Cambodian ambassador to South Korea Long Dimanche. Facebook
Cambodia hopes to attract more Korean tourists and investors from Gyeonggi province's Ansan city to its tourism industry after the global Covid-19 crisis is under control, according to Cambodian ambassador to South Korea Long Dimanche.
The Cambodian embassy in Seoul on April 29 made a presentation entitled "Why Choose Cambodia" to leaders, officials, investors and the general public at Ansan City Hall to showcase the potential and opportunities that Cambodia has to offer in terms of investment and tourism.
Dimanche told The Post on May 2 that he is optimistic that Korean tourism movement and investment in Cambodia will increase after the Covid-19 pandemic eases.
He said regular forums are organised in almost every city in South Korea to promote Cambodia's potential and opportunities, stressing the improvements in political stability, economic growth and diplomatic relations that the Kingdom has made.
South Korea is very developed in the fields of agriculture, industry and technology, and more Korean investment will help increase technological and production capacities, and boost Cambodian exports to the East Asian country and beyond, he added.
"After the presentation, many members of the public and investors talked to me about their intentions to travel to Cambodia soon. I also asked them to meet me more often in person so that I could share information about the many tourist sites in Cambodia and its investment potential," he said.
According to Dimanche, there are currently about 600 Cambodian workers based in Ansan.
He noted that Ansan is a commercial and agricultural centre and a major industrial area, and that Gyeonggi surrounds the capital city of Seoul much like Cambodia's Kandal province does Phnom Penh.
Hong Vanak, director of International Economics at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said South Korea remains one of Cambodia's major export markets, and that wooing more Korean investors would drive up domestic production for export to the East Asian nation.
"Actually, Korean investment in Cambodia at the moment is quite large, mostly in the construction sector. If there is investment in other sectors, especially technology, that'd match what Cambodia really wants now," he said.
Last year, 1,263 Korean companies were investing in Cambodia, of which 227 were “large-scale firms” with cumulative capital investment totalling more than $5 billion – most in the construction and road infrastructure sectors, according to embassy statistics.
