Cambodia Investment Review
Stephen Higgins, Managing Partner of Mekong Strategic Capital (MSC), has returned from an investment roadshow in Australia alongside Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and First Vice Chairman of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), Sun Chanthol, Australian Ambassador to Cambodia Derek Yip, and a delegation of Cambodian business leaders and officials. Mekong Strategic Capital is a leading investment and advisory firm focused on driving growth and innovation in Cambodia and the Mekong region.
The mission engaged major Australian companies and institutions across infrastructure, agrifoods, resources, higher education, health, and funds management, including CIMIC, Thiess, Plenary Group, Sydney Airport, Sunrice, Aspen Medical, and Rio Tinto. The visit aimed to promote Cambodia as an investment destination, address outdated perceptions among Australian businesses, and lay the foundations for stronger bilateral trade and investment ties. In this Q&A, Higgins details how the visit addressed Cambodia’s perception challenges and highlighted opportunities for deeper trade and investment ties.
A strong desire to engage more with ASEAN economy
CIR: You’ve just come back from an investment promotion visit with the CDC to Australia. How did that come about?
The Australian Government has a really strong desire to engage more with ASEAN in an economic sense. They commissioned Nicholas Moore as special envoy for South East Asia, tasked with developing Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, aimed at deepening trade and investment between Australia and the region. One thing that came out of that was the appointment of Carolyn Bagster as Trade and Investment Officer to the Embassy here in Cambodia, in what is a fairly senior role. So that was a great move.
But one of the hardest things about getting Australian business investment into Cambodia is that the business community in Australia just doesn’t know Cambodia very well, and often has outdated and incorrect perceptions.
So the Australian Ambassador Derek Yip was keen to get the Deputy Prime Minister and head of the CDC Sun Chanthol down there. He’s a great salesman for Cambodia, and he can tell a compelling narrative on the opportunity in Cambodia, and how the Government can support investors coming in.
Along with a group of Cambodian business people and government officials, the MD of Emerald Resources, Morgan Hart, and I were asked to join the mission to be able to give a first person account of doing business in Cambodia.
CIR: So it was very much a sales pitch then?
Yes and no. Obviously we want to highlight the opportunities, and the good things about investing in Cambodia, but the people we were meeting were all pretty smart business people. They know that every country has negatives, and something that I think impressed them and gave them comfort is that the Deputy PM didn’t shy away from addressing the negatives.
Big investments, hopefully in the next 12 to 24 month
CIR: Who did you meet down there?
The Deputy PM’s Facebook page gives a pretty comprehensive overview of who we met and a flavour of what was discussed, but in short it was firms like hospital operators, mining contractors, infrastructure investors, agri processors, Rio Tinto’s global R&D centre, and the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre.
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I hope he doesn’t mind me saying this, but at the Convention Centre the Deputy PM said he felt like a kid in a candy store, because he could see how transformational a facility like that could be. And he’s right, it’s something that Cambodia desperately needs.
CIR: Do you expect new investment to come out of the visit?
Before the visit, my expectation was that it would more be a very early stage, introductory visit, and that we’d be unlikely to see tangible outcomes just yet. A bit like a necessary first step.
But the visit exceeded my expectations, and I think we will see some big investments, hopefully in the next 12 to 24 months. It’s not my place to announce which ones, but when and if they happen, I think they’ll be seen as real positives for Cambodia.
CIR: So you would see the visit as a success then?
Absolutely. We’ve been saying for a long time now that Cambodia has a perception problem, and visits like this go a long way towards addressing that problem. The Australian embassy and Australian government set up a really good schedule of visits, and the Deputy PM Sun Chanthol and broader delegation were great advocates for Cambodia. There’s a great story to tell about it investing in Cambodia, we just need more people to hear it.
