The Textile Enterprise Association of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia officially launched in Phnom Penh yesterday.

The association, known as TEAC, aims to boost Chinese investment in Cambodia’s garment industry, offering services such as legal advice and government liaison support for existing and potential garment and footwear investors from China, officials said at yesterday’s event.

“We will represent the interests of Chinese textile enterprises in Cambodia and reflect their reasonable demands to the government,” said Enjoy Ho, chairman of TEAC.

According to Ho, investors from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan account for about 70 per cent of the garment and footwear factories in Cambodia.

He said the new association was well placed to encourage growth in the industry despite rising wages, weakening Asian currencies and increased competitiveness from neighbouring countries such as Vietnam, which has recently completed negotiations on a trade agreement with the European Union.

“Chinese textile enterprises will have to use the competitive advantages of Cambodia to attract more investments and increase production here,” he said.

Chea Vuthy, deputy secretary-general of the Cambodian Investment Board at the Council for Development of Cambodia, welcomed the establishment of TEAC amid rising competitive pressures for foreign investment.

“It is the right time to get all partners together in order to exchange ideas and find solutions to protect the sector in Cambodia,” he said yesterday.

“We are lucky that Cambodia and China have a good relationship that has been built by the old regimes and new regimes,” Vuthy added.

Vuthy urged TEAC to encourage investment into raw materials production in Cambodia, something he said would help strengthen the Kingdom’s competitiveness.

This could be facilitated, he added, through special economic zones that would be used for raw material production, reducing dependence on the import of such goods.