The European Union, the United
States, China and other members of the World Trade Organisation have praised
Cambodia for its economic development and fast integration into the global
supply chain.The remarks were made during Cambodia’s 2nd Trade Policy Review at
the WTO in Geneva on Wednesday.
The three-day review was due to end yesterday, with Minister of Commerce Pan
Sorasak in Geneva to represent the kingdom.Cambodia has been a member of WTO
since 2004. As a member of the trade organisation, the country enjoys
generalised system of preferences (GSP) from more advanced economies,
especially the EU and the US, for garment and footwear products, as well as
some agricultural commodities, particularly milled rice.
The office of the US Trade Representative released a statement commending the
kingdom’s economic development since the last TPR, which took place in 2011.“The
United States appreciates Cambodia’s effort to prepare for this review and
commends Cambodia for its demonstrated accomplishments in trade and investment
reform,” it said. “Cambodia’s success in maintaining robust growth through
inclusive trade policy makes it a role model for other least developed
countries.
“The US wishes the delegation of Cambodia a successful review and we look
forward to continued dialogue with Cambodia at the WTO and on a bilateral
basis.”The statement says Cambodia has enacted programmes and initiatives that
have proved particularly successful, including the launch of the Industrial
Development Policy for 2015-2025, the Education Strategic Plan for 2014-2018,
as well as programs for workers in the garment and tourism industries.
The EU Trade Representative statement had a similar tone, acknowledging the
country’s “open and investor-friendly investment regime”, but raised a few
concerns.“We would like to highlight the importance for Cambodia to improve the
general business environment: promote good governance and transparency, and
address weak institutional capacity by enacting and implementing legislation,”
it said.
“We also encourage Cambodia to keep up its efforts to fight corruption.“Second,
the EU would encourage Cambodia to pursue efforts to diversify its export
products and markets and to improve its infrastructure.“Finally, while
recognising steps made by Cambodia in the area of sanitary and phytosantiary
measures, the EU encourage Cambodia to continue efforts to further improve
inspection and certificate systems,” the EU said.
The Trade Representative of China said Cambodia had successfully integrated
itself into regional and global supply chains.“By and large, there has been a
remarkably rapid economic development during the period under review for
Cambodia, with an annual GDP growth of over 7 percent,” China said.“The
excellent performance of economic development was possible thanks to a steady
and people-oriented micro-economic environment.
“We also would like to commend the positive measures and policies the Cambodian
government has undertaken to ftraacilitate trade and investment.”The Chinese
statement also says Cambodia is facing a number of constraints and challenges
impeding its economic development, most notably a lack of infrastructure.Mr Sorasak said that since the
first review in 2011, the country had instituted deep structural reforms that
had allowed it to achieve economic growth averaging 7 percent yearly, as well
as boosting GDP per capita growth, from $911 in 2011 to $1,302 in 2016.
He said that according to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank,
Cambodia was the sixth-fastest growing economy in the world in the last 20
years.“Through this robust economic growth, there has been an improvement in
the welfare of Cambodian people and reduced poverty from 53 percent in 2004 to
13.5 percent in 2014 and literacy rates increased from 79.9 percent in 2011 to
80.5 percent in 2015,” he said.Cambodia has been appointed to be the
coordinator for the Least Developed Countires Group this year, which means the
country will work together with all group members to ensure their needs and
interests are represented in the trade organisation.
Source: Khmer Times, Cambodia Saturday, 25 November 2017