Cambodia lent its support for the upgrading of ASEAN-China cooperation from “2.0 to 3.0” and urged the expansion of this cooperation to make it wider and deeper by focusing on reducing barriers to trade, services and investments while promoting the digital economy, green growth and building up the capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The support was voiced by Prime Minister Hun Sen on September 16 in remarks on a pre-recorded video for the 19th China-ASEAN Expo 2022 in Nanning, China, held under the theme of “Sharing New Opportunities of RCEP and Boosting the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0".

“I believe that the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – besides creating investment and trade opportunities in the region – has been contributing significantly in promoting the above mentioned sectors, especially as it has become the core of establishing the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement 3.0,” he said.

Hun Sen thanked China for giving high priority to trade with ASEAN and supporting development across the region.

“As the chair of ASEAN, Cambodia will continue to promote improvements to ASEAN-China cooperation to ensure sustainable, inclusive, resilient socio-economic development between the two regions,” he said.