US looks beyond garments to deepen Cambodia trade

The biggest US trade delegation to Cambodia in decades joined Secretary of State Hillary Clinton here as the two countries look to expand their economic relationship beyond exports of cheaply produced garments. … “On the economic front, there is much more room for us to grow together, so we are working to foster economic activity in very tangible ways,” the secretary of state said at the US-Asean Ministerial Meeting in Phnom Penh. … Cambodia, however, was the focus of the secretary of state’s tour of Asean, a region in which she said the US has invested more than in China. In what organisers described as the largest contingent of American businesses ever to visit Cambodia, General Electric signed an energy agreement in Siem Reap, which followed an announcement last month that it would invest $3 million in generators for a rice-husk power plant. … Other US businesss represented in Cambodia last week, such as Dow Chemical and Cargill, have yet to enter the country…

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/303886/us-looks-beyond-garments-to-deepen-cambodia-trade