Cambodia: RCEP agreement will be new booster for regional development
By Xinhua Net - July 18, 2020

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade pact, once realised, will create the world’s biggest free trade zone and serve as a new booster for regional development, Cambodian officials and experts have said.

The RCEP, initiated by the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) in 2012, is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the 10 member states of Asean, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and their six Asean-FTA partners — China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India.

During the 36th Asean Summit, held via video conference last month, Asean leaders welcomed the progress made for the full conclusion of the negotiations of the RCEP and looked forward to the signing of the deal by the end of 2020.

In full: https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/as ... evelopment

IMF sees Cambodia among Three Most Robust RCEP Economies This Year
AKP Phnom Penh, April 12, 2023 --

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Cambodia to be among the best-performing economies in East Asia and the Pacific this year alongside the Philippines and Vietnam.

In its annual World Economic Outlook released in Washington Tuesday, the IMF said the Philippine economy was forecast to expand 6.0 percent — the fastest pace among the 15 members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.

Cambodia ranked equal second with Vietnam, with both economies projected to grow 5.8 percent.

Other projections were 5.2 percent for China, 5.0 percent for Indonesia, 4.5 percent for Malaysia, 4.0 percent for Laos, 3.4 percent for Thailand, 3.3 percent for Brunei, 2.6 percent for Myanmar, 1.6 percent for Australia, 1.5 percent for both South Korea and Singapore, 1.3 percent for Japan and 1.1 percent for New Zealand.

Coming into effect last year, RCEP is the world’s largest trade agreement.

For the overall world economy, the IMF projected growth at 2.8 percent this year — 0.1 percentage point below the January update to its projection in October last year.
Long read: https://www.akp.gov.kh/post/detail/275839

The IMF report can be downloaded here: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/worl ... y-recovery

Cambodia’s Trade with RCEP Countries Reaches Almost US$10 Billion in January-April Period
AKP Phnom Penh, May 15, 2023 --

Total trade of Cambodia with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) countries was amounted to US$9,823 million in the first four months of this year, inching down 8 percent compared to the same period last year, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

China is the Kingdom’s biggest trade partner with a total bilateral trade exchange of US$3,894 million, followed by Vietnam and Thailand with US$2,430 million and US$1,352 million, respectively, read the report.

On the export, Cambodia shipped goods worth a total of US$2,892 million to the RCEP countries, up 16 percent year-on-year, the report pointed out.

Cambodia’s top three export RCEP destinations were Vietnam, Thailand, China and with shipped products worth US$1,248 million, US$958 million, and US$328 million, respectively.

The RCEP free trade agreement entered into force on January 1, 2022.

The regional trade pact comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries including 10-member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — and their five trading partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
https://www.akp.gov.kh/post/detail/278699

Roundup: RCEP, FTAs to attract more investments to Cambodia in coming years
Source: Xinhua
2023-07-06 20:24:30

PHNOM PENH, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade pact and the bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) will play a crucial role in attracting more foreign direct investments to Cambodia, Cambodia's central bank said in a report released on Thursday.

In addition to the RCEP, the world's largest free trade deal engaged with 15 Asia-Pacific countries, Cambodia has bilateral FTAs with China, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.

"On the back of the implementation of the RCEP agreement and the bilateral FTAs, the kingdom is expected to attract more investments in the coming years that will boost productivity and promote economic diversification," said a National Bank of Cambodia's financial stability report.

Cambodia attracted the fixed asset investment of 4.68 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 7.5 percent from 4.35 billion dollars.

The report said Cambodia's economy is projected to grow by 5.6 percent in 2023, up from 5.2 percent in 2022, driven by exports of garment and non-garment manufacturing products, fast recovery in tourism, strong growth in transport and communication, and agriculture.

It added that a further slowdown in global economic activities, particularly in the United States and Europe, could affect the prospects of Cambodian exports and capital inflows.

Cambodian Ministry of Commerce's undersecretary of state Penn Sovicheat said the RCEP agreement and FTAs will help Cambodia graduate from its least developed country status by 2027 and achieve its goals of becoming an upper-middle income country in 2030 and a high-income nation by 2050.

"The RCEP, together with bilateral FTAs, has not only given a boost to the kingdom's sustainable trade growth, but also become a magnet to attract more foreign direct investments," he told Xinhua.
https://english.news.cn/20230706/8a88cc ... 751/c.html

Cambodia hopes RCEP, bilateral FTAs to boost exports of garment, footwear, travel goods
By Xinhua News Agency
17July 2023
Cambodia has pinned hopes on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to boost its exports of garment, footwear and travel (GFT) goods.

Cambodian Footwear Association president Ly Khun Thai said the Southeast Asian country has seen a significant rise in the exports of shoes to China and South Korea since the RCEP and Cambodia’s bilateral FTAs with China and South Korea entered into force last year.

“There are many countries under the RCEP agreement. With preferential tariffs, we expect to receive more purchase orders for our GFT products from those RCEP member countries,” he told a local TV channel on Friday.

The current major markets for Cambodia’s GFT goods are Europe, the United States and Canada.

His comments came after the kingdom recorded a drop by almost a fifth in the export of GFT products during the first half of 2023.

The country exported GFT goods worth 5.26 billion U.S. dollars from January to June this year, down 18.7 percent from 6.47 billion dollars in the same period last year, according to the General Department of Customs and Excise’s report.

The GFT goods industry is the largest foreign exchange earner for Cambodia. The sector consists of roughly 1,100 factories and branches, employing about 750,000 workers, mostly female.

Cambodian Ministry of Commerce’s undersecretary of state and spokesman Penn Sovicheat said the RCEP and Cambodia’s bilateral FTAs with China and South Korea are key contributors to boosting the country’s exports.
https://www.macaubusiness.com/cambodia- ... vel-goods/

RCEP to Attract More Investments to Cambodia in Coming Years
Phnom Penh, September 13, 2023 --
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will play a crucial role in attracting more foreign direct investments to Cambodia and contributes to a sustainable economic growth.

The mega trade pact is a huge market for Cambodia’s products which contributes to ensuring sustainable economic growth in years to come, said H.E. Sok Siphana, Senior Minister in charge of International and Multi-lateral Trade and Economic Relations.

RCEP is an agreement of great importance that has the potential to shape the future of trade in Cambodia and in the region, unlocking opportunities for growth and development, he said.

“RCEP has helped in gaining market access to products made in Cambodia, attracting investors to inject investment in Cambodia to process and produce for domestic markets and export,” he underlined in a Lecture on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement: Geo-Political and Geo-Economic Aspects, held at the Ministry of Information on Wednesday.

Cambodia attracted 113 fixed-asset investment projects worth US$1.1 billion in the first half of 2023, creating some 122,000 new jobs, said a report of the Council for the Development of Cambodia.
- AKP