Vietnam and Cambodia promote investment cooperation.

This morning (January 13th) at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, the capital of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen co-chaired the 4th Vietnam-Cambodia Investment Cooperation Conference.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen co-chaired the 4th Vietnam-Cambodia Investment Cooperation Conference.

The conference was attended by leaders from several ministries, departments, and localities, as well as representatives from over 400 businesses from both countries.

This is an opportunity for both sides to jointly assess the economic, investment, and trade cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia, the results achieved from previous Vietnam-Cambodia Investment Cooperation Conferences, and discuss solutions to further promote investment cooperation in the future.

The Vietnam-Cambodia Investment Cooperation Conference was first held in 2009 with the aim of strengthening the promotion of Vietnamese investment in Cambodia. Through three conferences, investment by Vietnamese businesses in Cambodia has seen a strong transformation with many agreements, treaties, and investment certificates signed and awarded.

According to Mr. Tran Bac Ha, Chairman of the Association of Vietnamese Investors in Cambodia, by the end of 2013, the total registered investment capital of Vietnam in Cambodia reached over 3 billion USD with 127 projects, nearly six times the total investment capital and more than three times the number of projects compared to before 2010, ranking fifth among foreign investors in Cambodia.

Mr. Kith Meng, President of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, noted that Vietnam and Cambodia share many similarities in markets, mutually supportive economic characteristics, and a long border between the two countries, which forms the basis for cooperation and has the potential to create breakthroughs and tremendous opportunities to enhance mutual benefits. Based on recent achievements in economic, trade, investment, and tourism cooperation, it can be affirmed that Vietnam has made positive contributions to economic development, increased income, job creation, and improved living standards for the people of Cambodia.

Speaking at the conference, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung welcomed the positive activities of the relevant agencies of both countries in implementing existing cooperation agreements, researching and proposing new cooperation programs, especially the signing of the Protocol amending the Agreement on Encouragement and Protection of Investment between the two countries. This includes specific provisions to facilitate investment activities of businesses from both countries, such as creating the necessary environment for various forms of investment, simplifying registration and approval procedures, strengthening the promotion of investment information, laws, and policies, and providing consulting services for investors. The Prime Minister highly appreciated the efforts of ministries, sectors, localities, and businesses of both countries in closely cooperating to overcome difficulties and facilitate investment, business, trade, and tourism development between the two countries. He also commended Vietnamese businesses investing in Cambodia for their social welfare activities.

Emphasizing the great potential and opportunities for cooperation between the two countries, especially in economics, trade, investment, and tourism, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stated that in the context of difficulties faced by businesses in both countries, the Vietnamese Government has implemented many solutions to support businesses operating in Vietnam, such as exempting or extending the payment deadline for certain taxes, reducing land rent, supporting trade promotion, and finding consumer markets. The Prime Minister hoped that the Cambodian Government and relevant ministries and agencies would also pay more attention and create more favorable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to invest and operate effectively in Cambodia, and would soon consider resolving difficulties and obstacles to accelerate the implementation of licensed projects.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung requested that the ministries and agencies of both countries promptly inform each other about the completion of internal procedures so that the Agreement on Encouragement and Protection of Investment between the two countries and its amending Protocol can officially come into effect soon. From there, both sides can continue to implement related work to directly support investment activities of businesses in both countries, such as establishing a Joint Committee on Investment, promoting and guiding businesses in both countries to access, understand, and apply the content of this Agreement as well as other multilateral agreements that Vietnam and Cambodia are parties to, in order to protect the investment activities of investors.

The Prime Minister also suggested that both sides maintain a regular dialogue mechanism between the agencies of the two governments to promptly resolve difficulties and promote effective investment and business activities; pay attention to improving institutions, policies, and laws to create a synchronized and favorable legal framework to further promote investment and business cooperation between the two countries, including the early negotiation and signing of a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement; and upgrading and expanding the cooperation agreement in the field of rubber tree cultivation between the two countries to the level of a Government Agreement.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Prime Minister Hun Sen witnessed the signing ceremony of cooperation documents.

Affirming that the Vietnamese Government and its ministries, sectors, and localities welcome and facilitate Cambodian businesses to invest and conduct business in Vietnam, and pay special attention to supporting and creating the most favorable conditions to promote investment by Vietnamese businesses in Cambodia, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also requested Vietnamese investors and businesses to further promote the tradition of solidarity, maintain the image and prestige of Vietnam in investment and business in Cambodia; strictly abide by the laws of the host country; in addition to the goal of economic efficiency, they should also focus on helping Cambodian partners and localities develop together. Each successful investment project will be a practical contribution to the strong and lasting friendship between the two countries and peoples.

Affirming that the Vietnamese Government always highly appreciates Cambodia's policy of prioritizing the development of cooperative relations with Vietnam, which has created favorable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to invest and operate in Cambodia, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung expressed his hope that Vietnamese and Cambodian businesses would work together to develop investment and business, aiming to soon achieve the goal of increasing bilateral trade turnover to 5 billion USD by 2015, and that Vietnamese investors would become among the leading efficient and responsible investors in Cambodia. The Vietnamese Government will do its utmost to work with the Cambodian Government to further develop the friendly neighborly relations and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia, bringing benefits to the people of both countries and making a positive contribution to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.

On behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen warmly welcomed Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the Vietnamese delegation to Cambodia and to attend the 4th Vietnam-Cambodia Investment Cooperation Conference.

Summarizing some of Cambodia's recent economic and social achievements, such as stable inflation, a rising currency value, increasingly solid growth indicators, significant progress in investment, the steady development of industry and agriculture, and the increasing number of international tourists, Prime Minister Hun Sen affirmed that these results demonstrate Cambodia's capabilities and the government's administrative capacity to create opportunities for greater political stability and sustainable development in the future.

Prime Minister Hun Sen noted that close cooperation between the two countries within the regional and sub-regional frameworks is creating increasingly greater potential and opportunities for businesses. Businesses and investors from both countries need to better understand each other's countries and markets to prepare their own operational strategies. Pointing out that both sides have many strengths that can complement each other, such as Vietnam's strength in processing while Cambodia has abundant raw materials, Prime Minister Hun Sen suggested that Vietnamese businesses consider investing in the processing of food and agricultural products in a spirit of cooperation and mutual support, seizing opportunities based on the principle of mutual benefit.

Highly appreciating Vietnamese businesses investing in Cambodia, thereby supporting Cambodia's rapid development in several sectors, Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed his hope that the Vietnamese Government would support Cambodia through continued strengthening of cooperation and investment. Cambodia always welcomes and supports Vietnamese investment projects in Cambodia, and will strive even harder to improve the investment environment to maintain the confidence of Vietnamese investors, thereby bringing prosperity to the people of both countries and making the Cambodia-Vietnam friendship even stronger and more enduring.

On this occasion, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Prime Minister Hun Sen witnessed the ceremony of granting the Investment License to Vinamilk Joint Stock Company, a joint venture with a Cambodian company, to build a milk processing plant in Cambodia with a total investment of 23 million USD; and the signing of an agreement between BIDV and the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports regarding BIDV awarding 50 scholarships to Cambodian students to study in Vietnam.

According to chinhphu.vn