PHNOM PENH, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) — Cambodia attracted 315 fixed-asset investment projects worth 5.28 billion U.S. dollars in the first nine months of 2024, creating over 250,000 jobs, said the Council for the Development of Cambodia’s report on Monday.
The new investment projects were mainly focused on garment, travel goods, and footwear sectors, hotel development, hydroelectric power station, freshwater port, solar power plants, lighting and accessory factories, agriculture, amusement park, car tire plants, and special economic zones, among others.
In September alone, the Southeast Asian country approved a total of 28 investment projects worth 443 million dollars, which could generate nearly 25,000 jobs, the CDC said.
China remained the top foreign investor in the kingdom, it added.
The Cambodian Ministry of Commerce’s Secretary of State and Spokesperson Penn Sovicheat said the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA), together with Cambodia’s new law on investment, are the major factors in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to the country.
“Both RCEP and the CCFTA are magnets to attract foreign investors to Cambodia,” he told Xinhua. “FDI, especially from China, is vital to help boost Cambodia’s socio-economic development, trade growth, and poverty reduction.”