The first round of negotiations for a Cambodia-China free trade agreement (FTA) highlighted the potential for creating strong economic and investment partnerships between the countries in the upcoming years, according to Cambodia’s commerce ministry, which recently said ‘positive results’ were achieved during the exchange of ideas during the meeting.

The FTA aims to boost bilateral trade to $10 billion by in the next three years.

During bilateral talks on January 20-23 last year in Beijing, Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang approved a feasibility study on the potential FTA, Cambodian media reports cited the ministry as saying.

The first round of negotiations was held in Beijing on January 20-21 and was presided by commerce secretary of Cambodia Sok Sopheak and China’s assistant minister of commerce Ren Hongbin.

Ministry spokesman Long Kemvichet said an FTA can be considered as the next step in strengthening a rule-based trading system with partners.

Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia deputy secretary general Kaing Monika said the moves towards an FTA is the right direction and the right time for Cambodia to start looking at negotiating FTAs with various countries and blocs.

The second round of negotiations is expected to be held in Cambodia in the first half of 2020, the ministry added.

Bilateral trade volume between the two countries reached $7.4 billion last year, a 22 per cent increase compared to 2017’s $6.04 billion, ministry data shows.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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