VN businesses increase interest in Cambodia

July, 27 2010
VNS (Hanoi)

HA NOI — In the past year ,Vietnamese business groups have revved up investment in Cambodia and actively contributed to the country's social security programmes, said the Association of Vietnamese Investors in Cambodia (AVIC).
At a review meeting in Siem Reap on Sunday, AVIC said Viet Nam had become the third largest foreign investor in Cambodia, after China and the Republic of Korea.

Addressing the meeting, Tran Bac Ha, general director of the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV), which helped pave the way for Vietnamese businesses to set up representative offices in Cambodia, said Vietnamese investment to Cambodia had grown rapidly in the past year. Vietnamese businesses were granted licences for 63 projects with a combined investment capital of US$900 million.

Various Vietnamese economic groups and corporations have entered the Cambodian market, investing in different areas including telecommunications, finance and banking, air transport, agriculture, light industry, rubber and industrial tree planting, mining, energy and healthcare.

Aside from trade and investment activities, Vietnamese businesses have also pledged $6 million in funding to local social welfare schemes.

As part of the move to promote Vietnamese investment in the country, the Bank for Investment and Development of Cambodia (BIDC), a Cambodia-based affiliate of BIDV, opened a new branch in Siem Reap.

The BIDC earlier set up branches in HCM City and Phnom Penh in order to create a link between the financial markets of Cambodia and Viet Nam, and provide financial service packages for Vietnamese enterprises wishing to invest in Cambodia.

Vietnamese investors in Cambodia include the Viet Nam Military Telecom Corporation (Viettel), BIDV, the Viet Nam Coal and Minerals Corporation (Vinacomin), Viet Nam Airlines and Hoang Anh Gia Lai group.