One more step toward Uncle Ho's Indochinese Federation: the combination of the two economies

Promoting Vietnam-Cambodia economic cooperation

(VOV) - More than 300 Vietnamese and Cambodian businesses attended the second Vietnam-Cambodia Investment Promotion Conference in Phnom Penh on April 24.

The conference, co-chaired by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, is an important information channel for both governments and businesses to boost economic and investment cooperation.

It is a chance for the two countries’ ministries and organizations to review the investment situation, and update economic development strategies and preferential policies for investment in Cambodia.

The conference also aims to lay a firm foundation for signing agreements on double taxation avoidance and on the combination of the two economies.

Cambodia, Vietnam sign investment contracts of nearly 1 bln USD [... It's a one-way trade to the benefit of Vietnam]

PHNOM PENH, Apr. 24, 2011 (Xinhua) -- Some 500 Cambodian and Vietnamese businessman met here on Sunday in the 2nd Cambodia-Vietnam conference and some investment projects worth nearly 1 billion U.S. dollars were signed.

The annual conference was chaired by the two countries' prime ministers.

Speaking in the conference, the visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said that to date, excluding the investment costs, which would be signed in the conference, Vietnamese investments in Cambodia have mounted to more than 2 billion U.S. dollars in the fields of telecommunication, aviation, banking and finance, mineral resources, and rubber plantations.

Cambodian investments in Vietnam have mounted to 51 million U.S. dollars.

Nguyen Tan Dung encouraged more Vietnamese investors to consider their ventures in Cambodia, and urged existing Vietnamese investors to strengthen and expand the investment to build closer economic cooperation.

Meanwhile, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that Cambodia is implementing favorable investment policies for overseas investors.

[Hun Xen's] Cambodian market welcomes [his] Vietnamese [masters'] businesses [-More Viet land-grabbing on the way!]

24/04/2011

(VOV) - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s official visit to the Kingdom of Cambodia is expected to open up more opportunities for Vietnamese investment in the country as well as bilateral economic cooperation.

Many major Cambodian newspapers run articles about it and reviewed positive achievements in bilateral trade.

In 2010, trade revenues between Vietnam and Cambodia hit more than US$1.8 billion, up more than 35 percent from the previous year. Vietnam also invested over US$2 billion in nearly 90 projects in Cambodia. Nearly 470,000 Vietnamese tourists visited Cambodia in 2010, ranking first and accounting for one fourth of the country’s total foreign tourists.

A Cambodian entrepreneur of Vietnamese descent, Xieng Minh, told VOV that he hoped PM Dung’s visit will help Vietnamese enterprises boost the presence of their goods in Cambodia. He added that Vietnam’s agricultural products have secured a firm foothold in the market and he expects more opportunities in other fields.

Opportunities for Viet exporters: A gift from Hoon Xhen's regime to his Viet masters

Cambodia offers opportunities for Vietnamese exporters

HANOI, Apr 06, 2011 (Lanka Business) - Cambodia offers plenty of opportunities for Vietnamese exporters though there is fierce competition from countries like Thailand and China, officials said.

Vietnam's exports to Cambodia were growing at more than 30 per cent annually, Vu Thinh Cuong, the country's Trade Counsellor in Cambodia, told forum to promote business links with Vietnam.

In the first two months of this year, exports were up 44 per cent to US$306 million, with the main export items being plastics, garments, steel and seafood, he said.

Nguyen Thi Hanh, general director of Saigon Co.op, said since Cambodia had to import large volumes of consumer goods, it offered a good opportunity for Vietnamese firms.

Would you patronize Yuon supermarkey when VN encroach on Cambodia, oppress and kill Khmer Krom?

Workers are busy at the US$3 million Vietnamese supermarket due to open on Monivong Boulevard, Phnom Penh, next month. (Photo by: Sovan Philong)

New Vietnamese Supermarket

Thursday, 09 September 2010
Catherine James
The Phnom Penh Post

CAMBODIA’S first Vietnamese supermarket will open its doors to customers next month, its administration manager said yesterday.

The US$3 million two-storey complex has been built on Phnom Penh’s Monivong Boulevard, in Boeung Keng Kang 3, near the Vietnamese embassy, and is owned by an investor from a firm called Z38 Co.

“It is the first Vietnamese supermarket to open in Cambodia. We will provide good service to the clients,” Keo Rithy Thy, administration manager for the store said.

Despite its roots, the store, which will house around 100 booths for rent in 3,264 square metres of space, will not confine itself to selling Vietnamese products.

“We’re selling mix products come from abroad,” said the manager.

Chinese and Thai products will also be for sale at the complex, which is named simply Vietnamese Supermarket.

According to publicity for the store, it intends to sell bags, clothes, shoes, jewellery, toys, furniture, food and beverages.
Competitors are taking stock of the development.

“I’m not worrying anything because we have different products imported from abroad,” Chheang Meng, General Manager of Bayon Supermarket in Phnom Penh, said yesterday.

“We always give the best services to our clients and make clients feel confident with high quality standard goods,” he said.

[Vietnam Yuon]Trade with Cambodia falls by 18.7%

February, 05 2010
VNS (Hanoi)

HA NOI — Two-way trade between Viet Nam and Cambodia reached just US$1.33 billion last year, reflecting a year-on-year decrease of 18.7 per cent, according to the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce.

Viet Nam's exports to Cambodia – which included textiles and garments, consumer goods and construction materials – dropped by more than 19 per cent to $1.14 billion, while Cambodian exports to Viet Nam, mainly agricultural products, went down by 15.5 per cent to $186 million.

Nguon Meng Tech, the chamber's chairman, blamed the global economic downturn for reduced consumer spending.

He said there were plenty of investment opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises in Cambodia this year, but that it would be difficult for the two countries to reach their targeted $2 billion trade turnover this year.

Prior to the crisis, Vietnamese exports to Cambodia had been rising by 40 per cent annually. Export turnover was five times higher than import costs.

More than 100 Vietnamese companies are now operating in Cambodia, mostly in agro-forestry, services and industrial sectors. In Viet Nam, many Cambodian companies are also doing business with local companies, including Golden Eagle Meng Sun Fish Sauce Enterprise, LyLy Food Industry and Sin Tai Seng Tea-Coffee factory.

Late last year, three more border gates were opened in an attempt to boost trade and tourism between the two countries.

Xa Mat Gate is located in Tay Ninh Province, Tinh Bien Gate in An Giang Province and Ha Tien Gate in Kien Giang Province, all in southern Viet Nam.

The move was part of an agreement signed between the two countries in 2005 to open seven border gates on the two countries' border to increase trade turnover.

A Close Neighbor, Vietnam Increases Investment

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
26 August 2009

Through August this year, Vietnamese companies have invested nearly half a billion dollars, a giant increase in activity that makes the country a top investor, along with China, South Korea and Russia.

Economic conditions and the strong political relationship between the two countries have led to the increase, analysts say.

“There are narrow business markets in Vietnam, with a lot of business people facing high competition,” said Chan Sophal, president of the Economists Association of Cambodia. “Furthermore, they have no free land to make investments. So they see our country as a neighbor with huge free land. It’s a good opportunity for them to invest in.”

Meanwhile, a stall in investment from other countries has given Vietnam a better chance to invest than in past years, Chan Sophal said.

In 2008, fixed investment from Vietnam was just $20 million, according to government figures. That number is just a sliver of the $534 million invested in the first eight months of this year alone.

Since 2005, Vietnamese companies have looked to Cambodia to invest in minerals, hydropower, telecommunications and rubber plantations. But in recent months, these investors have extended their range into banking, an airline and agriculture.

Last month, Vietnam opened a branch of one of its biggest banks, the Bank of Investment and Development of Vietnam, starting with a capital of $100 million. That followed Vietnamese joint investment in the new national airline, Cambodia Angkor Air, with a capital share of $49 million, after negotiations with Indonesian investors failed.

And last week, a Vietnamese delegation signed a $420-million agricultural investment agreement that included plans for rubber plantations and factories for sugar cane, ethanol and power generation.

Chap Sotharith, a senior economic researcher for the Cambodia Institute for Development and Peace, said Cambodia had become an attractive option as a primary investment destination for Vietnam because it could not only help expand a business market but provided a tax and export benefit.

Politics is also a motivating factor, analysts said.

“A historic political relationship between Cambodia and Vietnam, along with confidence among leaders of the two countries, makes Vietnamese investors confident,” Chan Sophal said.

Chheang Meng Heak, a professor of economics and finance at the Royal University of Law and Economics, said Vietnamese investors were confident in coming to Cambodia because they depend on political relationships to secure their businesses.

“Political relationships are seen as a buckle to protect business interests,” he said.

Lee Bien Cuong, commercial councilor at the Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh, acknowledged the political relationship as a main attraction for Vietnamese investors.

The relationship can be traced back to the ouster of the Khmer Rouge by Vietnamese forces, in January 1979 and the decade-long takeover that followed. Many members of the current government were put in place during Vietnam’s occupation.

That political friendship was bolstered recently when Cambodia and Thailand began military tensions over a disputed border region near the temple of Preah Vihear. By comparison, Vietnam has opened six borders with Cambodia to boost trade and investment.

Vietnam hopes to see bilateral trade climb to $2 billion in 2010, from $1.7 billion in 2008.

The investment relationship has its critics.

“Whenever there is political motivation behind investment, it will make a huge [economic] loss, because there will be no more competition,” said Yim Sovann, a lawmaker for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party.

Meanwhile, Sok Chenda, secretary-general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, said investment depends on investment laws, and no country receives special conditions.

“We make a balance of countries from the West and the East, including socialist countries like Vietnam and China, as well as countries like France and the US,” said Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers.

Economists agree: Any legal investment will provide economic benefits through job creation and tax revenue for the government.