Prime Minister Hun Sen has applauded Emmanuel Macron for being elected on Sunday as the new president of France. Following this event, the premier hopes that the cooperations between Cambodia and France will remain the same, as good as with President Francois Hollande.
"I applaud the future French president who will take office in a few days. I hope the Cambodia-France relations will remain the same despite different president from different French political party," said the premier during the World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day taking place on Monday.
According to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, the relations between France and Cambodia have rooted since centuries ago, due to the French colonialism policy in Southeast Asia. And Cambodia gained its independance from France in 1953.
As of today, many French companies were created by French businessmen in Cambodia such as Vinci, Total, Accor, BRED etc. On the other hand, bilateral trade between the two countries was increasing from €465 million in 2014 to €688 million in 2015.
From 2003 to 2011, France has been investing about €3.6 million in rebuilding the Cambodian legal system and administration reform. France also provided support to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, with the contributions of over €8.7 million between 2005 and 2013.
The Agence Française de Développement (AFD), an institution of the French government, opened its office in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, in September 1993. Today, the AFD intervenes in the field of agriculture and agro-industry; infrastructure; productive sector; vocational training. Since 1993, the AFD has provided funding for more than €360 million for all projects in Cambodia including guaranty’s scheme to commercial banks, support to NGOs and regional projects.
According to the AFD, at the present time, the most important economic pillars in Cambodia are agriculture, garment industry, construction, and tourism. Despite the remarkable economic development based on these three pillars, most Cambodian people do not gain much benefit from this progress and one can see a two speed development between Phnom Penh and the country side. Actually, in 2015, the GDP per capita is close to $1,200,
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