Illustrative imagePreparation for negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) between Cambodia and Mongolia has been kick-started in the first inter-ministerial meeting engaging the working group tasked for the negotiations, Cambodia's news agency AKP reported on October 1.
The discussion took place early this week in Phnom Penh under the chairmanship of Reach Ra, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Commerce. Representatives fromthe ministries of Finance and Economy; Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; and Labour and Vocational Training, and the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) attended the event.
According to Reach Ra, a feasible study to establish theCambodia-Mongolia free trade agreementhas been carried out in accordance with the Cambodian Government’s Rectangular Strategy-Phase IV in diversification of markets increasing inflow of trade and economic restoration in the aftermath of COVID-19 crisis.
In its East Asia and Pacific Economic Updatereport released on September 29, the World Bank (WB) forecast the Cambodian economy will contract 2 percent in 2020.
Cambodia’s economy and its key growth drivers – namely construction, tourism and merchandise exports – continue to be severely affected by the global crisis unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank said.
On a positive note, the WB said Cambodia’s domestic demand had been gradually returning, as well as having good prospects with current bilateral trade negotiations, forecasting economic growth of 4.3 percent in 2021 and 5.2 percent in 2022.
Last week, a report released by thethe Asian Development Bank (ADB) also expected Cambodia’s economic growth to rebound to 5.9 percent in 2021 but stressed that this prediction is uncertain./.