Original report from Washington
02 December 2009
[Editor’s note: Last month, the International Finance Corporation invited Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh to its offices in Washington, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of preferential trade agreements between Cambodia and the US. On his visit, Cham Prasidh testified before the Trade Subcommittee for the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Ways and Means. He also sat with VOA Khmer for an interview at a hotel in Washington. What follows is an excerpt of that interview, in the first segment of an eight-part series.]
Q. What gains has Cambodia received from 10 years of trade agreements with the US?
A. The trade agreement in 1999 provided us with a big opportunity to export clothes for sale to American over other countries. As you know, countries usually export their products within a limited quota by the US. For some countries the US would increase this by 6 percent after the first export. But because Cambodia has this agreement, Cambodia had the 6 percent increased to 14 percent. We exported more than other countries, and around 20 garment factories in Cambodia grew quickly to almost 300 factories.
Q. What is the next strategy to improve Cambodian trade and people’s daily lives?
A. Overall, we need an open market. That means that if the US grants us duty-free and quota-free status, we will have the possibility of selling more products, and we also have the possibility of attracting investors to agriculture. So we’re trying very hard to get the US market. The US market is the biggest market for Cambodia.
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