Over the past few years, under the strategic guidance of Chinese and Cambodian leaders, we have deepened and substantiated the cooperation on building the China-Cambodia community with a shared future, moved forward with the Belt and Road cooperation and delivered fruitful outcomes in the trade and economic field.

The China-Cambodia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) entered into force in January 2022. Since then, benefits have been unleashed and bilateral trade and investment liberalization and facilitation further enhanced. In 2022, the volume of bilateral trade hit a record high of US$16.02 billion, up by 17.5% year-on-year, making China the largest trading partner of Cambodia for 11 years in a row. Cambodia’s premium agricultural produces including mangoes and longans have gained market access to China, which is already the biggest export market for Cambodian rice and bananas. Practical cooperation between China and Cambodia has progressed steadily on such areas as infrastructure, textiles and apparel, process manufacturing and agriculture. By the end of 2022, Chinese enterprises had invested over US$10 billion in Cambodia.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of China-Cambodia diplomatic ties and the China-Cambodia Friendship Year. We look forward to working with relevant Cambodian agencies to take this high-level visit as an opportunity to push bilateral commercial relations to a higher level. Thank you.