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Cambodia: More skilled labourers needed to meet growing investments
Number of investments owned both by locals and foreigners has significantly increased in Cambodia, demanding skilled labourers in the sector, Prime Minister Hun Sen said.
Having skilled labourers can attract investment both local and from abroad, the Prime Minister said at a graduation ceremony at the University of Puthisastra in Phnom Penh on Wednesday.
He encouraged the training of local human resources to be more efficient to meet the needs in response to the growing investment in Cambodia.
He said he has met with a number of foreign investors, who raise questions about the level of Cambodian human resources because they want to hire local workers rather than foreigners,” the premier said.
“Investors don’t want to hire foreign workers abroad because the labour force is too expensive, they want local human resources who have passed vocational training,” he said.
“Investment is expanding bigger and investors need human resources. That is why we are training to attract outside investment,” Hun Sen said.
Investment in the country is playing a bigger role, such as the development of condominiums and Borey houses, most of which are built by local investors,” the Prime Minister said.
“Investments are expanding bigger and investors need skilled labourers. That is why we are pushing training of human resources to attract investment,” he said.
The country lacks skilled – mechanics or engineering – experts that hire foreign technicians from abroad, Lim Heng, vice president of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, said on Wednesday.
“Training skilled labourers is important for having human resources to attract investment from abroad,” Heng said.
As of the 2018-2019 academic year, there are 38 public and 44 private technical and vocational education and training institutions operating across the country.
Skilled labourers are important in the heavy manufacturing sector, particularly the digitalized manufacturing process, said Mey Kalyan, Senior Adviser on the Supreme National Economic Council.
“Moving from traditional manufacturing to heavy manufacturing is in need of skilled labourers,” Kalyan said in a recent talk to Khmer Times recently.
Cambodia attracted a fixed-asset investment of $2.99 billion in the first half of 2022, inching up $29 million from the same period last year, reflecting the firm confidence of investors in the Kingdom’s growth prospects.
China remained the top foreign investor in the Southeast Asian country, accounting for 43 percent of the total investment, according to a report from the Council for the Development of Cambodia.
Other foreign investments in the Kingdom for the first half of this year were from Thailand, Samoa, British Virgin Islands, South Korea, Singapore, Cayman Islands, Malaysia, Japan and Australia.
Investment projects focused on agriculture and agro-industry sectors, manufacturing, tourism, and infrastructure.
Speaking of growing investment in Cambodia, Heng Sokkung, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology, and Innovation, attributed this to support of infrastructure and sufficient energy contributed to building confidence in investors in the country.
“The government has built and improved physical infrastructure to facilitate better transport, increase sufficient energy and clean water to ensure stable production chains. This has built firm confidence in investors to invest in Cambodia,” Sokkung said.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501134108/more-skilled-labourers-needed-to-meet-growing-investments/