Cambodia, China vow to broaden trade ties

PHNOM PENH - Cambodia and China on Tuesday vowed to broaden bilateral trade relations for the benefits of the two countries and peoples, according to a statement released by the Cambodian side.

The statement was made after a meeting between Cambodian Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak and visiting Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng.

"Talks mainly focused on strengthening bilateral trade, including duty free and quota free treatment, and the exports of Cambodian rice and other agricultural products to China," the statement said.

"The two ministers underscored the 18 percent increase in Cambodia-China trade volume (to $4.4 billion in 2015), and agreed that Cambodia and China should do more to attract investment to Cambodia," it said.

Gao stressed that Cambodia is China's strategic trading partner under the "Belt and Road" initiative and ASEAN-China Framework.

According to the statement, China would assist Cambodia to organize the 1st Cambodia-China trade and investment forum in Nanning City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in September 2016.

It added that China would consult with relevant agencies to provide tariff preferences up to 97 percent of total tariff lines under the Duty-Free, Quota-Free Scheme as soon as possible.

Besides, China would consider increasing export quotas for Cambodia's rice to 200,000 tons in 2017 and encourage more Chinese enterprises to invest in Cambodia in the fields of food processing, light manufacturing, and agro-industry.

Also, China would coordinate with relevant agencies to continue the negotiations of the protocol on the exportation of broken rice, banana, mango, longan, cashew nut, pepper, coffee bean and soybean from Cambodia to China, the statement said.

Gao arrived here on Monday for a two-day visit to explore ways to broaden ties and cooperation between China and Cambodia.