Vietnam, Cambodia strengthen cross border trade

The event reviewed the results of cooperation in cross border trade between the two countries, and propose major orientations and measures to exploit the border area’s potential. 

According to MOIT Minister Vu Huy Hoang, bilateral economic and trade relations have developed in recent years. Customs statistics showed that two-way trade turnover reached US$2.83 billion in 2011, a year-on-year increase of 55 percent. The figure for 2012 is estimated to exceed US$3 billion.
 
At the conference, the two ministries agreed to coordinate the development of the border market system, continue building preferential policies and mechanisms for border trade, and provide each other with customs incentives, especially for agricultural products. 

The two sides will continue to implement signed agreements within the framework of bilateral economic, cultural and science-technology cooperation, as well as regional agreements and cooperation.
 
They will establish border trade development programmes to attract greater investment from other countries in the region and the world to reduce poverty and improve the living standards for local people in the two countries’ border areas.

At the event, Minister Hoang and his Cambodian counterpart Cham Prasidh signed an agreement to implement the development plan of the Vietnam-Cambodia border market network. Nguyen Cam Tu, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, and Keo Sok Nay, Secretary of State of the Cambodian Commerce Ministry, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the 5th Vietnam-Cambodia border trade development cooperation.

Earlier on January 8, the construction of a pilot Vietnam-Cambodia border market began along the border between Vietnam’s Tay Ninh province and Cambodia’s Kompong Cham province.