The UN Conference on Trade and Development and the International Chamber of Commerce, along with the Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce, will issue 10,000 copies of an investment guidebook to promote foreign investment.
The “investment guide” project was launched in 1998 by UNCTAD and the ICC to assist development and reduce poverty by providing very general investment information, according to a statement.
Guides have been published in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique and Uganda. Cambodia and Nepal comprise the second phase of the project.
“We are not able to get to know all of the companies in the world, so we are cooperating with UNCTAD and the ICC to hand out these guidebooks to all the [relevant] companies so that they may invest in our country,” said Ministry of Commerce Secretary of State Sok Siphana.
The guide, to be published in March 2003, will list data and statistics provided by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, as well as applicable laws.
Manufacturers, meanwhile, remain worried that a weak judiciary, high rates of taxation and rampant smuggling will continue to hurt their businesses, Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce Vice President Sorn Sokna said.
Foreign investment in Cambodia peaked in 1995 and 1996.
At that time Cambodia had an advantage over other developing countries because of its low wage rates, tax exemptions for garment exports and a tax exemption for the import of raw materials for six months after a company registers in Cambodia, Sorn Sokna said.
Since then, he said, workers have demanded higher wages and more favorable working conditions—factors that have made investors tentative.
But Som Sokna noted that Cambodia is in the center of the region, and still has a lot of competitive advantages.
“I am optimistic that investors will come,” Sorn Sokna said.
