Phnom Penh’s Chamber of Commerce will be financially stronger and able to do more to promote investment for the next term, newly elected executives said Tuesday, even as doubts remained over the investment environment and business practices.
In voting completed Monday, members of the Chamber of Commerce re-elected for a three-year presidential term Sok Kong, chairman of the Sokimex petroleum company, and added 24 new executive board members.
“I will invite foreign experts to help the Chamber of Commerce on regulation and law enforcement to ensure that investors make a profit on businesses legally,” Sok Kong said Monday.
Representing more than 200 companies and 2,000 people, the Chamber of Commerce will encourage teamwork and law enforcement to attract foreign investors, he said, especially in relation to Cambodia’s Asean membership and potential World Trade Organization accession. Strong areas for investment remain in the garment, tourism and agricultural sectors, he said.
Members on Monday also elected four vice presidents: Kong Triv, owner of the KT Pacific Steel Industry Corp and a partner in British American Tobacco; Men Sarun, chairman of Men Sarun Import/Export Co; Ly Yong Phat, chairman of Hero King, Co, and owner of the Koh Kong International Resort; and Sorn Sokna, vice president of Sokimex.
Each vice president will be in charge of one sector—commercial, agricultural, service, or industrial—but the newly elected board members must meet to decide who goes where, members said.
In the past, the Chamber of Commerce has been crippled by limited funding, members said Sunday and Monday, and has done little to coax investors to Cambodia. Now, with newly elected leadership and a larger number of paying members, it will be able to do more, they said.
Before this election the chamber had 12 executive board members; this term the number increases to 36. Each executive board member must pay dues of $200 to $300 per month.
Prior to the elections, the Chamber of Commerce met with some controversy when it dismissed six of its members, who then demonstrated in front of the chamber’s offices earlier this month and called Sok Kong incompetent and unfair.
Members interviewed this week, however, were generally positive about the chamber’s ability to bring back some of the investment the country has lost over the past few years.
The main duty of the Chamber of Commerce is “to build a business network between state and private investors,” Ly Yong Phat said Monday. It should play a “key role” in the country’s economic development and act as a representative body for many of the city’s market vendors.
“We will welcome any complaints, any matter that is raised by investors and vendors who might be concerned about taxes or any issue for us to make a compromise with the government,” Ly Yong Phat said. Government, investors and vendors must have an inseparable partnership, he said.
The country still lacks a legal system conducive to business, he said, and investment laws are still not clear enough. Some members were even more critical of the government’s ability to draw investors, and were especially concerned about the future of foreign multinationals.
“I’m worrying that more and more international investment will leave Cambodia,” Kong Triv said. The chamber has been weak in managing business policies because the government has not followed any of the chamber’s policy recommendations, he said.
“How many people at the CDC understand business?” he asked, referring to the Council for the Development of Cambodia, the government’s investment agency. “You can see for yourself that Nestle and Alain Delon [companies] have pulled out of Cambodia. [Investors] keep leaving here,” he said.
As a partner at British American Tobacco, “I…am very concerned about this issue,” he said. “Too many promises have been made by the government to crackdown on smuggling, but the smugglers keep going on. That is the main reason that causes investors’ businesses to fail and [makes them] consider leaving.”
