Vietnam-Cambodia trade maintains positive growth

Vietnam-Cambodia trade expected to surpass 11 billion USD this year (Photo: VNA)

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s official visit to Cambodia from November 8-9 and his attendance at the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and related Summits from November 10-13 are expected to help boost bilateral trade cooperation which has reported positive growth over the recent past.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the 2016-2020 period, two-way trade recorded an annual average growth rate of 17%, from 2.92 billion USD in 2016 to 5.31 billion USD in 2020.

The turnover surged by 79.1% to 9.54 billion USD last year, and is expected to surpass 11 billion USD this year, as it reached 8.45 billion USD in the first nine months of this year.

Along with bilateral deals such as the border trade agreement and the bilateral trade promotion agreement, those in ASEAN are hoped to continue connecting the Vietnamese and Cambodian economies.

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

These agreements are also expected to create more opportunities for investors of Vietnam, Cambodia and the third country to make the most of each nation's advantages to expand investment and business activities and develop regional value chains for export to ASEAN countries and other markets around the world.

Vietnam and Cambodia also have great potential to continue promoting cooperation in specific fields such as consumer goods production, energy, electricity, mining, processing, agriculture, forestry and fishery.

Statistics show that to date, Vietnam has 198 valid investment projects in Cambodia with a total registered capital of 2.92 billion USD.

At the talks on the sidelines of the 54th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Cambodia in September, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and Cambodian Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak agreed to promote cooperation in border trade through upgrading border gate pairs and opening new border markets.

To foster the bilateral trade, the Vietnamese ministry plans to chair a Vietnam - Cambodia Business Forum and send business delegations to a one province one product (OPOP) fair scheduled for December in Phnom Penh./.