Viet firms ordered by Hanoi to focus on Cambodia market ... most likely due to Cambodia's dispute with Thailand

Firms advised to focus on Cambodia market

17-08-2009
VNS (Hanoi)

Economic deals sealed during Phnom Penh talks

Phnom Penh — Vietnamese and Cambodian businesses signed a host of economic deals and investment agreements worth more than US$400 million during talks in Phnom Penh on Friday.
The talks brought officials from Cambodian ministries, sectors and localities where Vietnamese invested projects are located together with the leaders of 20 Vietnamese groups and corporations which were interested in investing in Cambodia.
Cambodian Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam On was present at the talks, which were jointly held by the Council for Development of Cambodia (CDC) and the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV).
CDC Secretary General Sok Chenda pledged that the Cambodian Government would do its best to provide assistance to Vietnamese businesses when they invest in Cambodia. – VNS

HCM CITY — Vietnamese enterprises should pay more attention to traditional markets and establish a solid network of agents and distributors to further penetrate the Cambodian market.

Mai Thi Duyen, senior official of the Department of Information under the Ho Chi Minh City Investment & Trade Promotion Centre, offered this advice at a seminar in the city last Friday.

The seminar, organised by the the centre, aimed to show Vietnamese enterprises how to seize business opportunities in the Cambodian market.

Duyen said traditional markets account for 60-70 per cent of the retail sales system in the country.

Vietnamese enterprises should seek and expand the agents and distributors located in Cambodia to market the products to local people aiming to increase sales and turnover in the market, said Duyen.

Cambodia does not limit the number of foreign enterprises participating in trading and distribution of goods.

Local agents and distributors play an important role in promoting Vietnamese products because they fully understand business regulations, customs, and habits as well as the demands of consumers.

Duyen also said trade fairs were the most effective way to market and advertise Vietnamese products. Television commercials and colourful newspaper advertisements were also favoured by local consumers, she said.

Middle class consumers in Cambodia liked to buy products of high quality rather than products at cheap prices but of low quality, she added.

Huynh Tan Phong, deputy director of the centre said language was a barrier for Vietnamese enterprises. They need to be trained in the local language and advised to sell their products in Cambodia using Cambodian-language labels.

Yeav Kim Hean, commercial counsellor at the Cambodian embassy in Viet Nam, provided an overall view of the Cambodian potential market with the focus on its economy.

Since the beginning of this year, many foreign banks from China, Japan, South Korea have established their presence in Cambodia, he said, while Viet Nam’s Sacombank and Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam have inaugurated their representative offices.

Thus Cambodia can be seen as a promising market for banking activities.

The country has been developing robustly over the past years with average growth rate exceeding 10 per cent per year in the 2003-07 period.

Per capita GDP last year was $818 despite the global economic crisis and is expected to rise to US$853 this year.

Hean said Cambodia offered several investment incentive policies to attract the foreign investors, including those from Viet Nam.

In the future, the customs departments of both countries will co-operate in implementing a policy on joint inspections of goods in transit. It will be applied first at the Moc Bai-Bavet international border gate located between Viet Nam’s Tay Ninh and Cambodia’s Svay Rieng provinces.