A small country of about 14.50 million people, Cambodia is located at the heart of what has been the most dynamic region of the world economy for the past several decades, Southeast Asia. In 1999, Cambodia become a member of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which groups ten countries with a total population of about 575 million and a GDP of $600 billion - at purchasing power parity, $1.8 trillion. The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) will reduce most tariffs on Cambodia's exports to its neighbours to between 0 and 5% by 2010 (or earlier) and will abolish them altogether by 2018. The China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA), to come into effect in 2010, will create a trading block of 1.9 billion people. Talks under way between India and ASEAN could create another one not much smaller.

In addition, as an LDC, Cambodia has preferential access to some of the world's richest markets for a number of products (GSP/MFN). Cambodia joined WTO in 2004.