Vietnamese state-own enterprises (SOEs) that operate in foreign countries, including many in Cambodia, were reported to have lost millions of dollars due to poor market selection and risk assessment, said a report from a Vietnamese news agency released on Sunday.

According to the report from VN Express International, 29 percent of Vietnam’s SOEs had accumulated losses by the end of 2016.

Nguyen Duc Thanh, president of the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research, said that one of the main reasons for these losses is that the companies made mistakes selecting which markets to invest in.

“SOEs tend to choose markets that have a good relationship with Vietnam at a state level in hopes that this will give them an advantage, which is not true,” Thanh said. “They often aim for the world’s least developed countries such as Laos or Cambodia, or politically or economically unstable markets such as Venezuela or Africa, but it’s very difficult to make a profit in these markets.”

Among many state-own companies, the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group reportedly suffered losses of $16.6 million according to a report by the Government Inspectorate released in December last year.