At the head office of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce (CCC) on the 1st March, 2010, at 10 30 am, there is a meeting between H.E Nguon Meng Tech and the Singapore’s delegations. The Singapore’s delegations consist of seven members: the president of Association of Small & Medium Enterprise (ASME), the vice-presidents of ASME, the government officials from SPRING Singapore, and the businessmen. The CCC’s members participating in the meeting are H.E director general Nguon Meng Tech, Mr. Simon Luu, the ANZ bank representatives, Oknha Phou Puy, the President of the Battambang Chamber of Commerce, and Oknha Tuy Ky, the Presideent of the Pursat Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. BRYAN TEH, the head of delegation, says that the purpose of the visit is to see the possibility of setting up the ASME office in Cambodia to promote the trade on products and services between the two countries: Cambodia and Singapore. The visit also attempts to understand more about the CCC so that the delegations can brief the government for support.

The delegations note that Cambodia has a good friendly government’s policy compared to the neighbor countries such as Vietnam and Laos. For this regard, they want to know more the about Cambodia infrastructure to see what Singapore can give and take. There are a lot of opportunities where Singapore can grasp, agriculture as well as tourism.  Singapore should take quick actions otherwise it would lose market to Taiwan and Korea. They are always ahead of Singapore.

H.E Nguon Meng Tech responds to the delegations that Cambodia is a safe place to invest in. The Singapore can bring money to invest, make money, and take money home safely. Regarding the infrastructure, now anywhere in Cambodia is accessible including the border. He encourages the delegations to start up the office soon and come to invest in Cambodia. The government has special policy for agriculture and for special economic zones (SEZ), more than 10 SEZ’s throughout the country.

For more understanding on the Cambodia’s infrastructure, telecom market, and Information Technology Communication (ICT), Mr. Simon Luu explains the delegations that Cambodia now has a good infrastructure. Anywhere is accessible. We can reach any provinces in Cambodia in less than three hours while it took half day in the past years. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is investing in train system for the key provinces. For telecom market, it is quite hot. Currently, there are about 8 to 11 companies operating in Cambodia while it was 5-6 companies last few years. For ICT, there is not much investment yet. Cambodian has to travel to India to buy systems. In term of ICT education, the qualification is still low compared to Singapore.

During the meeting the delegations have raised questions related to the roles of the CCC, the various industry situations, the rules for registration, the foreign property, the minimum wage policy, the interest rate, and agriculture sector.

H.E Nguon Meng Tech briefs the deletion on the roles and membership of the CCC. The CCC is 99.9 % private, just a bit under supervision of the Ministry of Commerce by the law. There are three types of membership in the CCC. First, the elected members, the top 40 members, provide financial support. Second, the 40 advisory member, provide partial financial support. Third, the over 5,000 ordinary members, do not provide financial support but are voluntary to do. The CCC runs without financial support from the government. Regarding the business registration, H.E Nguon Meng Tech recommends to go through the Cambodia Development Council (CDC) for the capital in between 2 to 50 million USD, and through the Council of Minister for the capital of more than 50 millions USD. The register process will take about 28 days in SEZ, one stop service, to complete. The CCC will always assist in this process.

Mr. Simon Luu recommends the Singapore to start medical entity soon in Cambodia since the Cambodian trust on Singapore. 80% of the rich go to Singapore for medical check. They are concerned on their health. The Singapore should also invest in agricultural processing machine since it is needed for Cambodia market. For foreign ownership, the foreigner can own 100% of their businesses. But they can’t own real property in Cambodia. But real property with business can own up to 49%.

After a good discussion on each of the industries and on the general situation, the delegations see a lot of opportunities that the Singapore can grasp.

The meeting ends at 11:45 am at the same date with friendly atmosphere.