Phnom Penh (VNA) –Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Vu Quang Minh emphasised the goods results ofthe bilateral economic cooperation in an article published on the Khmer Timesnewspaper on July 10.

In the article, entitled “Cambodia-Vietnameconomic cooperation yielding good results”, the diplomat highlighted someeconomic achievements of Cambodia in recent years. 

According to the latest figures of the Ministryof Economy and Finance of Cambodia, the country has made impressive economicperformances over the last few years. Its gross domestic product (GDP) rose bynearly 7 billion USD from 2013 to 2017, reaching 22.1 billion USD last year andit is likely to reach 24.5 billion USD by the end of 2018.

Thanks to strong economic growth, the country’s percapita income has risen remarkably from 393 USD in 2013 to 1,435 USD in 2017and is expected to rise to 1,568 USD by the end of this yar, he noted.

Ambassador Minh attributed Cambodia’s suchimpressive growth partly to the good results of economic ties with Vietnam inrecent years.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Cambodia in2017 reached about 3.8 billion USD, up more than 25 percent from 2016.

Of the total, Vietnam’s exports to Cambodia was2.77 billion USD, rising 26.1 percent against the previous year. Vietnamese keyexports to Cambodia included steel and iron products (521 million USD, up 69.7percent year-on-year) and oil and petrol (375 million USD, up 30 percent).

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s imports from Cambodiareached 1 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 40.6 percent, mainly timberand wood products (214 million USD, up 16.9 percent), cashews (168 million USD,up 46 percent) and rubber (138 million USD, up 64 percent).

The ambassador wrote that leaders of Vietnam andCambodia have agreed to enhance the comprehensive cooperation between the twonations. As a result, they intend to raise the bilateral trade value to 5billion USD in the coming years.

With regards to investment, up to now, Vietnamhas had 196 investment projects in Cambodia with a total registered capital of2.94 billion USD, primarily focusing on agriculture and forestry. Vietnam isalso among the top five foreign investors in Cambodia. Cambodia, in its turn,is running 18 projects in Vietnam with a total investment capital of 58.12million USD.

About 835,000 Vietnamese tourists visitedCambodia in 2017, making Vietnam the second-largest source of tourists toCambodia, after China.

Minh said the two countries signed the FrameworkAgreement on Vietnam-Cambodia Economic Connectivity in 2017, and they areworking on the details of the Master Plan. On March 31, they signed the DoubleTaxation Avoidance Agreement. The countries are also completing negotiations tosign the Agreement on Border Trade. 

Furthermore, the recent 16th Meeting of theVietnam-Cambodia Joint Committee on Economic, Cultural andScientific-Technological Cooperation took place in Hanoi on May 17 with greatsuccess. It laid out specific orientations for multi-faceted cooperationbetween Vietnam and Cambodia, especially in economic sectors.

The diplomat added: “I do believe that theseeconomic frameworks will greatly help facilitate and further promote economicrelations between the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and theRoyal Government of Cambodia, especially in the fields of trade, investment andtourism.”-VNA