By Dr. Sovathana Sokhom
On January 16, 2014, twenty four students from Inha University, led by Professor Yong-Ho Kim continued their annual tradition of the visiting University of Cambodia to promote cultural and educational exchanges between Cambodia and South Korea.
Mrs. Por Malis (Vice-President for Operations) gave a welcoming speech and thanked Professor Yong-Ho Kim and the Korean students for visiting UC. This is the fourth year that students from Inha University visited the University of Cambodia to receive insights on Cambodia’s current political and economical development situation. Dr. Sovathana Sokhom (Vice President of Academic Affairs) delivered a lecture that gave a broad overview of Cambodia’s
development.
In her talk, South Korea had re-established diplomatic relations with Cambodia in 1996. Since then the South Korea government has committed $378 million on concession projects and $105 million of grant assistance to help develop the country. Between 1996 to 2007, South Korea had invested nearly $1.5 billion in Cambodia. It also gave Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP) to 78 Cambodian items, plus another 253 Cambodian items are on the horizon to help stimulate trade between the two countries.
She added that there are three main sectors that constitute Cambodia’s economy: Agriculture, garment and tourism. With regards to agriculture, in October 2011, Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Cambodian counter part of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries had established a master plan to develop an agricultural investment agency. KOICA would provide $1 million U.S. dollars to establish the agency. The project had two goals. First is to enhance capacity building in the agriculture sectors; second, to improve the capacity of human resources in agro-industry in Cambodia through transfer of the technical “know-how” from South Korea. Dr. Sokhom cited a study done by CDRI and FAO, working paper series No. 60, which South Korea ranked second after China in investing in agriculture, which accounts for 10.2 percent of the total investment approved by Cambodian Investment Board (CIB) between 2000 to 2010.
In 2013, the garment industry brought in the largest foreign earnings. A report by Ministry of Commerce stated that Cambodian garment industry production had risen 22% in November 2013 from the same period in 2012, with a total export worth $5.07 billion. The garment sector accounts for about 80 percent of Cambodian total exports.
With regards to tourism, a report by the Ministry of Tourism showed that Cambodia attracted about 4 million foreign tourists in 2013, in the value of $2.2 billion U.S. dollars. This increase went up 24% from the year before. South Korean tourists are the third largest number of visitors to visit Cambodia after Vietnamese and Chinese tourists.
Pertaining to investment and trade, South Korea is the third largest investor in Cambodia. South Korean investment is only second to China, which accounts for 33 percent of the $2.28 billion of foreign direct investment in Cambodia in 2012. South Korea’s investments include near 600 Korean companies, in the areas such as real-estate, garment manufacturing, and agriculture. In 2013, bilateral trade between Cambodia and South Korea had increased to almost
$1 billion U.S. dollar, doubled from 2012.
Furthermore, Dr. Sokhom mentioned that according to Director General of Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, as of 2013, there were more than 20,000 Cambodian workers in South Korea. Workers can earn between $1,000 to $1,200 per month in four major areas: 13,671 in industrial, 7,809 in agricultural, 275 in construction, and 273 in fishing South Korea has been a good trading partner, as well as an investor in Cambodia. South Korea has
been accepting thousands of Cambodian workers and transferring the technical know-how to Cambodia. Dr. Sokhom is optimistic that both countries will continue to promote mutual friendship and understanding in order to mutually benefit its people.
At the end, Professor Kim thanked UC for taking time to meet the students from Inha. He thanked the University of Cambodia for its commitment to expanding knowledge and understanding to students. He encouraged UC students and faculty members to visit Inha University. The visit of Inha University students to University of Cambodia showed the commitment of both Universities to provide a multicultural experience to students in globalizing world.
