Internet service provider EZECOM Co Ltd plans to launch a trade facilitation project Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) to manage, store and analyse paperless data.
The company, a subsidiary of local conglomerate Royal Group of Companies Ltd (Royal Group), announced the project during the opening of the World E-Commerce Forum held at the ministry on Wednesday and co-organised by the Ministry of Commerce and Royal Group.
EZECOM said the project would provide highly accurate, reliable and low cost paperless data management solutions for e-commerce activity.
A company representative said: “The project will also benefit the government in achieving its goal of transforming the Cambodian economy into a digital economy by 2023.”
Ministry secretary of state Sok Sopheak, who presided over the opening of the forum, welcomed the project, but asked the company to first consult with the relevant ministries and institutions.
In its journey towards achieving a digital economy, Cambodia signed the UN treaty entitled “Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific” in 2017, he said.
It has also, inter alia, ratified the ASEAN Agreement on e-Commerce last year and launched the Cambodia National Single Window Project in accordance with the ASEAN National Single Window initiative, he added.
“Other noteworthy reforms undertaken by the Ministry of Commerce include the introduction of online business registration, automation in the application for certification of origin and the establishment of laws on e-commerce,” Sopheak said.
He encouraged EZECOM to pursue the project and urged them to deliver presentations to the relevant ministries and institutions to provide them with a better understanding of their vision.
On July 22, Ministry of Economy and Finance secretary of state Vongsey Vissoth called on relevant officials and working group members to expedite the completion of the draft concept note on “Digital Government Policy” and to design it in consonance with the Digital Economy Policy.
A Digital Government is a crucial component of the Digital Economy, he said, adding: “The development of the Digital Economy would need to go alongside the setup of a unified governance system through which all ministries and institutions fulfil their duties electronically.”
A first draft of Cambodia E-Government Strategic Plan 2018-2023 was drafted by the telecoms ministry in line with the Cambodia ICT Masterplan 2020 and Telecom-ICT Policy 2020.
The plan aims to encourage a shift to a digital economy and promote the use of digital technologies in the public sector to boost efficiency, fairness, transparency and convenience for the people.
