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Cambodia, Timor-Leste mull rice export deal
Cambodia and Timor-Leste discussed a rice export deal as the two countries pledged to strengthen bilateral trade and economic cooperation.
The discussions were held when Rath Saravuth, Director General of International Trade at Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce and Domingos Lopes Antunes, Vice-Minister of Commerce of Timor-Leste met at Dili city on Monday.
In the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on boosting bilateral trade and cooperation between the two countries’ private sectors through business matching, mutual exchanges and exhibition activities, according to the Commerce Ministry.
“The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to continue cooperating, facilitating and promoting business and investment activities to boost economic and trade growth between the two countries,” said a release.
“The two sides also identified potential items for trade, especially the export of Cambodian rice to Timor-Leste,” it added.
Cambodia has asked Timor-Leste to buy Cambodian rice and invest in local rice mills and warehouses after backing Dili’s bid to join the Asean.
Timor-Leste is a potential market for Cambodia’s milled rice, said Lun Yeng, Secretary-General of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF). The two sides have been working on a rice export deal for some time, he said.
“We have talked with the embassy of Timor-Leste in Cambodia that said it is working with the commerce ministry (of Timor-Leste) on a possible rice export deal. Now, we are waiting for the feedback from them,” Yeng said yesterday.
The CRF is striving to find new markets for the Kingdom’s rice as it sets a target of at least 800,000 tonnes of milled rice export this year.
Cambodia exported 327,000 tonnes of milled rice in the first semester this year, an increase of 16 percent compared to the same period last year, according to a report by the CRF.
China remained the Kingdom’s biggest export market for the milled rice during the period, accounting for 51.43 percent of the total milled rice export from the country. The rest mainly went to European Union (EU) countries, accounting for 32 percent of the total volume.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501116739/cambodia-timor-leste-mull-rice-export-deal-2/