Malaysian Businesses Ink Deals on Official Visit

Prime Minister Hun Sen welcomes Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, on Monday. (Photo: AP)

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Monday, 10 May 2010

CIMB Group Chief Executive Datuk Sri Nazir Razak said the bank would help bring “more trade and investment flows between Cambodia and other Asean markets.”

Malaysia banking giant CIMB will open a branch in Cambodia as part of a series of agreements penned between Cambodian and Malaysian officials Monday.

The CIMB Group was green-lighted by the National Bank of Cambodia to open a bank, but Prime Minister Hun Sen gave official approval Monday, as he met with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who arrived Sunday for his first visit since becoming premier in April 2009.

Ngong Meng Tech, secretary-general of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, said Cambodian and Malaysian companies also signed six agreements totaling $1 billion in further meetings Monday.

Those deals focused on Cambodian production of coffee and halal sugar; a poultry farm for KFC; information technology security and the establishment of two universities and a business council here, Ngong Meng Tech said.

CIMB said in a statement it will operate a 100-percent owned subsidiary with headquarters in Phnom Penh, to be established in the next six months.

CIMB Group Chief Executive Datuk Sri Nazir Razak said in a statement the bank would help bring “more trade and investment flows between Cambodia and other Asean markets.”

Hun Sen “approved, encouraged and supported CIMB Group to open its office in Cambodia,” said Ieng Sophalleth, an adviser to the prime minister.

Hun Sen also encouraged his counterpart to consider further Malaysian investment, “particularly in the rice crop,” Ieng Sophalleth said.