Trade SWAp

NEWS / INFOS

D/ICO retreat 10.7.2008

Cambodia'sTRADE Project

By Thierry Noyelle

The MoC-UNDP Trade Related Technical Assistance for Development and Equity (TRADE) Project aims to support Cambodia’s TRADE SWAp and promote the country’s socio-economic development.

Wisal Hin, UNDP Poverty Reduction Unit leader (left) and H.E. Mao Thora, Secretary of State, Ministry of Commerce (right), discuss the success, challenges and the future of the TRADE Project. TRADE Project Retreat, Sihanoukville. October 2008.

Despite recent, double-digit economic gains, Cambodia remains one of the world’s poorest countries with a GDP per capita of approximately US$600. Expanding trade is one means for Cambodia to reduce poverty.

The TRADE Project seeks to address this challenge.

BACKGROUND
In 2000, Cambodia was identified as one of three pilot countries of the Integrated Framework (IF).

Subsequently, Cambodia was the first country to complete a Diagnostic Trade Integration Strategy (DTIS2002) under that program.

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Documents

TDSP Good Governance Framework

The Making of Cambodia's TRADE SWAp

By Roger Lawrence

IN THE BEGINNING...

The Royal Government has long recognized that international trade can be a potent force for increasing employment and alleviating poverty in Cambodia. Since the 1990s, it has worked to put in place policies that can facilitate the growth of exports.

Several years ago it became clear that the new aid initiatives that were being launched by developed countries were creating new opportunities for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to work with the international community to strengthen the role of international trade in their development. The Royal Government of Cambodia was determined to

take full advantage of these new opportunities.

The first thing that happened was the increasing willingness of development partners to support trade and trade-related assistance initiatives aimed at helping LDCs harness trade policy for development and expand their exports.

The Integrated Framework, established by the IMF, ITC, UNCTAD, UNDP, the World Bank, and the WTO was specifically designed to foster greater assistance to the trade sectors of LDCs.

The IF has recently been reviewed and strengthened. Also, Governments, meeting in

Khmer Silk. One of Cambodia’s Geographica Indication (GI) products.

their sixth WTO ministerial session in Hong Kong in December 2005, adopted an “Aid-for Trade” initiative and set up a task force to operationalize developed countries’

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Cambodia's 2007 Trade Integration Strategy Report

By Thierry Noyelle

Cambodia has been remarkably successful in growing its economy through rapid increases of its exports since the late 1990s. GDP per capita has doubled since the early 2000s from approximately $300 to $600 according to the World Bank report.

Domestic investment, international aid from donors, foreign direct investment, and fast growing exports all lead to a surge in economic growth, with real GDP peaking at 9.5 percent in 2007.

Despite this economic growth, there is great disparity in

incomes between city dwellers and the 85 percent of the

population that remains in the countryside. The robust activities and the rise of skyscrapers in Phnom Penh might easily give the impression that Cambodia is developing rapidly. That is not the case everywhere. Cambodia’s social indicators still rank low among other Asian countries.

The strength of Cambodia’s current economy is also her weakness. Two sectors dominate her exports –tourism and garments. According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), garment exports totaled US$2.8 billion.

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