B2B Cambodia sat down with Gabriele Faja, Chairperson of the European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham) in Cambodia, to discuss the current state of European business and investment in the Kingdom, as EuroCham Cambodia commemorates its 15th anniversary in 2025.
B2B Cambodia: EuroCham Cambodia commemorates its 15th anniversary this year. What does hitting this milestone mean for the chamber?
Gabriele Faja: "It's great! I, obviously, haven't been here for the entire journey, but I remember speaking to some of the founding members of EuroCham—the three founding chapters, which were the British, the French and the German—when EuroCham was instituted. It was really about having a unified voice, and that was exciting in itself, with the promise of having a growing European presence in Cambodia.
“And I guess the difference between then and now is that now, the promise has been carried out with all the advocacy that's happened over the last sort of 10 years alone. So, I guess we're celebrating unity, we're celebrating growth, and hopefully another 15 years to go.”
B2B Cambodia: In these 15 years, what would you say are some of the chamber's biggest achievements?
Gabriele Faja: "This is a question I get all the time—What is EuroCham doing, really? What are our achievements? I think it's best answered by looking at what EuroCham is today: it has 12 sectoral committees, it has seven national chapters, it has relationships with multiple agencies in government and ministries. To build this structure already, in itself, is something to be celebrated.
“In terms of individual wins, we had a bunch from the introduction of a Eurocode in the construction industry, we had a huge reduction in red tape, for example, led by the Transport Logistics Committee, this was something major under the mandate of my predecessor, Tassilo Brinzer. We've instituted a lot of responsible business practises and initiatives. Of course, we have an ongoing collaboration with European partners, Team Europe, the European delegation and other stakeholders. So, instead of mentioning one or two major wins, I say that, for us, it's great that we are finally able to work with this cohesive structure, which is a lot of work that a lot of people continue working at every day.”
B2B Cambodia: Reflecting on EuroCham Cambodia's history, how would you say the chamber's main scope and objectives have changed or expanded since it was first founded?
Gabriele Faja: “As the market becomes more complex, so does the nature of our engagement with our stakeholders. I guess the overall themes are the same. It's just the way in which we approach them is more detailed. I think, also, going forward, advocacy certainly is a big part of our work. But all this, really, is centred on the basis that Team Europe—because of course we (EuroCham) are also working with the European delegation—manages to create or institute a bedrock upon which businesses can come in. I'm talking about multinationals, as well—if they know that there exists the partnership they require to build upon a bedrock [in Cambodia], that's basically our job done. But this takes years [to build] and everything is constantly evolving, as we've seen in the last 12 months alone, just incredible shifts that we have to deal with. So, sometimes we know what we're doing, and sometimes we have to react to external forces.”
B2B Cambodia: More broadly, how would you say the state of European business and investment has evolved over that same period of time in Cambodia? How has the presence of certain European countries changed or grown over time?
Gabriele Faja: "I'll say this first: I see Europe as one block. Of course, you can try to find out what individual members are contributing to Cambodia, but I would still look at it as one European block. Now, if you look at it in terms of just bilateral trade, countries like Spain, Germany and the Netherlands [play a larger role] than France, for example, but the national footprint here, of course, is primarily French. Italy is not far behind, and we hope to see more of that in 2026.
"I think Germany is very strong in precision-made machinery, particularly as an importing partner here in Cambodia. But [the question to ask is]: will [a country like Germany] be able to manufacture some of this [machinery] here itself? And in pharmaceuticals, for example, France has a huge presence. But will it continue to be able to operate at the same level of market dominance over the next five to 10 years?
“Spain is the largest buyer of products from Cambodia in Europe, and Europe, as a whole, buys almost USD 6 billion worth of exports, mostly in garments. As we see an evolution that moves away from only garment manufacturing to more high value chains, for example, in agriculture, I would say Italy has a clear lead in certain automation and cold processing and cold chains. Germany has systems, like Bosch is a company that already has a presence here. But will automotive still be at play for them when the Chinese are also showing mass automotive growth? I see these matters as a collaborative effort from Europe.”
Stay tuned for Part 2!
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