HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Despite impressive past results, there is plenty of room to develop bilateral economic relations between Viet Nam and Cambodia further, Vietnamese Ambassador Thach Du told a business conference in Phnom Penh yesterday.

One hundred Vietnamese and overseas Vietnamese businesses doing business in Cambodia participated in the event. The Vietnamese ambassador attributed the significant improvement in two-way trade and investment ties to the traditional friendship, geographic advantages, and great attention paid by both governments to facilitating cooperation between the two business communities.

The purpose of the forum was to review Vietnamese investments in Cambodia and to update Vietnamese enterprises about the local government's new policies for foreign companies. Businesses could also ask the two governments for better conditions for their investment and business activities in Cambodia, Du said.

In his speech, the director of the Council for Development of Cambodia's Department of Investment Project Evaluation and Incentives, Youn Heng, praised the contribution of Vietnamese enterprises to Cambodia's development. He also briefed listeners on the country's investment climate, the Law on Investment, and on investment licence granting procedures.

Vietnamese firms have injected US$2.85 billion into 183 projects in Cambodia to date, confirming Viet Nam as one of the five leading foreign investors in Cambodia, said Nguyen Bao, the head of the Vietnamese Trade Office in Cambodia.

Viet Nam is currently Cambodia's third biggest trade partner. Bilateral trade reached US$3.37 billion in 2015. The two sides are striving to record US$5 billion in trade revenue in the near future, Bao said. Besides trade and investment, Viet Nam has ranked first in sending the most tourists to Cambodia in recent years.

Viet Nam is also one of the favourite destinations of Cambodian holiday makers, Bao noted. — VNS