Sectoral consultation workshop on the foreign investment data and information in Cambodia

27 December 2022
Access to information / Foreign investors / Investment
Foreign Investment in Cambodia

On 20 December 2022, Open Development Cambodia (ODC) once again hosted a Sectoral Consultation Workshop on the Foreign Investment Data and Information in Cambodia at Sunway Hotel Phnom Penh. Fifteen participants (03 females), including representatives from civil society organizations and researchers actively working at all levels on the issues related to business and human rights, management of natural resources, and indigenous peoples in Cambodia, joined the workshop.

The three primary purposes of the workshop are to 1. Present the general context of Cambodia’s foreign direct investment (FDI), 2. Demo how to access the ODC’s profile page on foreign investment in Cambodia and collect feedback on the new enhancement of the profile page and its functionalities, 3. Promote collaboration through data sharing and research on related topics.

Mrs. Siv Vatana, Research and Web Content Manager of ODC, gave a warm welcome by emphasizing the importance of foreign investment in Cambodia and its economy. There are a lot of investment projects in Cambodia, and it is hard for relevant stakeholders to know the information related to the projects. Since the start of 2021, ODC has started working on collecting data on foreign investment projects in Cambodia. She also mentioned that it was the third time ODC conducted the sectoral consultation workshop on foreign investment in Cambodia; the first was the launch of the profile page on 23 February 2022, and the second focused on enhancing the dataset and profile page on 01 August 2022.

“Lately, the team has collected and updated the dataset of the profile page from 111 to 279 projects and now working to enhance the interactive data display on the FIM profile page.” – Mrs. Siv Vatana, Research and Web Content Manager of ODC.

Another critical agenda of the workshop was the presentation on the context of foreign investment in Cambodia by Mr. Ban Chanphalla, Social Development Editor-Researcher of ODC. The presentation mainly focused on the overview of Cambodia’s foreign investment and motivating factors for creating the profile page on foreign investment in Cambodia. The contribution of FDI to Cambodia is huge; however, the data on those investment projects is limited. The information on foreign investment in Cambodia will push for more public involvement in the foreign investment topic, promoting development transparency and accountability that will further enhance the country’s sustainable growth.

The Investment Data Research Officer of ODC, Mr. Hang Visith, demonstrated how to access the profile page. Before presenting the 2nd version of the profile page, he briefly showed the participants the 1st version to make it easier for them to compare and provide inputs between the two. According to what he showed, the 1st version still looked great and performed very well. Still, the 2nd one could help the users with better research content, historical events, and laws related to foreign investment in Cambodia. The 2nd version is also equipped with interactive dashboards allowing the users to find data on four different elements: location, country of investment, sectors, and capital investment.

The 2^nd version of the profile page has yet to be launched, so the participants joining the workshop will provide inputs and suggestions to enhance the new look of the profile page. Mr. Sam An Mardy, Information Technology and Website Manager of ODC, briefly talked about the site map of the enhanced profile page, including the content structure, interactive dashboard, data visualizations on the net inflow of FDI, investment trends by country and sector, similarities and differences between the previous and new Law on Investment, timelines of the laws and regulations and events, and table of the dataset.

The workshop then turned into a Q&A session since the participants were very interested in the dataset as well as the new look of the profile page. Many participants asked for methods for collecting the data. They also shared that it was challenging to find relevant and reliable sources of information on investment projects in their target areas and for their research projects.

The group discussion was arranged into two main sections so that the participants could deeply explore the profile page to discuss and give feedback on the enhancement. The first part of the discussion focused on the challenges in accessing relevant information about the development projects in their target areas using the profile page dataset. Another part allowed the participants to share feedback and suggestions related to the design and display of the 2^nd version of the profile page.