The UK-ASEAN Trade Mission – part of the UK Government-funded UK-ASEAN Collaboration on Women’s Economic Empowerment – is connecting women entrepreneurs from Cambodia with UK consumers, from November 18-19, 2024.
Organised in partnership with the International Trade Center (ITC) and Cambodia Women Entrepreneurs Network (CamWEN), this initiative will be followed by another series of business-to-business engagements for women entrepreneurs in Jakarta, Indonesia later in the week.
This mission follows the second annual UK-Cambodia Joint Trade and Investment Forum (JTIF) – held just a week earlier – to bring the public and private sectors in the UK and Cambodia together to discuss ways to achieve sustainable growth through trade and investment, in the face of complex global challenges.
Connecting Cambodian Women-Led Businesses With UK Companies
In Cambodia, the trade mission will facilitate opportunities between women-led UK and Cambodian companies in sectors such as textiles and apparel, handicrafts and footwear. Eight UK companies and 75 Cambodian women-led businesses are participating, giving the two parties an opportunity to directly engage with one another. This mission aims to strengthen trade connections and empower women in business across the UK and ASEAN as part of the UK Government-funded SheTrades Program.
The first day of the trade mission opened with a ‘meet the buyers’ session In Cambodia, with the 75 women-led businesses showcasing their products at the 2024 Cambodia International Trade Exhibition, taking place at the Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Centre. The opening ceremony for the exhibition featured special remarks from H.E. Cham Nimul, Minister of Commerce; Lct. Dr. Eng Lykuong, Chair of ASEAN Women Entrepreneurs’ Network (AWEN) and President of CamWEN; as well as H.E. Dominic Williams MBE, British Ambassador to Cambodia.
“It is worth noting that the majority, of MSMEs are women-backed, and in Cambodia it's no different – more than 80 per cent of our workers in this industry are women, and therefore, women play a very crucial role in our national economic development agenda,” said Nimul, in her opening speech.
She further remarked on the growing Cambodia-UK trade relations, sharing that total trade with the UK in the first 10 months of 2024 reached GBP 674 million, or approximately USD 850 million, which is a 16 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2023.
Cambodia's export products to the UK in 2024 is experiencing an increase of 21 per cent, which include apparel, footwear and bicycles as the top three main export commodities. Of course, with favourable trading conditions provided by the UK, we are also observing a very strong rise in travel goods exports, currently sitting at a whopping 76.23 per cent increase compared to last year.
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“It’s fantastic to speak up in support of gender equality, and I encourage everyone to do so," added Ambassador Williams. “It’s even better to go one step further and offer practical support to women doing amazing things in all walks of life, so I’m delighted that the British Embassy is doing just that – offering amazing women-led SMEs a platform to showcase their products to commercial buyers, who have flown out especially from the UK to source Cambodian products to sell back home.”
I hope this trade mission helps women-led businesses to increase their revenues and to grow and leads to more UK consumers having the opportunity to purchase wonderful Cambodian products.
H.E. Sarah Tiffin, the UK Ambassador to ASEAN, also said: “Empowering women entrepreneurs is essential for fostering inclusive economic growth and sustainable development. The UK-ASEAN Trade Mission provides a platform for women-led business to connect, collaborate, and thrive in new markets. We are committed to supporting these dynamic entrepreneurs as they contribute to the prosperity and resilience of both the UK and ASEAN economies. This mission not only strengthens our trade ties but also underscores our shared commitment to gender equality and economic empowerment.”
The second day of the trade mission will see the UK companies actually visiting the women-led business sites across Phnom Penh and the surrounding areas, offering an opportunity for further business discussion.
Supporting Women-Led Businesses In Cambodia
ITC is also launching an ‘export procedure handbook’ during the event to facilitate women-led businesses in Cambodia with market information to enter textiles and apparel, footwear, handicrafts, and accessories to the UK markets, leveraging opportunities of the UK Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS).
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Earlier this month, the SheTrades Program in ASEAN also organised a workshop with the ASEAN Women Entrepreneurs’ Network (AWEN) in Phnom Penh to strengthen women business voices in the region and develop a strategic vision to support women entrepreneurs in the ASEAN region through trade over the next 10-20 years.
After Phnom Penh, the UK-ASEAN trade mission continues to Jakarta, Indonesia where the UK delegation will continue to explore new business opportunities with women entrepreneurs in another ASEAN Member State.
Funded by UK International Development and launched in April 2018, the ITC SheTrades Commonwealth+ Programme aims to foster an enabling gender-inclusive business ecosystem by promoting inclusive policy and data and engaging business support organisations, private-sector partners, and women-led businesses in the Commonwealth countries and their key trading partners, including the ASEAN region.
This press release was supplied.