Cambodia short on trade negotiators

The government’s staff of trade negotiators is being stretched beyond its limits, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said February 5. “We’re running out of trade negotiators and I am using my few able staff to run around several countries to negotiate [free trade agreements],” he said at the opening of a three-day UN conference on educating regional countries in trade. Attended by Bhutan, Nepal, Indonesia and Vietnam, the conference allowed Cambodia to share the lessons it learned under the TradeforTrade program, according to organizers. TradeforTrade is run by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and financed by the French Ministry of Foreign of Affairs. The program has trained more than 650 Cambodian officials and businessmen in areas such as trade law and negotiation since 2003, and will continue until the end of 2009.