G ROWING trading links beween Singapore and Cambodia, which now stand at US$650

million annually, will pave the way for greater investment, a senior Singaporean

commerce expert said on July 12.

"I think we will see the same pattern as

in Vietnam. Singapore started trading with Vietnam and then from 1992 started

investing and I think last year, we (Singapore) were the second largest

investor," said Graham Hayward, Executive Director of the Singapore

International Chamber of Commerce. (SICC)

Singapore is currently

Cam-bodia's biggest trading partner.

"I can say one of our members is

looking at the possibility of electronics assembly here. He's particularly

interested in ascertaining the skills of the labor force to see whether they are

capable of handling assemblies," Hayward said.

The visit by the SICC,

Singapore's oldest chamber of commerce, is its first to Cambodia. The aims of

the trip are to assess the environment for business opportunities and to talk to

senior government leaders and local businessmen, Hayward said.

The

fact-finding and business survey by prominent Singapore business leaders gave

Cambodia "positive recommendation and the green light" for their fellow

investors.

The 26-member delegation is expected to hold talks with local

businessmen and with senior officials at Cambodia's Ministry of Finance,

Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Industry and finance experts at the National

Bank.

 

"We're very happy that today we have a team of people really from all over

the world. We have Germans, Americans, Japanese, Sing-aporeans and myself, an

adopted Singaporean. We have a very good international team here today to meet

with your businessmen," Hayward said.

Mission leader, Peter Tan, Managing

Director of Goodyear Orient Co Pte Ltd said he was paricularly encouraged by the

drafting of a Cambodian investment law. "Any development of the legal structure

would give confidence to investors," he said.

The final draft of the

investment law is designed to attract much-needed foreign capital.