Cambodia: Cambodia and Laos have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening private-sector cooperation in agriculture, trade, and investment during a business networking meeting held on Sunday. The meeting was chaired by H.E. Hong Narith, Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and brought together private companies from both countries to promote investment, expand agricultural trade, and improve production value chains for mutual benefit.
According to Agence Kampuchea Presse, participating Cambodian companies included WorldBridge Group, Vireak Buntham, and several others, while seven Lao companies involved in agricultural exports and imports, farming, livestock, logistics, and transport also attended. Speaking on the occasion, H.E. Hong Narith encouraged businesses from both sides to build partnerships and explore joint ventures. He highlighted growing bilateral cooperation between Cambodia and Laos, particularly in agriculture, logistics, agro-processing, and cross-border trade of products such as beef, poultry, eggs, longan, bananas, and durian.
He also underlined the importance of implementing a newly signed agreement allowing Cambodian agricultural products to be transported through Laos to third countries, especially China. The agreement was inked in Phnom Penh on Jan. 25 by Cambodian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries H.E. Dith Tina and H.E. Linkham Douangsavanh, Minister of Agriculture and Environment of Lao PDR, following their bilateral meeting.
On the same occasion, H.E. Minister Dith Tina stressed opportunities for deeper cooperation with Laos, including value-chain integration, fertilizer supply, improved investment conditions, seed production, product standards, agricultural exhibitions, and joint efforts in forest conservation and wildfire prevention. Both ministers also expressed strong commitment to further strengthening Cambodia-Laos cooperation to promote agri-trade, economic growth, and shared benefits for the people of both countries.