Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol, first vice-president of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), has been on a door-knocking trip to Europe, meeting with numerous companies in Spain and Germany from June 10-12.
The council published details of his meetings with these companies, the latest being with Bayernhafen Nuremberg, which specialises in transportation and logistics, on June 12.
He informed the company's CEO, Ingmar Schellhas, that his mission to Europe was to highlight the investment potential in Cambodia. He also visited the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal to learn about the company's experiences in using the canal for linkage to the railway network.
“This [visit] is useful for Cambodia to build the argument for the development of its multimodal transportation projects,” stated a June 13 CDC social media post, possibly referring to the prospective $1.7 billion Funan Techo Canal project.
“The deputy prime minister requested that Bayernhafen Nuremberg consider investing in logistics in Cambodia,” the post added.
Chanthol also met with Andrea Heilmaier, deputy governor of Nuremberg, during which he told her that Cambodia wants to see more German investors in the Kingdom.
Earlier the same day, he met with UVEX Safety Group, a company that produces protective equipment. He informed group manager of business excellence Claus-Jurgen Lurz about Cambodia’s improvements in all sectors, particularly transportation infrastructure.
He noted that Cambodia has a young workforce, with 60 per cent of the nearly 17 million population under 35 years old.
Cambodia also has economic stability and an open investment law that allows investors to have full ownership of any company, except for real estate, he said.
“What is even more special is that the government fully supports the private sector because it has driven the momentum of Cambodia's economy toward the vision of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050,” he added.
On June 11, Chanthol was in Spain, meeting with Acciona Energía, a renewable energy company. According to the CDC, the business is also investing in wind-generated power in Cambodia.
While in Spain, he also met with eight other companies and attended a seminar to share Cambodia's investment potential with Spanish investors on June 10.