Thailand
Cambodia Australia consumer care plan
The Cambodia-Australia Consumer Protection Partnership will launch in 2021 with Australia having agreed to station a consumer protection technical official in the Kingdom following a request by the Ministry of Commerce. This will allow the sharing of expertise and experience towards the enhancement of work effectiveness between the two nations in this area.
The request was made at a meeting this week between Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak and Ambassador of Australia to Cambodia Pablo Kang.
An Australian embassy statement read: “Through this partnership, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will provide support to Cambodia on the implementation of its recently passed consumer protection law. This builds on the ACCC’s enduring engagement in Southeast Asia on competition law issues.”
Under the arrangement, ACCC experts will mentor and support their counterparts in the Cambodian Directorate-General of Consumer Protection, Competition and Fraud Suppression in a number of relevant areas.
“This will include training and assistance on engagement with consumers and businesses on rights and obligations under the new law. It will also include capacity building on handling complaints, enforcement, dispute resolution and broader management issues. This assistance is not focused on Australian exports, but will support strengthening consumer protection across the board, irrespective of where the product or service comes from,” the embassy statement read.
“Boosting consumer protection helps build people’s trust in the food, medicines and other goods and services they’re purchasing, particularly as many businesses go online as a result of COVID-19. This trust is an important foundation for continuing inclusive economic growth,” it added.
It was not disclosed whether the adviser would be embedded within the Ministry of Commerce or provide a mixture of in-person and online training support.
During the meeting, the minister also requested that Australia provide more scholarships and invited Australian e-commerce companies to invest in Cambodia.
Sorasak outlined the Go4eCam programme that was designed to boost e-commerce in the country and encourage both countries’ chambers of commerce to sign a memorandum of understanding on trade and investment.
In reply, Kang accepted Cambodia’s request for more scholarships and lauded the Kingdom for the 60 percent increase in exports of Pkar Mlis fragrant rice to Australia despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Australian ambassador also mentioned the Australian-backed Cambodia-Australia Agricultural Value Chain Programme (CAVAC), which it hopes will increase the productivity and income of small farmers and trade in milled rice and other crops by strengthening market systems and investing in irrigation infrastructure. The programme has trained some 2,000 Cambodian farmers in e-commerce to date.
As a least-developed country, Cambodia’s products are granted tariff-free access to Australia. Cambodia and Australia have a bilateral market access agreement, concluded as part of Cambodia’s accession to the World Trade Organization in October 2004.
According to Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the total two-way trade between Australia and Cambodia was registered at $609 million in 2018, of which merchandise two-way trade accounted for $239 million.
Education-related travel services are Australia’s largest export to Cambodia and were last valued at $126 million.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50797232/cambodia-australia-consumer-care-plan/