Cambodian PM satisfied with Cambodia, China's Hong Kong ties

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday expressed his satisfaction with the good ties between Cambodia and China's Hong Kong in trade, investment and tourism. Speaking during a meeting with a group of Hong Kong business executives led by John C Tsang, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, at the capital's Peace Palace, the premier honored good relationship between Cambodia and China in general and between Cambodia and Hong Kong region in particular. He said he was very pleased to see good relations in trade, investment and tourism, especially direct flights from Hong Kong to Cambodia. Meanwhile, the premier said that Cambodia has a number of sectors with high potential for investors and appealed to Hong Kong investors to consider their investments in those sectors including agriculture, tourism, telecommunication, financial services, and export-oriented processing and manufacturing. John C Tsang said many Hong Kong investors have been doing businesses in garment and footwear industry, construction, and real estate in Cambodia and the delegation's visit was to explore potential and opportunity for investment in Cambodia. He said the visiting delegation is comprised of leaders of 24 firms doing businesses in financial and professional services, infrastructure and real estate, garments and textiles, telecommunications, food and chemicals. Hong Kong is Cambodia's 6th largest trading partner, according to Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh. Bilateral trade between Cambodia and Hong Kong valued at 879 million U.S. dollars in 2012, a 18 percent rise year-on-year, he said Tuesday. Cambodia's export to Hong Kong was 68 million U.S. dollars, up 50 percent, while Hong Kong's export to Cambodia reached 811 million U.S. dollars, up 25 percent. On the investment side, Cambodia has received the cumulative investment of 758 million U.S. dollars from Hong Kong from 1994 to 2012, according to the Council for the Development of Cambodia. For tourism, some 8,300 Hong Kong Chinese visited Cambodia last year, up 57 percent year-on-year, said a tourism report.