Economic pacts to be signed on Korean leader's visit to Cambodia

Oct 22, 2009
Asia-Pacific News

Phnom Penh - South Korean President Lee Myung Bak arrived in Phnom Penh Thursday on an official two-day visit focused on economic matters.

'His visit will strengthen relations and cooperation between the countries,' Cambodia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said Thursday. '[A number of] documents will be signed today, especially on economics and investment.'

Lee was first due to meet King Norodom Sihamoni and later Thursday was to hold talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen, during which the two nations plan to sign several agreements.

Among those deals is one mapping out further loans to Cambodia from South Korea's Economic Development Cooperation Fund over the next three years.

The leaders were also scheduled to sign memoranda on mineral exploration in Cambodia as well as an extradition agreement.

South Korea is a key investor in Cambodia. In recent years, its firms have been involved in a number of infrastructure development projects, including power transmission lines, a sewerage system and a hydroelectric plant.

South Korean companies have also invested in the property sector, particularly in the capital, Phnom Penh, although a number of those projects have been put on ice since the global economic crisis hit last year.

Figures released to local media by the South Korean embassy in Phnom Penh showed bilateral trade between the two nations over the four years to 2008 totalled 750 million US dollars with the bulk of that comprising South Korean exports to Cambodia.

South Korea is also important as a source of tourists to the kingdom although the number of its nationals visiting dropped one-third in the first eight months of the year from the same period last year to 123,000.

Cambodia is hoping that arrivals from South Korea would pick up as it heads into its peak tourism period in the coming weeks.

On Friday, Lee was due to visit Siem Reap to see the Angkor Wat temple complex before flying to Thailand for the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Hua Hin. The regional body has scheduled talks with a number of non-ASEAN nations, including South Korea.