B2B Cambodia sat down to interview Casey Barnett, President of CamEd Business School and newly elected President of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Cambodia, about the main goals of his presidency and his perspective on Cambodia's business climate for foreign investors.
“Well, first of all, I would like to strengthen advocacy, the process of advocating for American businesses in Cambodia, especially advocating for improvement in regulations and the business environment,” shared Barnett.
In previous years, it was a bit ad hoc, with certain individuals that had a critical issue may be driving that issue forward to bring it to the government. I'd like to make that more systematic, where we have a more systematic process of serving engaging members to develop a list of priorities, and also to develop a consensus about what recommendations we provide to the government so that the voice that AmCham brings to the government is truly the legitimate voice of American business in Cambodia.
Other goals he's set for his presidency are to:
- Support networking activities to build a community for American businesses and non-American businesses
- Continue sharing the latest business intelligence with AmCham members.
What Are The Challenges Business In Cambodia Face?
“One big challenge for American businesses or potential investors is that the Cambodian market is still small,” Barnett stressed.
“When you want to manufacture in the region to sell in Southeast Asia, investors may prefer a larger country with a larger market.. not only will [manufacturers] be able to export, but they'll also have quick and easy access to the large local market, whereas here in Cambodia, we only have 16-17 million people,” he added.
We have relatively poor infrastructure, we have expensive electricity, and we have, in many cases, uncertain application, or uncertainty regarding government policies and tax regulations… And because we have more expensive electricity, because we have a smaller population here in Cambodia, we really have to give incentives to attract investment here.
What Are The Benefits Of Investing In Cambodia?
Barnett spoke of Cambodia's friendly policies to foreign business ownership as well as the high level of English fluency in the population as some of main reasons why Cambodia is an attractive place for foreign investors.
Foreign investors can easily own 100 per cent of the shares of a company in Cambodia, and there's openness, friendliness, and you have a population that speaks English.
“Geographically, we are located in the heart of ASEAN, with a deep sea port in Sihanoukville, so we do have access to the sea, and we have access to two large neighboring markets, Thailand and Vietnam,” he added.
Fortunately, the Cambodian government has offered incentives through the the Council for Development of Cambodia (CDC). Investors can receive a tax holiday for a number of years for investing in certain priority sectors.
AmCham's Ongoing Engagement With The Cambodian Government
On what developments Barnett would like to see in the Chamber's ongoing engagement with the public sector, he affirmed AmCham's interest in continuing to work together with the Cambodian government to develop regulations in the draft stages.
We'd like to get involved at the drafting stage so that we can share our advice and suggestions so that the government can achieve a higher level of compliance and also help to support us to run our businesses smoothly.