Chinese firm seeking investment opportunity in rice exports, hotel industry in Cambodia
30 Nov 2010 2039 | World Travel News
China's COFCO, the largest oils and food
importer and exporter in China and a leading food manufacturer, on
Tuesday afternoon expresses its interest to invest in rice exports and
tourism in Cambodia.
"We are very interesting in rice exports
from Cambodia and hotel industry in Cambodia,"Yang Hong, vice president
of China Oil and Foodstuff Corporation (COFCO), said on Tuesday during a
meeting with the officials at the Council for the Development of
Cambodia (CDC).
"After the possibility study about the investment
opportunity here, we will take the two sectors into investment
consideration," she added. She said that the Beijing-based COFCO
Group is a leading firm in the businesses of biofuel and biochemical
production, oilseed processing, rice trading and processing for exports,
brewing materials production, and wheat processing, moreover, the group
also engages in real estate businesses.
Vongsey Vissoth,
secretary general of the Ministry of Finance, said that Cambodia has
produced 7.3 million tons of rice paddy in 2010, of which the surpass
quantity is 3.5 million tones of rice paddy or 2.1 million tons of
processed rice that is available for exports.
"China just signed a
rice inspection and quarantine cooperation agreement with Cambodia in
October that is easier for Chinese investors to export rice from
Cambodia,"he said. Tith Chantha, director general of the Ministry
of Tourism, said that currently Cambodia has 438 hotels with 24,239
rooms, accommodating around 2.1 million foreign tourists last year.
"Cambodia
has potentials in tourism and the extent of the economy is bigger, it
is estimated that Cambodia needs up to 40, 000 rooms by 2015 as the
number of foreign tourists is expected around 3.7 million at that
year,"he said, adding"so putting your investment in the sector from now
is the right time." The 13-member delegation consisted the officials of COFCO and ICBC.
Sok
Cheda, the CDC's secretary general, said that the delegation comes to
Cambodia after Jiang Jianqing, President of Industrial and Commercial
Bank of China (ICBC) met with Prime Minister Hun Sen on Nov. 5 in Phnom
Penh and expressed the bank's purpose to open its branch in Cambodia and
he promised with the prime minister to attract more Chinese investors
to Cambodia.
Source= Xinhua