Cambodia, Philippines ink agreement to boost bilateral trade

Dec 8, 2011
Xinhua

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and the Philippines on Thursday signed an agreement to boost the bilateral cooperation on trade, investment, tourism and agriculture.

The agreement was signed between Ung Sean, secretary of state of Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and visiting Erlinda F. Basilio, undersecretary of state of the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs after the first Cambodia-the Philippines Joint Commission Meeting.

According to a press release after the signing ceremony, both sides agreed to strengthen bilateral trade and investment cooperation through encouraging respective country's business people and investors to do businesses in one another.

"Trade and investment ties between the two countries are relatively small so far and now we're encouraging the Philippines' investors to do business in Cambodia," Ung Sean told reporters after the signing ceremony. "We hope to see Philippine investors here after we agreed to boost bilateral ties."

According to the reports of the Council of the Development of Cambodia, since 1994 to September 2011, there is not a single investment project from the Philippines to Cambodia.

The bilateral trade relation is also very small in amount, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

In the agreement, both sides also pledged to boost direct flight between the two countries as soon as possible.

On the agriculture side, the two countries agreed to promote information and experience exchange, techniques relevant to agriculture, animal health and fisheries.

Both sides also agreed to accelerate cooperation on health, education and culture.