Aiming at diversifying and expanding Cambodia’s international trade, the ministry of commerce, and four development partners launched a $12.6 million Trade Development Support Program (TDSP) which is also supported by the European Union, the Danish International Aid Agency and the UN Industrial Development program.
The program implementation will not only involve coordination between government ministries but will involve regular checks by the private sector in Cambodia. And all money will be used to tackle priority issues in diversifying the economy.
There are four components to the project:
- The first component of the project is trade policy formulation and implementation. This component will support the Government‘s trade strategy, in particular: (i) technical barriers to trade and sanitary and photo-sanitary measures; (ii) trade facilitation; and (iii) other legal reforms and World Trade Organization obligations.
- The second component of the project is performance monitoring. This component will support to surveys and monitoring tools to assess progress in implementing the Government’s trade strategy and provide evidenced-based feedback.
- The third component of the project is institutional and human capacity. This component will support to the development of strengthened institutions, stronger incentives, and improved technical ability to formulate and implement the Government’s trade policy.
- The fourth component of the project is implementation support to TDSP. This component will support the development of the Ministry of Commerce‘s implementation capacity to act as a Secretariat for the trade sector wide approach (SWAp) and program manager for the TDSP. This will include support to assist it in meeting its fiduciary responsibilities. This will also support other departments’ and agencies’ capacity in implementing the TDSP.
Cham Prasith, the ministry of commerce, said that this finance will be used to promote Cambodia’s trade sector, based on the small project and he added that what is important is that the money will be spent on the priority issues identified by the government. And the project will be based on three pillars- solving cross-cutting issues; promoting of export production and a focus on services; and improving institutional capacity.
During the workshop, World Bank Country Qimiao Fan said that in the present, Cambodia’s weak export controls and tough international export regulations required by developed nations are acting as a burden on Cambodia’s growth rate, he added that “one of the priorities that we have discussed with the government is the contribution that regulatory reform can make to the business climate, reported the Cambodia Daily.
Qimiao was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying that “I believe that we can and should make some quick wins by building on progress that has been made in several areas,” he added that “First, the government should further strengthen Cambodia’s regional integration with its close neighbours and ASEAN partners, and second, it should promote higher productivity and greater diversification in agriculture.”
In a bid to strengthen the economy and to boost exports to access the international market, the World Bank funded “Export Market Access Fund (EMAF)” US$ 1.6 million in grant, which is run by the ministry of commerce, in an attempt to help Cambodia-based companies and business associations over the 16 months.
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