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Cambodia and the United Arab Emirates completed the first round of negotiations on the Cambodia-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CAM-UAE CEPA) in Abu Dhabi city on Wednesday, according to a release by the Ministry of Commerce (MoC).
The meeting was held from October 24 to 26 and was co-chaired by Tekreth Kamrang, Secretary of State for Commerce, and Juma Mohammed Al Kait, UAE Assistant Under-Secretary for Foreign Trade.
Kamrang and Al Kait, who are also heads of their respective negotiating teams for CAM-UAE CEPA, signed a joint minutes, the main outcome of the first round of negotiations.
“The agreement is expected to strengthen the relationship between the two sides by opening up market channels more widely and provide more opportunities for mutually beneficial investment and deepening cooperation in other economic activities,” said Kamrang. Al Kait said both sides were very excited about the agreement. serious.
Cambodia and the United Arab Emirates started CEPA talks on Monday, aimed at expanding trade networks and promoting investment opportunities between the two countries. The launching ceremony in Abu Dhabi was attended by Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak and UAE Minister of State for External Trade Sani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi.
Cambodia’s top trade body said in a statement that a Cambodia Chamber of Commerce (CCC) delegation led by its president, Kith Meng, also attended the ceremony in Abu Dhabi. Meng urged Emirati investors to visit the kingdom and explore the possibility of cooperating on projects.
“The country has achieved complete peace and has driven deep reforms to improve the business environment and enhance the country’s competitiveness in the world market,” Meng said, adding that Cambodia is one of the fastest growing economies in the region, Its economic growth in 2022 is expected to be around 5 percent.
In the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, the government has launched a plan to revive the economy, which will help the country quickly return to an annual growth rate of 7%. Cheng Thai, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Commerce, recently told Khmer Times that CEPA is more comprehensive than Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as it covers some areas such as investment, services, trade facilitation, customs cooperation, competition, property rights and so on.
“The Ministry of Commerce is the lead agency for negotiations and first needs the authorization of the head of government,” he said, adding that if CEPA exists, FTA is not required. Kamrang, another secretary of state at the Ministry of Transport, chaired an inter-ministerial meeting on Wednesday last week to prepare for participation in the launch and launch of CEPA negotiations between Cambodia and the UAE.
About 65 officials from different ministries and agencies attended the meeting.
“The agreement aims to expand and strengthen bilateral cooperation in all areas, especially investment, trade, digitalization and other key areas,” Kamrang said.
She also encouraged officials from different ministries and agencies to further study the economic opportunities, challenges and strategies to draw more details from CEPA on the two countries’ greatest economic and trade interests, in addition to developing negotiation plans, according to the release.
“Officials at the meeting expressed optimism about the economic benefits that the creation of the agreement between the two countries and the launch of negotiations will be able to achieve, as it seeks to diversify markets, create new trade opportunities and attract foreign direct investment to promote an inclusive and sustainable economy growth,” the press release noted.
Cambodia already enjoys special trade preferences with 14 other countries under the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement, RCEP and Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement.
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