Twenty-nine Vietnamese goods will be tariff-free when exported to Cambodia, including milk and cream, starch, meat products, products made from rice, sweets, paint, plastics, paper, ceramics, steel, and steel products, according to the latest trade agreement between the two nations.

Some 39 Cambodian goods meanwhile, such as meat, lemons, paddy rice, cakes, tobacco, plastics, books, fabrics, and bicycles will be tariff-free when exported to Vietnam.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh and Cambodian Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak signed a bilateral trade enhancement agreement between the two countries on the sidelines of the 8th Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam Summit (CLMV-8) on October 26, witnessed by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The arrangement is expected to boost bilateral trade relations, improve people’s lives, especially those living in the border areas, and contribute to economic development in the two neighbors.

Enterprises on each side will have greater opportunities to gain access to and be more competitive in the other’s market. The agreement will also contribute to launching the Joint Statement reached during State President Tran Dai Quang’s official visit to Cambodia that aims to raise two-way trade turnover to $5 billion in the near future.

Two-way trade revenue was $3.37 billion in 2015. Figures from the General Department of Customs show that two-way trade in the first quarter of 2016 was $843 million, down 20.1 per cent year-on-year. Exports from Vietnam to Cambodia totaled $534 million, down 12.7 per cent, while Vietnam’s imports from Cambodia fell 7.4 per cent, totaling $309 million.

Industrial goods such as products from iron and steel, fertilizers, textiles, machinery and devices, and plastics account for the highest share of Vietnam’s export revenue to Cambodia. Vietnam is currently Cambodia’s third-largest trade partner.

Cambodia’s main exports to Vietnam were seafood, corn, dried tobacco, rubber, paddy rice, and cashew nuts.

VN Economic Times