PM Hun Manet Singapore Visit 2024 – A Jump Start To Digital Cooperation
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet concluded his first state visit to the Republic of Singapore from June 18-19, 2024, which saw the two countries reaffirming a strong commitment to further deepening their long-standing relations and close cooperation. Multiple agreements were signed, notably initiating a financial transparency corridor and digital government cooperation.
Prime Minister Hun Manet met with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, and Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, former Prime Minister of Singapore at the Istana, the official residence and office of the Singaporean President.
According to an official press release from the Cambodian government, they exchanged talks focused on political-security, defence, trade and investment, finance, food and energy security, climate change, tourism, technical and vocational education and training (TVET), digitalisation and people-to-people exchange.
The prime ministers also exchanged views on major regional and international issues of common concern such as ASEAN centrality and unity and jointly expressed a commitment to working together to navigate complex geopolitics.
The two leaders shared their commitment to further strengthen cooperation in combating transnational crimes such as cyber scams, the spread of fake news and drug trafficking, while looking forward to soon signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance collaboration.
Lawrence Wong said via a statement, “Cambodia was one of the earliest countries to recognise Singapore after our independence. Singapore was one of the early believers of Cambodia's potential, and is now among the top investors in the country.
Like me, PM Manet has recently assumed leadership responsibility. He has set out a comprehensive strategy to make Cambodia a high-income nation by 2050. Singapore will do our part to support Cambodia’s development priorities under this strategy. I look forward to working closely with PM Manet to secure Singapore and Cambodia’s future in an uncertain world.”
Launching The Cambodia-Singapore Financial Transparency Corridor
On June 18, 2024, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) officially announced the start of the Financial Transparency Corridor (FTC) initiative.
Designed and run by Proxtera Pte Ltd, the FTC is “a consent-based digital infrastructure and network of financial institutions (FIs)... that aims to catalyse increased trade and cross-border financial services between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore and Cambodia,” according to a press release issued by the MAS.
"The ease of data accessibility will enable participating FIs to make better credit risk assessments and facilitate greater availability of financing for SME trade between Singapore and Cambodia," the release added.
MAS managing director, Chia Der Jiun, said the start of the FTC - with an initial set of financial institutions from Cambodia and Singapore - will support greater access to financial services for SMEs, through the exchange of SME financial data on the FTC digital infrastructure.
"This will create greater business opportunities for our SMEs and participating financial institutions," he said.
Chea Serey, Governor of the NBC, further added that the FTC exemplifies the shared vision of the NBC and MAS to support information flows for businesses, particularly SMEs, by enhancing financial trust data for financial services between Singapore and Cambodia, which will promote the ability of SMEs to access finance across borders.
The first batch of participating financial institutions are:
- From Cambodia: ABA Bank, ACLEDA Bank, Phillip Bank, Sathapana Bank* and Wing Bank
- From Singapore: NEXT Bank, Liquid Group and Sing Investments & Finance Limited.
*Sathapana Bank, for example, will “leverage the FTC to provide greater financing to Cambodian SMEs, such as Comin Khmere Company Ltd which imports building materials from multiple Singapore SMEs.”
Increasing Cooperation Between Cambodia And Singapore
Prime Ministers Hun Manet and Lawrence Wong agreed to encourage relevant public and private entities of both countries to jointly identify potential areas for win-win cooperation, starting with food production and supplies.
Both Prime Ministers shared views on increasing tourism flow between the two countries, while Wong also pledged to offer more customised capacity building support to Cambodia through training of trainers (ToT) and TVET.
During their talks, Wong highlighted Singapore’s role as one of the largest investors in Cambodia, while Manet expressed satisfaction with the increased number of direct flights (50 per week) and the growing number of travellers between Cambodia and Singapore.
The Cambodian prime minister also thanked the government of Singapore for supporting Cambodia's human capital development.
Cambodia-Singapore Energy, Climate Change ICT & Digital Technology Cooperation
On energy and climate change, the Prime Ministers applauded the fruitful outcome of the first working group meeting, co-chaired by the Energy Ministers of Cambodia, Singapore, and Lao PDR on May 29, 2024, to facilitate cross-border electricity trade.
They also welcomed the establishment of the Laos-Cambodia-Singapore working group on cross-border electricity trading, which seeks to “catalyse the development of projects to drive the ASEAN Power Grid.”
CNA previously reported that Singapore has granted conditional approvals for electricity imports from Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Beside financial cooperation, an agreement on digital government was made on June 18 between Cambodia Minister of Post and Telecommunications Chea Vandeth and Singapore Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Janil Puthucheary.
The Cambodian prime minister also visited Nanyang Polytechnic’s ‘Centre of Innovation for Electronics & Internet of Things’, as well as the ‘Keppel's Infrastructure @ Changi’ building.
In March 2023, Keppel Energy Pte. Ltd, in partnership with Cambodia’s Royal Group Power, became the first company to be granted Conditional Approval by Singapore’s Energy Market Authority to import one gigawatt of renewable energy from Cambodia to Singapore.
Cambodia-Singapore Business Forum 2024
As is customary during the Cambodian leader’s foreign state visits, Prime Minister Hun Manet addressed the private sector at the Cambodia-Singapore Business Forum held on June 19th.
During his keynote address, Hun Manet highlighted the green economy and digitalisation as key areas in which Singapore investors could advance Cambodia’s progress, while other speakers also mentioned healthcare and agri-food as the most promising sectors.
In attendance were hundreds of participants from close to 350 companies to explore further business opportunities in Cambodia and pursue win-win joint investments in various different sectors.
As we look to the future, Singapore and Cambodia should continue to leverage each other’s strengths to tap on the growing opportunities in ASEAN. I would like to encourage businesses to pursue these opportunities in areas of mutual interests, particularly in the green economy which I spoke about earlier, and forge long-term partnerships.
The Cambodia Chamber of Commerce (CCC) also signed an MOU with Singapore Business Federation (SBF) to deepen cooperation on facilitating trade and economic linkages.
Cambodia-Singapore Co-Operation
In summary, the MoUs and agreements that were signed in the state visit were:
- MAS & NBC confirmed the Financial Transparency Corridor initiative.
- MoU between the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce and the Singapore Business Federation.
- MoU between Supply Chain and Logistics Academy of Singapore and PPLC Superport & Industrial Co., Ltd. of Cambodia.
Singapore was Cambodia’s top investor from ASEAN, and second largest investor overall in 2023 (rising from fourth in 2022). The investments include trade and distribution, real estate, finance, education, and agribusiness.
2025 marks 60 years of diplomatic relations between Cambodia and Singapore, and according to a report from the General Department of Customs and Excise, bilateral trade between the two SEA nations reached USD $393 million in the first five months of 2024.