In addition to the US, China, the EU and ASEAN, Cambodia is looking at markets in the nations of the former Soviet Union (USSR) to further expand its international trade, according to Ministry of Commerce spokesman Penn Sovicheat.

Cambodia plans to expand into markets in the former Soviet republics to capitalise on projected increases in demand for food and other basic supplies in those countries, especially after the Russia-Ukraine conflict comes to an end, he said.

He added that Cambodia is looking for trade opportunities in a list of former Soviet countries including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. In addition, the government is negotiating a free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates to gain better market access in the Middle East.

“We’re motivated to look at the former Soviet markets by the good trading partnerships they’ve had with Cambodia in the past.

“So Cambodia’s attention to these markets is just a re-linking of trade between them. In addition, Cambodia sees that those countries, especially Russia and Ukraine, may have high demand and consumption while they rebuild after the end of the war,” he said.

He noted that Cambodia’s goal of turning to the markets of the former Soviet Union is not to take advantage of the Ukraine crisi, explaining that the Kingdom had been planning to look into these markets even before the war broke out.

“Cambodia plans to diversify overseas markets to expand the scope of its businesses and industries. Apart from the US, the EU and China, which are currently Cambodia’s largest export and import markets, we are also looking at new potential markets in a number of countries to expand its international trade,” he also said.

Cambodia Logistics Association president Sin Chanthy said the private sector support the ministry’s vision to start looking at other markets in the world since the Kingdom has already established good trade relations with other countries like China, the US and the members of the EU.

He added that as far as trade is concerned, when there are more markets it is better, no matter which country they are trading with as long as there is an agreement with appropriate conditions then the association will always support more market access in order to boost exports to the maximum.

“We support this idea because it is good and it will help promote Cambodian exports. It will also help to find more markets for the private sector to increase local production,” he said.

“But for the transport sector, we can serve anywhere, as long as there is trade to any country. We can do it without any trouble because trade and logistics must always go hand in hand,” he added.

According to the ministry, in the past year, Cambodia’s exports to international markets amounted to $22.48 billion, an increase of 16 per cent, while imports stood at $29.94 billion.