Secretary of State for Finance, Sun Chanthol, has announced plans to open a Cambodian

Stock exchange, according to a Reuters report.

"By 1998 we will have an up and running stock exchange," Sun Chanthol said

in a speech before meeting Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and a delegation

of business leaders from the island republic.

Sun Chanthol, who heads the Committee for the Development of Cambodia, said a capital

markets law has been completed and forwarded to the cabinet for approval.

He said he hoped the legislation would be passed on to the National Assembly for

a vote by the end of the year, paving the way for a 1998 stock market start-up date.