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.”
Watch Part 2 of our interview with Gabriele Faja:
B2B Cambodia: What makes Cambodia a favourable place for European business and investment?
Gabriele Faja: "Cambodia offers some very favourable terms. Never mind just EBA (Everything But Arms), which is basically a free trade agreement with Europe, now the country also has favourable terms with the U.S., and it also lives within ASEAN, meaning you can have access to nearly 700 million people.
"You can still own your company 100 per cent. This is true in other regions Asia, for example Singapore, up to a point, while Thailand and Vietnam also offer some of this. But Cambodia is actually quite a liberal market, and coupled with the huge amount of development finance that's available, I think that the numbers do it justice.
“I think Cambodia will see that as it drives towards its 2050 self-imposed target of becoming a high-income country, a massive amount of development is going to be required, and this is going to call for European intervention and resources. Individual [country] entry of FDI to Cambodia is going to be unlikely. I think we are going to have to see Vietnam Plus One, Indonesia Plus One—I think we need to leverage countries that are already in ASEAN and offer them an extra market without the cost and the risks incurred in coming directly from Europe.”
B2B Cambodia: There have been some shocks related to tariffs this year, which has highlighted a potential overdependence on the U.S. export market, for example. Can Europe play a bigger role in helping Cambodia diversify its export markets?
Gabriele Faja: "Europe simply isn't able to move in the same manner that the U.S. has recently done. Let's speak about tariffs for a second. The 49 per cent [initial tariff that we saw], now we've forgotten about it, but it was a very transactional way of putting the livelihoods of the lower middle-income class at risk. Europe can't do that.
"So, Europe did do something similar back in 2020, didn't it? It rescinded some of the EBA free trade agreement, as in like 20 per cent of Cambodia's exports were no longer under this agreement. Although, in fairness, not much has changed at the bottom line. But we did that from a different angle; we were value driven, we went from a human rights perspective. And let's not forget that the EBA is basically signed until Cambodia graduates from LDC status.
"How can Cambodia continue to export, and at the same time, diversify and de-risk itself from these black swan events? Because let's face it, when your trade partner wakes up one day and says: ‘now you have to give me 50 per cent in tariffs’, that's a black swan! It's very hard to prepare for these events. But if you have a structural narrative within your economy to diversify, you don't have to be as impacted as Cambodia has found itself in the last six months or so.
“I guess the prime objective for the European market is to ensure that Cambodia can comply with its requests for fair and sustainable development. So, we need to institute trainings, we need to look at STEM, before we even look at further diversification. However, I think Europe is really looking at agro and renewable energy, clean water and education as the future of its FDI investments for the next or four to eight years. I think that will be a key driver for Cambodia's export towards Europe, and hopefully make it more competitive against the U.S.”
B2B Cambodia: What areas of opportunity do you see for further European business and investment in the Kingdom? What new initiatives will EuroCham introduce to help facilitate this?
Gabriele Faja: "You don't have to look very far. The government has already issued its Pentagonal Strategy, and from there stems economic change and drive. Agriculture received about USD 146 million to date this year of investment. I think we just barely scratched the surface on that, so agriculture is a huge one.
Technology, another huge area. I think the government already also allocated a large wish list for technology, energy, I think an almost USD 10 billion shopping list. Who is going to plug that? Of course, China is ever present and its shadow looms, but Europe is a key leader in some of these sectors, so it's a matter of how we can use the immense financial tools available at the European delegation. We're talking about blended finance, concessional loans, guarantees. There are several windows in which the European delegation is working. We've seen some awesome projects taking shape, the Bakheng Water Treatment Plant is one of them. That's almost a billion dollar investment, and that's only possible because of the tools available at our European partners.
"EuroCham is working to try to simplify how to explain this to European firms, and we will hopefully again see an interest towards quality FDI in the opportunities that I just presented. I hope they will be taken and that we see a rosy future for EuroCham's stakeholders.”