Cambodia Investment Review
The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) landed this week in Phnom Penh, ahead of their weeklong delegation visit to Cambodia with the aim of exploring and unlocking the developing business and investment opportunities within the emerging Cambodian market.
Read more: SBF Delegation To Explore Business & Investment Opportunities In Cambodia
The visit kicked off with a meeting with His Excellency Aun Pornmoniroth, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance who shared with the SBF delegation members updates on the Royal Government’s post-Covid economic recovery efforts as well as some of the policy measures that would be implemented under the Pentagon Strategy in the new mandate.
Mr Gary Lim, Country Director and Acting Head of the SBF Delegation, informed the DPM that their visit was to primarily better understand the opportunities, challenges and potential of doing business in Cambodia.
Many delegation members were also looking for local collaboration partners and projects. Following the meeting, the delegation visited the Prince Group HQ where they were provided with an overview of the state of health of the economy and its future trend through the lens of the real estate market.
Their busy program continued with a business seminar in the afternoon to provide them with a baseline understanding of the overall political and business context of Cambodia, so that the delegation members have a point of reference for the rest of the visit activities and briefings.
Baseline understanding of the overall political and business context of Cambodia
Mr. Michael Tan, the Founder Director of Aquarii SG Pte Ltd & CEO of Aquarii BD Cambodia, opened proceedings by sharing his personal observations on the political and business aspects of Cambodia that many international investors and businesses had overlooked or dismissed without attempting to understand the context and underlying considerations.
His message was simply that most tended to only focus on the negatives, which is an existential reality in most countries regardless of their development status or the maturity of their economies, but genuine businesses and investors try to identify and understand where the positives and growth indicators are.
One of his observations was that according to conventional economic rules, for example the Rule of Seven whereby if an economy were to grow at 7% annually, the size of its economy would double in ten years, one would reasonably expect Cambodia’s economy to have more than quadrupled over the past 22 years since its annual average growth rate was 7.7%.
However, in fact, Cambodia’s economy grew by more than eight times between 2000 and 2022, from $3.65b to $29.76b respectively. Another little-known fact is that Cambodia’s informal economy is 2.5 to 3 times the size of its GDP, and e-payment transactions for Cambodia totaled $272b in 2022 which is more than nine times its official GDP.
He said it is therefore not surprising that “the Kingdom is on track to graduate from its LDC status by 2027, and the government has doubled down on its ambition to be a high middle-income country by 2030.”
The delegation also heard from H.E. Dr. Chhieng Vanmunin, the Chief Executive Officer of Khmer Enterprise, who spoke about Cambodia’s international trade and its initiatives to support startups and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). Mr. Ong Teong Hoon, Director and Shareholder Representative of Phillip Bank Cambodia, provided an overview of Cambodia’s banking and finance industry, and Mr. Sim Laysym, Partner of VDB Loi Cambodia, spoke about Cambodia’s legal and tax reforms.
Networking night: A cross-segment of the business community, representing 14 business chambers
The first day of the delegation ended with a networking event drawing a final attendance of 164, well exceeding the coordinator’s target of 120.
The event was attended by a diverse cross-segment of the business community, representing 14 business chambers, including Amcham, EuroCham, JBAC, Kocham, IBC, IndoCham, MBCC, SBIF, YEAC, CWEA, Australia Chamber, British Chamber, Canadian Chamber, and French Chamber.
Delegates and guests gave positive feedback about the event, with many commenting on how successful it was in the diversity and mix of the attendees. They also appreciated the opportunity to meet so many contacts in one sitting, which is not always possible on other SBF visits.
Delegates were impressed with meeting government figures from the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, as well as the Sihanoukville Vice Governor Long Dimanche who reinforced their support in Aquarii’s efforts to raise awareness of Cambodia in overseas destination countries and agreed that the formula of bringing a mixed delegation is a productive and worthwhile initiative.
Mr. Tan said, “We were very pleased with the turnout, and we received positive feedback from all around. Delegates benefited from the diverse mix of attendees who were able to share candidly from their experiences and insights on the various challenges and opportunities of doing business in Cambodia. We look forward to continuing our efforts to raise awareness of Cambodia to international businesses and investors who have overlooked or dismissed Cambodia for misplaced reasons or outdated perspectives, and to attract more foreign investment to the Kingdom of Possibilities.”
Also planned for the delegation are site visits to Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and significant hubs of industrial and commercial activities, to give participants better insight into Cambodia’s strategic emphasis on economic diversification and growth.
Furthermore, the trip involves targeted briefings on various sectors such as banking, manufacturing and Cambodia’s fast growing digital economy. These briefings equip Singaporean businesses with firsthand knowledge of Cambodia’s rapidly evolving market dynamics.
These engagements are complemented by several networking receptions with different target participants that will help the delegates establish multiple channels of information through whom they can then verify, validate or invalidate what they have heard prior to the visit or will experience in the course of their visit.
As the apex business chamber in SIngapore, the SBF represents a broad spectrum of businesses from various industries and sectors. Its mission is multifaceted and comprehensive. It aims to gain in-depth insights into Cambodia’s economic potential and emerging trends, aligning with Singapore’s vision of strengthening bilateral business relationships and expanding its footprint in Southeast Asia.
