India-Cambodia Forum Spotlights Trade and Investment Opportunities

The Indian Chamber of Commerce (InCham) in Cambodia hosted the India-Cambodia Business Forum 2025 on June 3, 2025, at the Raffles Hotel Le Royal to highlight Cambodia’s economic transformation and explore avenues for deeper bilateral cooperation. 

The forum brought together key officials, including H.E. Dr. Sok Siphana, Senior Minister in charge of Multilateral Trade and Economic Affairs, and H.E. Vanlalvawna Bawitlung, Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Cambodia, along with business leaders and stakeholders.

In his welcoming remarks, Ambassador Bawitlung highlighted that India and Cambodia share a long history of civilisation. He also noted that while bilateral trade between the two countries has been growing steadily in the past few years, significant untapped potential still remains. He emphasised:

India's robust growth, driven by strong domestic demand, a youthful demographic, and progressive reforms, creates vast opportunities for partnerships with dynamic economies like Cambodia. Strengthening trade and investment between India and Cambodia is one of the most important objectives of our mission at the Embassy of India in Phnom Penh.

He noted that India’s Duty-Free Trade Preferences (DFTP) scheme – in effect since 2008 and expanded in 2014 – now covers 98.2 per cent of India’s tariff lines, giving Cambodia significant preferential access to the Indian market. Trade is further facilitated under the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA).

Efforts to enhance cooperation include the India-Cambodia Joint Working Group on Trade and Investment, which held its second meeting in June 2024. Discussions are ongoing regarding a bilateral investment treaty, a preferential trade agreement, and improved frameworks for double taxation avoidance and customs cooperation. 

Both countries have also jointly established the India-Cambodia Joint Business Council, facilitated by India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), and Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce.

In 2023, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) and India’s NPCI International Payments Limited to promote cross-border payments between Cambodia and India. Additionally, both countries have introduced new direct flight connections, including services operated by India’s IndiGo and Cambodia’s national flag carrier, Cambodia Angkor Air, in 2025.

Cambodia’s Economic Development Journey

Dr. Sok Siphana highlighted Cambodia's remarkable economic transformation from a post-genocide, impoverished nation, to a developing economy that is now on track to graduate from Least Developed Country (LDC) status by 2029.

He noted that Cambodia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2004 was a true “game-changer.” It marked a turning point when the government began to recognise private property rights, and the UN peacekeeping mission helped attract around USD 2 billion to the economy.

Over the past two decades, the Kingdom has maintained steady annual economic growth of around 7 per cent. Dr Siphana emphasised that Cambodia is now led by a “second-generation” government – a younger, Western-educated leadership – and features an open economy with minimal restrictions, including the allowance of 100 per cent foreign ownership in many sectors.

He further encouraged investors to look beyond traditional perceptions of Cambodia and recognise the country’s evolving landscape and expanding opportunities.

Highlighting areas for future cooperation, Ambassador Bawitlung noted strong potential for collaboration in sectors such as information technology (IT), healthcare, pharmaceuticals, education, and agriculture.

According to the General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE), India ranked as Cambodia’s 17th largest trading partner in 2023, with bilateral trade valued at USD 485.7 million. Media reports indicate that Cambodia primarily exports agricultural products and textiles to India, while imports from India include medical supplies, buffalo meat, tricycles, fabric, leather goods, food products, oil, chemicals, and medicines.