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Relations Directorate Franco-Cambodian (French version)
Chamber of Commerce Franco-Cambodian (French version)
Doing business in the Kingdom: Turnkey office (French version)
French Development Agency in Cambodia (French version)
House of French Expatriates in Cambodia (French version)
Development Institute of Cambodia (English version)
Cambodia at the entrance of the 21st century (French version)

Exchanges between France and Cambodia remain concentrated in a few products

The high concentration of our exchanges on a limited number of products is symptomatic of an application and a Cambodian yet offers little diversification. In value, 4/5 ths of our discussions focus on only six major product categories.

    Two import :

• products of the textile (2/3 of our purchases in 2000)>
• and footwear (1/3).

    Five export :

• pharmaceutical preparations (1/3 of our sales in 2000),
• mobile devices (17% of our sales, Alcatel is the main supplier attracted mobile operator in Cambodia),
• manufactured tobacco (11%),>
• electrical equipment (5%),
• Wine and Spirits (4%).

Perspectives : sur un marché d'importation modeste ( en 2000, le Cambodge se situe au 118 ème rang des pays clients de la France), mais à nouveau bien orienté, nos ventes au Cambodge ont dépassé l'an dernier le pic qu'elles avaient atteint en 1995. Les retombées attendues de la réalisation de trois grands contrats signés l'an dernier ( ALCATEL, télécommunications, SADE, adduction d'eau de Phnom Penh, et THALES, couverture radar de l'espace aérien), la bonne image dont jouissent les produits français de consommation courante et, dans une moindre mesure, la faiblesse persistante de l'euro par rapport au dollar devraient contribuer à jouer en notre faveur cette année et l'an prochain.
Mais nos achats au Cambodge ayant toutes chances de continuer à progresser à un rythme plus soutenu que nos ventes, il faut cependant s'attendre à l'apparition d'un déficit dans le solde de nos échangess dès cette année.
( Extrait :" Le Courrier du Cambodge " de l'Ambassade Royale du Cambodge à Paris, n° 26, mois de Mai 2001) 

A record of Japanese tourists expected in 2001...

Alcatel veut se développer en Asie du sud-est (source AFP)

KUALA LUMPUR, August 29, 2000 (Reuters) - Alcatel plans to expand its presence in Southeast Asia after an initial breakthrough in Singapore and Malaysia, said an official of the French group of telephony.

"Living standards in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are of course much lower than those of Singapore and Malaysia, but (the four countries) represent a global market of 400 million people," said Olivier Picard, Director Deputy Alcatel for this area.

"All these countries represent for us a huge potential market," he told Reuters in an interview. "In Cambodia, where we are the leading supplier of mobile phones, there are 30,000 fixed telephone subscribers but more than 150,000 mobile subscribers."

Indonesia (210 million) and Vietnam (80 million), the penetration rate for telephones is only about 4%, against 23% and 70% respectively in Malaysia (23 million) and Singapore (three million). Alcatel has completed approximately $ 50 million of sales in Malaysia in the second quarter, an amount equal to the turnover of the whole of 1999, he said. 

Alcatel wins new contract of $ 63 million for the expansion of a GSM network in Cambodia (Source AFP)

Paris, June 6, 2000 - Following a tender, CamGSM Co. Ltd., a joint venture of Millicom (Luxembourg) and Royal Group (Cambodia) signed a framework contract with Alcatel for GSM network expansion 900 of Mobitel in Cambodia.
This contract, valued at $ 63 million, was signed by Kith Meng Okhna, President of Royal Group, and Olivier Picard, vice president of Alcatel Asia Pacific.

Alcatel will provide its solution EVOLIUMTM, including GSM base stations (BTS), micro-base stations and base station controllers (BSC) and a mobile switch (MSC) of additional capacity for 100 000 subscribers and radio transmission systems necessary.
The contract also provides for the delivery of a voicemail system (VMS), a short message server (SMSC) and a platform for IN (Intelligent Network) to offer value added services such as prepaid cards (nearly 95% of users).

Tourisme du Cambodge : " Le pays décollera d'ici trois à cinq ans "(Extrait du Courrier du Cambodge, Avril 2000)

Organised for the first time in Cambodia, the fifth forum on tourism Mekong ended April 8 after three days of presentations and discussions on the topic "Discover the tourist jewels of the new century".

It was organized by the Association of Pacific Travel Association (PATA), in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific United Nations (ESCAP) and the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism .

Tourist influx in 25% increase in the first half of 1999 and it Continues...

The return to stability of the political scene and the collapse of the guerrilla "Khmer Rouge" led to a 25% increase in tourism, the ministry said.
There is a considerable increase of the towers from France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the United States, Canada and South Korea.

Foreign Trade of Cambodia Increase in 1998

Up 19% compared to 1997, Cambodia's trade with foreign countries totaled almost 1.9 billion in 1998 dollards. This increase is in good performence exports.
These, boosted by sales of products in the textile, clothing, more than doubled in four years, from $ 379 million in 1995 to $ 790 million in 1998. Totaling 1.071 billion dollars, imports were substantially packed in 1996 and 1997 have almost regained their 1995 level.

This dual trend is reflected in a continued reduction in the deficit of trade balance, the latter from $ 722 million in 1995 to $ 281 million in 1998.

( Excerpt of " Courrier du Cambodge", monthly newsletter published by the Royal Embassy of Cambodia in Paris).