, also mentioned their difficulties and obstacles in doing business abroad.

In addition, they proposed some recommendations of the enterprise community on existing issues, such as tax and visa-related issues for Vietnamese workers, to the governments of the two countries. — VNS