Hungary commerce, tourism ties to get increase

The Undersecretary of State Ministry of Commerce, Pen Sovicheat (right) said Cambodia and Hungary have agreed to expand cooperation in key potential areas such as trade and economy, tourism, civil aviation and industry, technology and innovation. DEPARTMENT OF TRADE

Cambodia and Hungary have agreed to further strengthen economic and tourism ties, while the private sector offers a rosy view of the EU country as a hub for expanding exports to Europe.

The consensus was reached during a face-to-face technical meeting held on January 20 at the Ministry of Commerce on the first of the two-day first meeting of the Cambodia-Hungary Joint Economic Cooperation Commission.

In a Facebook post on January 20, the ministry announced that the meeting was chaired by State Secretary Pen Sovicheat and Judit Vekei Kiss, director of the Joint Economic Commissions Department of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Sovicheat said in the post that both sides had agreed on the contents of the draft minutes of the January 20 meeting, which should be signed by State Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Tek Reth Kamrong, and Deputy State Secretary of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry for Export Development, Istvan Joo via video link on the afternoon of January 21.

“Both sides agreed to expand cooperation in key potential areas such as trade and economy, tourism, civil aviation and industry, technology and innovation,” said Sovicheat.

After the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, the two countries reestablished diplomatic ties, he said. Hungary provided a wide range of assistance to Cambodia to help build peace and political stability, which paved the way for the kingdom’s development.

Thourn Sinan, former Cambodia country director of the Cambodia-Hungary trading house, told the Post that bilateral cooperation with Hungary would help strengthen trade and investment ties across the board.

Hungary, which he described as an “agricultural powerhouse”, can well contribute to the development of the sector in Cambodia, which has shown enormous growth potential in recent years.

“Hungary can share its agricultural experience with Cambodia, particularly in the context of food security development,” Sinan said.

In terms of economy and trade, Hungary is an important gateway for Cambodia to export goods to the UK and the 27 countries of the EU bloc.

He said: “From my point of view, Cambodia’s current trade flows with Hungary are an important part of the overall exchange of goods and a significant entry point for Cambodia to enter the European market.

“As far as the tourism sector is concerned, I believe that the cooperation between the two countries will further deepen the relationship in the industry.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Cambodia exported 1,839 tons of ground rice to Hungary and 118 tons of tobacco in 2020.

On November 3, during the visit of Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, the kingdom signed an air freight agreement with Hungary.

On this occasion, the two countries also signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs).

One of them – on water resource management – was signed between the Cambodian Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology and the Hungarian Ministry of Interior, while the other – on agricultural cooperation – was drawn up between the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture and its Hungarian counterpart.