Cambodia, China's Guangxi sign deal on trade promotion

PHNOM PENH -- Cambodia and South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region have signed a memorandum of understanding on trade promotion, aiming at further boosting bilateral trade volume, the Cambodian Commerce Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The deal was inked on Thursday via video link between the Commerce Ministry's general directorate of trade promotion and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region's Department of Commerce with the presence of Cambodian Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak and Lan Tianli, chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, the statement said.

At the event, Cambodian firm Hang Harvest Agriculture also signed a deal to supply 400,000 tons of tapioca chips to Guangxi Rural Investment Group Agricultural Products Business Service from March 2022 to March 2023, it added.

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Sorasak encouraged more Chinese enterprises to buy more rice, corns, mangoes, bananas and other potential agricultural produce from Cambodia.

"The ASEAN-China Free Trade Area, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement have all paved the way for the promotion of economic and trade cooperation between Cambodia and China," he said.

According to the minister, the trade volume between Cambodia and China reached nearly $11.2 billion in 2021, up 38 percent from 2020.

Chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region Lan said China is ready to import more quality products from ASEAN countries, including buying up to $150 billion' worth of agricultural products from ASEAN in the next five years.

He said the memorandum of understanding and the tapioca chip export contract were a pragmatic cooperation and were a testament to China's commitment to increasing trade volume with Cambodia.

According to Lan, the two-way trade between the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Cambodia reached 1.05 billion yuan ($166 million) last year, up 63.8 percent year-on-year.

He added that currently there are 71 enterprises from the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region investing in Cambodia in the non-financial sector.