Cambodia, Vietnam seek broader cooperation in e-commerce and digital economy

The Trade Office of the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia, in coordination with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Vietnam-Cambodia Business Association (VCBA) organized the Vietnam-Cambodia Trade and Investment Promotion Forum on December 25 in Phnom Penh to enhance cross-border e-commerce cooperation and digital economy.

The event featured the participation of over 140 delegates including leaders, experts, managers and business representatives the two countries.

In his opening speech, VCBA Chairman Oknha Leng Rithy emphasized that in a world where information is shared at a fast pace and e-commerce serves as a bridge connecting producers and consumers globally, the forum is organized with the goal of stepping up cooperation, expanding trade exchange and working together to shape a prosperous future for the two countries.

According to Leng Rithy, economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia has recorded remarkable achievements in recent years as a contribution to the development of each nation. He highlighted opportunities for cross-border cooperation and digital economy promotion amid the deep international integration and the 4.0 industrial revolution.

He expressed his confidence that this forum will help businesses of the two countries seize opportunities, fully grasp policies, find suitable partners, connect businesses, create trade links, promote investment in potential fields, as well as accompany businesses in digital transformation, taking advantage of technology to sharpen competitiveness.

In his address, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Nguyen Huy Tang stressed that this as an extremely meaningful discussion topic in the context that the two governments are focusing on boosting the development of platforms and infrastructure for e-commerce and the digital economy.

This forum is viewed as an opportunity for businesses and investors from both countries to explore investment and business opportunities in each country's market in the field of e-commerce and digital economy, thus helping spur the increasingly developing economic cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia in the coming time, he added.

According to Ambassador Nguyen Huy Tang, constantly consolidating and strengthening the good traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation for mutual benefit, including economic, trade and investment cooperation, has always been of interest to both countries’ senior leaders and is a key task of the embassy.

The recent visits to Cambodia by Vietnamese senior leaders have significantly contributed to fostering the comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia, especially in the fields of economy, trade and investment.

The new Cambodian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Samdech Hun Manet is also highly interested in promoting, exploiting potential, and opportunities for cooperation, and strengthening trade links between the two countries. This is a favorable condition for businesses and investors of the two countries to ramp up economic, trade and investment cooperation in the time ahead.

Regarding the field of e-commerce and digital economy, the Vietnamese diplomat emphasized that the Governments of Vietnam and Cambodia are both interested in promoting this field, as well as actively supporting and engaging in the early conclusion of negotiations on the Framework Agreement on Digital Economy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). These are important foundations and favorable conditions for Vietnam and Cambodia to intensify cross-border e-commerce exchanges and digital economic cooperation in the time to come.

To turn senior leaders’ commitments on promoting economic, trade and investment cooperation into reality, especially the bilateral trade target of US$20 billion in the future, Vietnamese and Cambodian enterprises both play an important role in connecting and promoting trade and investment, and fully tapping the inherent potential of the two countries, especially in the fields of e-commerce and digital economy.

After the opening session, the participants learned about the aspects of cross-border e-commerce cooperation and the digital economy between Vietnam and Cambodia through discussions on their e-commerce and economic development.

Within the framework of the forum, there was also a signing ceremony of a rice supply agreement between Kon Khmer Co. Ltd - a local enterprise and a number of Vietnamese firms operating in Cambodia, as well as other Vietnamese enterprises.

Besides, there were also trade connection activities between entrepreneurs and business communities of Vietnam and Cambodia.