Oil and Gas Revenue Management Options for Cambodia

At a moderate rate of production, Cambodia’s oil and gas revenue could provide revenues of around $500 million a year for 20-25 years, and is estimated to peak in revenue at between $1.7 billion and $6 billion per annum for a small number of years. However, a recent drop in the value of oil and gas, which is forecast to continue into the foreseeable future, largely due to a number of large gas projects commencing production across the world, may have reduced the interest and profitability in developing Cambodia’s oil and gas reserves. This may have played a role in Chevron’s recent sale of their production rights, at a loss of approximately $100 million. Licenses for exploration and production of Cambodia’s oil and gas wealth are divided into blocks, as shown in figure 1, below. Block A is so far the most advanced in terms of exploration, while the sovereignty of a number of blocks, referred to as Overlapping Claims Areas (OCAs) is currently under dispute between Cambodia and Thailand(download).

The Impacts of Dam Construction on Cambodia’s Environmental and Socio-Economic Development

Approximately 65% of the Cambodian population still lacks access to reliable electricity. They are more likely to be poor and have poorer health status resulting from this situation. In addition, electricity is commonly cited as a major barrier for business and industrial development. To sustain economic growth, reduce poverty and increase the welfare of the people, and reduce air pollution from oil, coal and traditional energy, Cambodia requires more efficient and clean energy generated from hydropower plants. However, the construction of hydropower plants can result in, serious social and environmental consequences in the long run. Although hydroelectricity can be viewed by some as a sub-optimal solution, it is arguably the best option(download).

Cambodia Launches FDI Offensive at Asian Investment Conference

By John Le Fevre, Establishmentpost.com

Cambodia’s Minister of Commerce Sun Chanthol has signaled the aggressive approach his country is taking in attempting to lure foreign direct investment (FDI) in a punchy interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on the side lines of the 18th Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong.

In a smoothly delivered exchange with Squawk Box anchor Bernie Lo, Mr Chanthol, a graduate of the Wharton School of Business (University of Pennsylvania), succinctly highlighted the major advantages Cambodia offered, particularly over its neighbour Thailand, where FDI in the first two months of this year fell by 72.58 per cent YoY from to just Bt 17 billion (US$ 521.893 million) this year (See: Destructive Drought Cuts Swathe Through Thailand Agricultural Sector).

Addressing the gripes of many existing and potential Thailand foreign investors Mr Chanthol effortlessly rattled off: “Cambodia provides the investor with:

Political stability

Macro economic stability with high-growth

Low inflation

A stable exchange rate

Low debt to GDP rate

An investment law that provides very generous investment incentives

No exchange control

No alien business law – every economic sector is open to foreign investors

Foreign investors can own 100 per cent of their business or enter into joint ventures

Money can be easily transferred into or out of the country

A young, dynamic, and hard working work force with a nation-wide average age of 24.1 years ensuring another 30 years of a productive work force

Strategically located in the heart of Asean” (read more).

Industrial development policy consultation - a prelude to amending the Law on Investment

Published 31 may 2014, http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/opinion/detail/3?token= ZDI4ODdjYjAzNTMwNjRiOGUzNzVmM2FkOTVhZGE2

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PHNOM PENH (The Cambodia Herald) --- The Royal Government of Cambodia will revise the Law on Investment (LOI) only after consideration and adoption of an Industrial Development Policy (IDP). 

This sequencing of legislative enactments was announced by H.E. Sok Chenda, Secretary General of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) and Senior Minister attached to the Office of the Prime Minister, at a meeting of the Working Group on Law, Tax and Governance on February 19, 2014. 

(The Working Group is part of the system of consultation between the Royal Government and the business community under the aegis of the Government-Private Sector Forum, the preeminent public-private dialogue mechanism in Cambodia.)

In furtherance of the objective of enacting an Industrial Development Policy, a consultation was held with the business community at the CDC on March 17, 2014. 

H.E. Sok Chenda unveiled the draft Industrial Development Policy 2014-2024. Numerous parties had a role in creating the document, including the Supreme National Economic Council (SNEC), a governmental think tank, and the Ministry of Industry. 

The meeting was the first of a series of consultative sessions with members of the private sector.

The 23-page document outlined the current industrial issues of the Cambodian economy, challenges of industrial development, and objectives and targets for the IDP. 

According to the draft IDP:

The key thrust of IDP is to provide a version, policy framework and implementation arrangements to develop a competitive industry in Cambodia – contributing to sustained robust growth, full employment and high income. Its specific agenda is to address structural challenges in industrial development and facilitate investment in key industrial infrastructures. Its approach is to focus on diversification and competitiveness – attracting new industries, retaining more value added, and exploiting new potentials. 

In the draft IDP paper, a number specific issues are addressed, including foreign direct investment (FDI), industrial zoning, SME upgrading and modernization, export promotion and trade facilitation, financing, and technology transfer. 

In reviewing the draft IDP, it is clear that its adoption logically should precede the amendment of the Law on Investment as a considerable portion of the IDP’s objectives and recommendations concerns attracting FDI. 

The LOI and CDC are concerned to a large degree with bringing in FDI, so the adoption of an overarching governmental policy should inform the amendment of the law.

The advocacy of an IDP should come as no surprise to those following the economic policy development of the Royal Government of Cambodia. 

The draft IDP was foreshadowed in the Rectangular Strategy: Phase III, the basic policy document of the Royal Government for the fifth mandate. 

Released in September 2013, two chapters of the Rectangular Strategy discussed the need for a policy to support industrial development. 

Paragraph 93 specifically references the need for an IDP, and paragraph 103 lists a number of the elements that are later given more detail in the draft IDP document.

As mentioned previously, the Royal Government is currently promoting consultation with stakeholders, including the private sector. 

As announced by H.E. Sok Chenda at the March 17 consultation, the aim to is adopt the IDP by June, 2014. 

Therefore, anyone who has questions, comments or recommendations concerning this matter should submit them to the secretariat of the Working Group on Law, Tax and Governance at wgd-ltg@ibccambodia.com. Any submissions will be passed to the Royal Government.

Court to hear Xayaburi case

Phnom Penh Post, 25 june 2014, by Laignee Barron

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/court-hear-xayaburi-case

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A Thai court decision yesterday may throw a wrench into the works of a mainstream hydropower dam loudly opposed by neighbouring countries.

Agreeing to what NGOs have called an “unprecedented trial”, the Supreme Administrative Court of Thailand accepted a lawsuit that villagers filed in the hope of seeing the cancellation of utility company Electricity Authority of Thailand’s agreement to buy almost all the power generated by Laos’s 1,285-megawatt Xayaburi Dam.

The $3.8 billion project, which the Post reported in March as being already 30 per cent complete, is the first of Laos’s nine planned mainstream projects. Conservation groups say the Thai bank-funded Xayaburi will cause irrevocable damage to Mekong fish populations, and will drastically impact the 60 million people depending on the waterway, including those in downstream Cambodia.

Last month, the Cambodian Senate lent support to the villagers’ case by also demanding Thailand cancel the purchasing agreement. The letter calls Xayaburi “the greatest trans-boundary threat to date to food security, sustainable development and regional cooperation in the lower Mekong River”.

“By investing in the Xayaburi, state authorities are failing to comply with the Thai constitution including holding proper consultations with the affected people,” Pianporn Deetes, a coordinator at International Rivers, said.

Piaporn added that activists hope the “unprecedented” trial will set a new standard for development along the region’s shared waters.

“We hope dam developers in the future will be more mindful and conduct the necessary impact assessments before starting to build,” she said.

The court order comes just two days before the four Lower Mekong countries meet in Bangkok, where they will consider another controversial Lao dam project, the Don Sahong.

While much smaller than the Xayaburi, the 280-megawatt dam could have enormous repercussions for Cambodia, which lies just 2 kilometres south. Though NGOs have previously threatened to sue the Don Sahong’s developers, they would have to take the case to international courts.

“It would not be the same [as in Thailand]; Cambodia doesn’t have the same laws or type of investment in the Don Sahong,” said Meach Mean, coordinator of 3S Rivers Protection Network. “But it has got us thinking about what could happen with Cambodian dams, like the Lower Sesan II,” he said.

Legal aspect of foreign investments in Cambodia, by Pikol SIENG (in French)

L'aspect légal des investissements étrangers au Cambodge, par Pikol SIENG

Le Cambodge attire de plus en plus l’attention des investisseurs étrangers. Il offre un cadre juridique très attractif. Avec la mise en place d’un marché commun de l’ASEAN à l’horizon 2015, le Cambodge pourrait constituer une porte d’entrée pour les investisseurs français et européens. Une connaissance préalable sur le cadre juridique des investissements est donc nécessaire.

En savoir plus sur http://www.village-justice.com/articles/aspect-juridique-des,17110.html

Cambodia attracts Thai investors

Bangkok Post reported, on june 2nd, 2014 that Although infrastructure is still underdeveloped and the legal system is inefficient, Thai companies will find that Cambodia offers some unique advantages.

Cambodia is one of the most liberalised economies in Asia. The government policy and cambodia's legal framework offer many advantages to the investors whose projects are qualified by the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) - the one stop authority. Foreign investors enjoy the same rights and treatment as the local investors, except land proprety. (read more)

Cambdia Outlook Briefs 2014

No. 01: Cambodia the Next Five Years – An Agenda for Reform and Competitiveness English ( 381KB);  Khmer ( 427KB)

No. 02: Human Resource Development and Education for a Competitive and Creative Cambodia English ( 377KB); Khmer ( 444KB)

No. 03: ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015 and Regional Integration: What does it really mean for Cambodia? English ( 433KB); Khmer ( 436KB)

No. 04: 2014 Cambodia Outlook Conference Policy Priorities English ( 288KB); Khmer ( 547KB)

Campus International

L'Ordre des Avocats de Paris organise, since 2013, Campus International which gather lawyers in France and Asia. The first edition toke place in Vietnam (7-10 april 2013), and the second in Cambodia (16-18 april 2014).

You can find below some of the communications (in french) related to the subject of "INVESTMENT".

Le Vietnam au sein de l'Asie : Cadre économique et institutionnel 1
Le Vietnam au sein de l'Asie : Cadre économique et institutionnel 2
Le Vietnam au sein de l'Asie : Cadre économique et institutionnel 3


Entreprendre et investir en Asie : Chine, Hong Kong et Singapour 1
Entreprendre et investir en Asie : Chine, Hong Kong et Singapour 2

Entreprendre et investir en Asie : Cambodge et Vietnam

Présentation politique et économique de l'ASEAN
Intervention de Jean-Jacques Guillaudeau

Investissements dans l'ASEAN : opportunités et restriction
Intervention de Nicolas Audier

Infrastructures et financements dans l'ASEAN
Intervention de Samantha Campbell

Structuration juridique et fiscale des acquisitions dans l'ASEAN
Intervention de Thierry Gougy

L'arbitrage dans l'ASEAN
Intervention de Olivier Monange

Investissements étrangers au Cambodge
Intervention de Jean-Jacques Guillaudeau
Intervention de Antoine Fontaine

Cambodian parliament ratifies protocol on Cambodia-Vietnam investment agreement

Xinhua | 2014-4-3 20:43:17 

By Agencies

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The National Assembly of Cambodia on Thursday ratified a protocol on the investment promotion and protection agreement between the governments of Cambodia and Vietnam.

All 64 lawmakers of the ruling party, who were present at the parliamentary session, unanimously approved the protocol as the opposition party's 55 lawmakers-elect continued boycotting the parliament in protest against the election results in July last year.

Mok Mareth, chairman of Commission on Investment, Agriculture, Rural Development, Environment, and Water Resources at the National Assembly, said the protocol was part of ensuring confidence of investors and facilitating investment between the two countries.

"Under this protocol, Cambodia will move a step forward to attract investment from Vietnam and gain more confidence from Vietnamese investors," he said.

Sok Chenda Sophea, secretary general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, said the protocol was aimed to maintain, promote and facilitate investment affairs between the two neighbors.

"A lot of Vietnamese investors are doing businesses in Cambodia, " he said, adding that the protocol would help maintain existing Vietnamese investors and attract more new investors.

Vietnam is the fifth biggest investor in Cambodia, with 128 projects worth over 3 billion US dollars by 2013, according to the Association of Vietnamese Investors in Cambodia.

(http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/852568.shtml)

Cambodian investment law's reform ?

Rethinking investment laws

By Eddie Morton, 9 april 2014, The PhnomPenhPost

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Cambodia’s 11-year-old investment law may be the most liberal in the region, according to the World Bank, but in practice, day-to-day business operations are far from simple, economists and business operators say.

Mey Kalyan, senior adviser to the Supreme National Economic Council, said that despite a generation of economic growth resulting from Cambodia’s lenient laws governing foreign direct investment (FDI), unclear registration and tariff schemes remain hurdles for daily business operations and the laws are out of date.

“From a historical perspective, Cambodia started its economic development from an empty hand. So the only way to activate its economy was to adopt a liberal system,” Kalyan said.

“We need to review our FDI laws in order to reflect the new reality and the economic direction that we want to go because our laws were formulated a long time ago.”

He added that despite Cambodia’s easily accessed economy, daily business operations such as acquiring certificates and permits, registration and informal payments remain hurdles for foreign business.

The call for a rethink on FDI laws comes after the World Bank on Monday released its East Asia and Pacific Economic Update. The report ranked Cambodia as the most liberal nation in the region for foreign investment, with Singapore coming in second. Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia meanwhile, rank as the most restrictive nations for FDI, according to the Bank’s report.

“Regional experience indicates that where countries have relaxed foreign ownership restrictions, FDI has increased . . . In Cambodia and Vietnam, foreign investment reforms led to significant growth in FDI,” the report says.

Established in 1994, Cambodia’s investment laws were loosened in 2003 to allow 100 per cent foreign ownership of any business, relaxing of certain import duties and allowing renewable land leases of up to 99 years.

According to World Bank figures FDI has increased dramatically from less than $200 million in 2003 to $1.41 billion in 2012. There was a decline last year to $1.2 billion that the bank attributed to uncertainty brought on by post- election turmoil, but the bank estimates FDI to be on the rise again over the next three years reaching $1.52 billion in 2016.

On average, the Asean region allows 72 per cent of a business entity to be foreign owned, according to the World Bank report, making it the least liberal of nearly all regions across the globe for allowable foreign ownership.

Associate principal at China Market Research, James Roy, said Cambodia’s foreign investment laws are crucial to keeping the country competitive with Thailand and Vietnam. However, it is important that FDI is used to generate domestic benefits.

“Allowing 100 per cent foreign ownership, along with protections against nationalisation, helps lower the perceived risk for companies to invest in Cambodia,” he said.

“There are dangers especially if most of the gains of economic growth are retained by foreign-owned companies and do not translate to Cambodians themselves and improve their lives.”

In November last year, Sok Chenda, secretary-general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, announced that there would be changes to the Kingdom’s investment laws.

Chenda said at the time Cambodia’s investment climate needed to be cleaned up and adjusted to suit the new economic environment and to remain competitive with countries like Myanmar.

A specific date for a law revision has yet to be announced.

But attractive investment laws are just one part of the draw for FDI. More is needed to improve the regulatory environment for starting up a businesses and enabling cross-border trade if Cambodia is to improve on it’s current ranking of 137 out of 189 economies on the World Banks ease of doing business index.

Despite 12 months of market research on Cambodia, India-based Tata International Ltd, incurred delays and struggled to find enough qualified staff when they began operations in farm machinery sales in November.

“The cost of doing business on a daily basis was quite a bit higher than what we initially assumed,” Jitendra Manghinani, country manager of Tata South East Asia (Cambodia), said. “That all said, we have seen growth much better than our expectations,”

Cambodia Leads Doubts Over Asean Economic Community

By Luke Hunt, 7 april 2014 (http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/cambodia-leads-doubts-over-aec/)

In a rare moment of honesty a Cambodian official has admitted his doubts about his country’s ability to meet regional expectations in time for the launch of the much vaunted ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015.

“If you talk about short-term: Yes, we are not ready,” Chuop Narath, deputy director of the department of employment and manpower at Cambodia’s Labor Ministry, said during a recent labor rights forum.

ASEAN officials and senior ministers from each government of the 10-member trading bloc have been adamant—after several setbacks—that a single regional market would fly by the end of Myanmar’s turn as chair next year.

However, doubts have persisted over their insistence, particularly in regards to poorer members like Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar. This is in part due to the marked cultural differences within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Brunei stunned many in the region when it announced that it would shortly impose Sharia law. Thailand remains on the perennial brink of a political meltdown while the ethnic and religious divides in Malaysia have rarely been greater.

As great as those cultural differences is the economic gulf between rich and poor. Singapore, ASEAN’s richest country, is ranked third on the World Bank’s rich list in terms of GDP, Laos and Cambodia sit near the bottom at 141 and 147 respectively.

Chuop Narath said it was up to the region’s leaders to decide whether a further delay of the AEC should be initiated. He also noted the most basic of issues confronting the weaker members who sit near the bottom of the global heap in social development when he said: “For the long-term, we have to learn how to compete.”

His sentiments were backed by analysts. Gavin Greenwood, a risk analyst with Hong Kong-based Allan & Associates, said when ASEAN leaders launched their outline for an AEC in 1997 the timeframe would have appeared conservative, perhaps even overly cautious given the economic transformation experienced among core members in the preceding two decades.

That core includes Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia.

“With around eight months now left before key elements that comprise the AEC Blueprint are due to take effect such aspirations appear at best highly optimistic and at worst almost delusional,” Greenwood told The Diplomat.

The AEC has at times been compared with the European Union (EU) but the reality falls short of those expectations. There will be no single currency and the cross-border movement of labor will be highly regulated.

Nevertheless ASEAN’s goal – in its own words – is for regional economic integration, a single market and production base in a highly competitive economic region of equitable economic development fully integrated into the global economy to be achieved through the free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour and freer flow of capital.

The blueprint was finalized in 2007 and a commitment to launch on time was reaffirmed in February despite an internal ASEAN assessment that found implementation rates of targets needed to launch the AEC had slipped to 72 percent in December from 79 percent in mid-2013.

Greenwood also noted ASEAN’s own internal assessments had found that efforts to implement those measures, requiring a move beyond theory and into operational practice, were lagging behind the rhetoric.

“Seemingly iron cast definitions — including the Blueprint’s 2015 delivery date — are now being reassessed and nuanced, a process that can be expected to broaden and deepen as the deadline nears,” he said. “As reality draws near, so does enthusiasm for implementing what appear to be such straightforward commitments.”

Nevertheless, higher-end industries already established in core countries such as medicine, chemical, heavy industry and banking and finance are expected to thrive.

Banks are realigning ahead of the AEC while transport was also expected to do well, which is where Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam are crucial in terms of opening up overland routes through road and rail for regionally produced goods into India and China.

Commercial shipping was touted as another big winner, although shipping concerns in Indonesia say they will not be ready to compete within the AEC framework until the government implements transport reforms.

This includes cuts to the value added tax on loading and unloading alongside further financial incentives to promote the country’s maritime industry and a removal of policies that favor state-owned port operators over the private sector.

Trade within ASEAN has risen sharply since 2010, reaching $323 billion in 2013, fueled largely by a reduction in cross-border tariffs. The bloc’s combined gross domestic product was expected to go as high as $3.0 trillion by 2015, with a total population of more than 600 million people. That compares with $1.8 trillion in India and $8.3 trillion in China.

But contributions to the broader regional economy from poorer countries were expected to be restricted to the provision of cheap and menial labor for plantations, factories, farms, construction and domestic helpers which has emerged source of friction between neighbors.

Malaysia and Singapore, where domestic helpers have emerged as a status symbol for the middle classes, have faced constant criticism over the treatment of maids, with employers offering poor living conditions, few if any days off and paltry wages.

This treatment has irritated governments in home countries like Indonesia, Philippines and Cambodia where some see the deployment of women as maids in foreign lands as a national embarrassment.

Dave Welsh, Cambodia program director for U.S.-based labor group the Solidarity Center, said there were expectations that the AEC would enable workers from poorer member states to be more easily placed in jobs that were traditionally held by migrant laborers.

“In other words, we should see an increase in numbers and less hassle in Cambodians assuming jobs at the lower end of the skill set, which tend to be medium to low paid jobs with little protection,” he said.

The virtue of this, Welsh said, was that shady practices in migration bordering on human trafficking could be eliminated because the middle men arranging visas and associated paperwork should become obsolete.

“The reality I suspect will be a boom in job placement agencies, which if not tightly regulated will continue with the same extortionate, at least financially extortionate, practices,” he told The Diplomat.

Equally, there was a promise that low-skilled workers crossing borders for employment would have the right to join unions where they exist and automatically qualify for social security in the country where the work would be conducted.

Welsh said this would work both ways.

The Cambodian garment sector generated $5.5 billion in revenue last year from 600 factories and according to the industry can absorb a further 150,000 workers in a workforce that currently comprises 400,000 people.

“Cambodians, for a variety of reasons, aren’t filling these positions and the industry’s growth, despite current problems shows no sign of abating,” Welsh said.

“As a result, for the first time, you could see large scale migration from other parts of ASEAN of workers lured into the garment sector with unpredictable effects on wages and conditions, but very possibly negative effects on both,” he said.

Similar issues are likely to complicate business and politics in Myanmar, which is hoping to turn its moribund economy around with the opening of its garment sector. But Welsh—like Greenwood and Chuop Narath—also said it was highly unlikely the weaker members of ASEAN would be ready for the AEC launch by the end of next year anyway.

“From a political standpoint the timeline might be ambitious given the turmoil in the region,” he added.

Luke Hunt can be followed on Twitter @lukeanthonyhunt

The Laws on Investment in Cambodia

BUN Youdy, " The Laws on Investment in Cambodia ", New York State Bar Association Seasonal Meeting, Hanoi, 24 oct. 2013 (online version).

Report : Trends and Impacts of Foreign Investment in Developing Country Agriculture

Trends and Impact of Foreign Investment in Developing Country Agriculture, Report, FAO, 2012 (online version).

For thailand case stydy : page 91

For cambodian case stydy : page 159 

Foreign Direct Investment in Land in Cambodia

Alfons Üllenberg, Foreign Direct Investment in Land in Cambodia, GTZ, dec. 2009 (online version).

Foreign Investment in Agriculture in Cambodia

SAING Chan Hang, HEM Socheth, OUCH Chandarany, Foreign Investment in Agriculture in Cambodia, CDRI, Working paper n° 69, june 2012 (online version).

Vietnam warned about Cambodia as a rival in attracting FDI

VietNamNet Bridge – The infrastructure system situation in Vietnam is believed to be equal to that in Cambodia and Laos. But Vietnam has bigger problems in corruption and law burden.

Vietnam has more rivals in attracting FDI

The information was released at the ceremony on announcing the 2013 provincial competitiveness index (PCI) held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) on March 20.

Instead of the usual question--why investors decided to make investment in Vietnam and the localities, VCCI this time has requested the investors to compare the Vietnamese business environment with the other countries which they once planned to go to.

Fifty-four percent of foreign invested enterprises, before deciding to come to Vietnam, once considered investing in some other countries, including China (11 percent), Thailand (10.6 percent) and Cambodia (7.7 percent).

Vietnam is no longer the most favorite destination for foreign investors like it was in 2007-2010. It now has to compete with the other strong rivals in the region, including China, Thailand, Indonesia, and the newly emerging countries such as Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) noted that the Vietnamese business environment is less attractive than others because of the high underground fees, administrative procedure and law burdens, low public service quality (education, healthcare) and the poor infrastructure.

Cambodia – a redoubtable rival

Vietnamese now feel worried about the strong rise of Cambodia, the neighbor, which was believed to be inferior to Vietnam in many fields.

The list of the business fields in which Cambodia has greater advantages than Vietnam has been prolonged.

Another inferiority of Vietnam has been added into the list when the investors in the PCI survey said the administrative procedure and law burden is heavier in Vietnam than in Cambodia.

Prior to that, the public was stirred up by the information that Vietnam, which has been trying to develop the automobile industry for the last tens of years, has lagged behind Cambodia, which is believed to have lower technologies.

Cambodians have announced they have successfully made electric cars monitored by smart phones. Especially, the car is very cheap, priced at $5,000, or VND100 million.

Meanwhile, Vietnam still cannot develop its automobile industry after tens of years of investments. Madaz and Ford, the world’s big automobile manufacturers, have canceled the big investment projects they intended to develop in Vietnam because they could not find the car parts and accessories needed for the assembling in Vietnam.

Vietnam is also believed to lag behind in the rice production. Cambodia has recently announced that it would penetrate the US and South Korea, well known as choosy markets.

While Vietnamese rice has been left unsold, Vietnamese merchants have been hunting for Cambodian rice because of its low price.

Nguyen Van Luc, a farmer in Can Tho City, said Cambodian rice, made of high yield varieties, has been bought at VND4,500-5,000 per kilo, much lower than the Vietnamese high quality and fragrant rice prices.

A recent report by the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that the Vietnam’s exports to Cambodia in January 2014 decreased sharply from that in January 2013.

Dat Viet

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/98227/vietnam-warned-about-cambodia-as-a-rival-in-attracting-fdi.html

No oil for up to five years : Cambodian government

The Phnom Penh Post reported on 26 february 2014 that It will be years before oil starts to be produced by energy giant Chevron’s offshore site in the Gulf of Thailand. 

Meng Saktheara, secretary of state at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, said that negotiations over taxation have continued to stall the approval of Chevron’s permit to extract, and though Saktheara is confident a resolution will be found soon, it could take “three to five years” for Cambodia to see its first drop of oil. (Read more...)