Cambodian Trade Delegation to Attend the 10th Asia-Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum 2022 in Singapore 

07.09.2022
The Improving Small Package E-Trade for SMEs project of the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation, implemented by Swisscontact and ARISE Plus Cambodia implemented by GIZ and funded by the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), were delighted to facilitate the Cambodian Delegation from the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) and the General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE) to attend the 10th Asia-Pacific Trade Facilitation Forum (APTFF), which was held in Singapore from 29th August to 1st September 2022, with a focus on “how trade facilitation should evolve to enhance the resilience of international supply chains in times of pandemic and to better support sustainable economic recovery and development in the Asia-Pacific region”.  

The Cambodian delegation was led by His Excellency SOK Sopheak, MoC Secretary of State and Vice-Chair of the National Committee on Trade Facilitation, and His Excellency PHA EngVeng, Deputy Director General of GDCE and Vice-Chair of the National Committee on Trade Facilitation Secretariat.

The Cambodian delegation joined with other high-level representatives from different countries and institutions in the region to interactively participate in various sessions and workshops. The Cambodia delegation was able to discuss and exchange perspectives, experiences and best practices on different aspects of trade facilitation for sustainable development. Some of the important topics that were discussed are trade finance, cross-border e-commerce and paperless trade, transit, innovative application of emerging technologies, and others.

During the second-day session on the “Aid for Sustainable Trade Facilitation – Evolving Needs and Available Support”, His Excellency SOK Sopheak, delivered the keynote speech presenting the significant improvement and current status of the country’ trade facilitation reforms implementation, and its commitment for further improvement, especially on paperless trading commitment.

"This forum is a leading regional platform for the exchange of good practices and knowledge in this area and accommodates a handful of more capacity-building programs for developing countries to foster regional cooperation in the greater Asia-Pacific region."
 His Excellency SOK Sopheak, Secretary of State, Ministry of Commerce, and Vice-Chair of National Committee on Trade Facilitation

The event participation was fruitfully concluded with congratulatory messages and great appreciation from the delegation for the opportunity to learn and exchange on knowledge and experiences for better trade facilitation and sustainable development in the region.

"The event ended up being so enriching, with perspectives and thoughts shared among speakers and participants. The organizer did a great job bringing in a good mix of policy makers, practitioner, academia as well as trade experts to provide many great knowledge and practical insights both in terms of the principles and their application. We very much appreciated the coordination and facilitation support of the ARISE Plus Cambodia and SeT4SME for the participation of our officials at the event. Taking this opportunity, I would like to stress that Cambodia, with Customs being the lead agency in WTO TFA implementation, is very much looking forward to working with all interested parties and development partners to further amplify the gains from their support in trade facilitation reforms in Cambodia."
His Excellency PHA EngVeng, Deputy Director General, General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia (GDCE), and Vice-Chair of National Committee on Trade Facilitation Secretariat

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2021 - 2023
Cambodia
Trade
Improving Small Package E-Trade for SMEs
Improving Small Package E-Trade for SMEs (SeT4SME) is a two-year project (2021-2023) for the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation. This project aims to support Cambodia in improving its trade performance and driving inclusive growth in the country by enhancing trade facilitation implementation with improved transparency in trade practices and reduced time and cost of cross-border e-trade.