Asian nations vie to become Cambodia's biggest foreign investors

Phnom Penh - China overtook South Korea as Cambodia's largest foreign investor last year, but Japan had shown an increased interest in investment as opposed to aid, a senior Cambodian economist said Wednesday. Speaking at a press conference in the capital, the secretary-general for the government's Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), Sok Chenda, gently chided Western nations for lagging behind Asian nations in foreign direct investment. He said between 1994 to 2003 investment from Western nations made up just 15 per cent of the country's total, with 60 per cent coming from Asian nations such as Malaysia, China and Korea. "I can't predict foreign investment figures for 2008 but I hope for even more. Prime Minister Hun Sen just returned from a visit to South Korea yesterday and we are hopeful that will generate renewed investment interest there," Chenda said. "There is also new interest from other quarters, and especially Japan. Japanese investors have certainly now entered the doors of our home."Approved foreign investments from 1994 to 2007 totalled 14.83 billion dollars, he said, with China accounting for 1.76 billion dollars of that total and South Korea 1.5 billion dollars. Industrial investments made up 34 per cent of that total, followed by the service industry with 32 per cent. Agriculture made up just 7 per cent, but Chenda said that was a promising area of growth and with a boom in global bio-fuel demand and the recently launch of several food processing factories in Cambodia it was expected to continue to grow. However he admitted the less developed nation still faced obstacles, such as Cambodia's terrible balance of trade and lack of secondary industries, which meant container ships arrived full but often left with room to spare. He also appealed to foreign governments to help Cambodia strengthen its ability to curb money laundering, pointing out that the country lacked an investment board to investigate potential investors thoroughly, such as the boards set up in Thailand and Japan. "Competing regionally remains less than easy. Trading partners use the words 'friendly' and 'cooperation', but of course they always look after their own interests," he said.