Cambodian PM reiterates commitment to multilateral trading system, support for free trade

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Monday reiterated the Southeast Asian country’s commitment to a multilateral trading system and its support for free trade.
He made the remarks in Phnom Penh during the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Cambodia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Hun Manet said Cambodia became the 148th member of the WTO on Oct. 13, 2004, and through its entry into the WTO, the kingdom has benefited a lot from its trade exchanges with the rest of the world.
He said Cambodia would continue to use existing bilateral, regional, and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), such as the Cambodia-China FTA, the Cambodia-South Korea FTA, the Cambodia-United Arab Emirates FTA, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to expand its exports.
He added that Cambodia’s engagement with the WTO and these trade pacts would help the kingdom graduate from the least developed country status by 2029, becoming an upper-middle income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050.
Speaking at the event, Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Nimul said WTO accession has provided Cambodia with better access to international markets, allowing it to diversify its exports across various sectors such as textiles, agriculture, and electronics.
She added that foreign direct investment had also witnessed remarkable growth from 110 million dollars in 2000 to about 5.3 billion dollars in the first nine months of 2024.
Cambodia’s trade volume has also jumped from about 4.5 billion dollars in 2004 to 47.88 billion dollars in 2023, Nimul added.
The minister said that this progress has significantly reduced Cambodia’s poverty rate from 60 percent in 2000 to 16 percent in 2022. ■