The National Assembly approved a series of trade agreements on Wednesday that will allow it as an Asean nation to have better trade with India.
Cambodia exports coconut oil, saffron, cereal and clothes to India, while importing tariff-free medicines and machine parts for the garment industry.
The agreement will grow the marketplace and flow of investment, while creating more jobs for Cambodians and pushing economic development, Kong Vibol, secretary of state for the Ministry of Finance, told the Assembly.
In a statement to the Assembly, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Cambodia had a 30-fold difference in trade imbalance, importing about $89 million in goods and exporting only $4.2 million.
Yim Sovann, a spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said he supported more trade with India, but he warned that “good investors” need protection from corruption. Meanwhile, Cambodia needs to improve its production for export. “We are the market for these countries,” he said.
Chheang Vun, head of the National Assembly’s foreign affairs committee, told the Assembly that Cambodia’s police was to promote and encourage investors to improve production values to meet the international standards for export.