Cambodia and China on Monday signed a long-awaited free trade deal, as industry observers said it could be a boon for agricultural investment and seen as a major policy achievement, while others spoke of the need for wider reforms to make Cambodian exports competitive.
The government must ensure the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement has the nation’s and the people’s interests at heart, and both improves the country’s economic competitiveness and garners Chinese investment that produces local jobs.
Two weeks ahead of Europe raising tariffs on Cambodia over human-rights concerns, officials explained the finalization of a free-trade deal with China as being about expanding the range of Cambodian exports, not making up for the loss.
The government is preparing to set aside up to $2 billion in reserves to respond to the economic fallout of the Covid-19 global outbreak, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday said China was transporting raw textile materials to Cambodia to relieve some garment factories of shortages caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, which a union leader called a welcome but short-term fix.
UPDATED 9:25 a.m. — Prime Minister Hun Sen has opted to travel to Beijing on Wednesday, instead of China’s Wuhan, where a new strain of a respiratory virus that has spread to more than 20 nations was first detected, he said in a Facebook post on Wednesday morning.
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday reaffirmed his decision not to evacuate Cambodians from China, where more than 300 people have died from a new strain of a respiratory virus, and vowed to visit citizens in Wuhan, where the virus was first detected.
Pressure from foreign states was forcing Cambodia to choose friends and enemies in the international arena, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Friday, repeating his frequent claim that the government would not exchange its sovereignty for aid from any country.
Transport Minister Sun Chanthol on Tuesday said Cambodia needs more loans and investment from China — the nation’s largest creditor — to develop the country’s infrastructure.
Rice exports to China have overtaken shipments to Europe this year after the E.U. imposed tariffs in January to protect its rice growers.
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