Kampuchea China Free Trade Agreement Opens The First Round Of Consultation

The Ministry of Commerce of Kampuchea recently said that China and Kampuchea would first consult with the bilateral free trade agreement in Beijing in this (2019) year in December 3rd under the consensus of the highest level of the two countries. The delegation will go to Beijing to participate in the formal negotiations on the Cambodia land free trade agreement.

According to the optimistic expectation of the Ministry of Commerce of Kampuchea, bilateral negotiations are usually easier to achieve than regional negotiations based on Cambodian land friendly relations. Negotiations are not expected to take too much time and will be concluded as soon as possible. So far, there are only four kinds of agricultural products that China allows Kampuchea to export, including corn, cassava, rice and bananas. Kampuchea is negotiating with the land side to export other products, such as mango, pepper, pitaya, bird's nest, longan, coconut and so on. The ministry hopes to reach a free trade agreement with the mainland as soon as possible, so as to promote the export of Cambodian products to China.

According to the national budget of Kampuchea in 2020, Cambodia has set a budget of more than US $170 million in response to the EU's formal decision whether to cancel the preferential tariff treatment of EBA in Kampuchea in February (2020). In addition, Cambodia's push to sign FTA with China is also one of the coping strategies.

According to statistics from Cambodia, in 2018, the bilateral trade volume between Cambodia and Kampuchea amounted to about 7 billion 400 million US dollars, of which the total volume of exports was US $1 billion 377 million (growth 37%), and imports amounted to US $6 billion (growth 26%). The two sides of the Cambodia have set a new goal of "bilateral trade volume of 10 billion US dollars in 2023".