In the afternoon of April 7, 2017, H.E. Mrs. Excellency Tekreth Kamrang, Secretary of State of Ministry of Commerce, on behalf of H.E. Pan Sorasak, Minister of Commerce, met with H.E. Li Yong, Director General of UNIDO and his delegation, at the Ministry of Commerce. This meeting is part of H.E. Li Yong’s trip to Cambodia where he met with Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Kingdom of Cambodia and heads of other government agencies.

At the outset, Excellency Secretary of State acknowledged and appreciated UNIDO continued support to the Ministry of Commerce under the framework of Trade Development Support Program and Enhanced Integrated Framework. In this regard, Cambodia looks forward for more support from UNIDO, especially in implementing Industrial Development Policy (IDP) in order to achieve the goals indicated in the IDP i.e. becoming upper income country by 2030 and a developed country by 2050.

In his response, Excellency Director General pledged to support Cambodia in achieving the goals identified in the IDP. He emphasized the needs for SME development and linkage with vocational training to support Cambodia’s SMEs to integrate into regional and world economy. In addition, the Director General also pointed out the importance of sustainable industrial development, renewable energy and environmental resilient projects. Agriculture, meanwhile, is also another important sector and it is imperative for Cambodia to develop an inclusive agriculture sector that focuses on value addition including agro-industry and agro-processing. Excellency Director General took this opportunity to introduce the Programme for Country Partnership (PCP) which UNIDO had already piloted in three countries namely Ethiopia, Senegal and Peru, to much success.

Her Excellency Secretary of State thanked the Director General for confirming UNIDO support for the implementation of IDP. She informed that Cambodia has made steady progress in the industry sector but there are much to be done. She stressed the needs for knowledge, technology transfer and link those to vocational training in order to develop Cambodia’s workforce into a skilled workforce. Economic diversification is also important, in the meantime, for Cambodia to sustain its outstanding economic growth and to avoid the middle-income country trap. Cambodia’s economy has traditionally relied upon small number of industries including garment, construction and tourism which needs to be expanded and diversified. As for the PCP, the Secretary of State delighted to hear about it and welcomed this initiative to be implemented in Cambodia.

Source From: Cambodia Chamber of Commerce