Thai PM’s Cambodia Visit May Restore Mutual Trust, Investment

PHNOM PENH–Cambodian analysts believe that the visit of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to Cambodia on Thursday this week could restore mutual trust and trade and investment relations between the two countries. “From my point of view, the meeting of the two PMs will probably focus on fixing the damaged bilateral ties since 2008 and most importantly, to reinitiate mutual trust among the two countries’ investors,” Dr. Sok Touch, academic of political science and vice president of the Khemarak University, told Xinhua on Wednesday. He said that the two countries’ border conflict since 2008 has made both sides’ investors lose confidence. “Therefore, the meeting may be the time for the two leaders to restore confidence for the investors,” he said. Thailand’s investments in Cambodia have seen a sharp decline in the last few years. According to the report of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, the country had approved Thai investment projects of 178 million U.S. dollars in 2009 and only 2 million U.S. dollars in 2010 and finally to zero investment from Thailand in the first seven months of this year. On bilateral trade ties, the trade volume had increased only 1. 4 percent to 1.43 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of this year — the first-ever lowest growth recorded, according to the statistics from the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh…

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