Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (R) meets with the visiting British Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Hugo Swire at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Jan. 31, 2014. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Friday that the country wanted to see more British investors in order to further contribute to developing local economy and reducing poverty. (Xinhua/Sovannara)
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Friday that the country wanted to see more British investors in order to further contribute to developing local economy and reducing poverty.
The premier made the remarks during a meeting with visiting British Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Hugo Swire.
He expressed his satisfactions with good ties and cooperation between Cambodia and the United Kingdom.
Hun Sen thanked UK for its assistance to Cambodia on health, poverty reduction activities, and good governance. He asked UK to continue assisting Cambodia in human resources development.
Swire said during his visit, he met with British investors doing businesses in Cambodia and they expressed their strong confidence in the Cambodian government.
He pledged to encourage more British investors to Cambodia to further enhance bilateral ties and cooperation between the two countries.
He said Britain will provide some 822,000 U.S. dollars to support the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and will continue assisting Cambodia in mine clearance.
UK is the fourth largest investor in Cambodia. According to the report of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, since 1994 to 2012, Cambodia had received the a promised investment of 2.4 billion U.S. dollars from UK.
On trade side, the two-way trade volume was valued at 742 million U.S. dollars in 2013 and is expected to reach one billion U.S. dollars this year.
Swire arrived in Phnom Penh on Thursday for a two-day visit to promote bilateral ties and better understand the current political situation in Cambodia.
Earlier in the day, Swire met separately with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Vice-President of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party Kem Sokha to hear the current political situation.
