Cambodia's inaugural private sector led delegation in Jakarta on October 24, 2022.
The five day business delegation visit to Jakarta has ended on a high note with the well attended seminar entitled “Cambodia – An Overlooked Destination for Business and Investment” attracting more than 120 sign-ups from Indonesian professionals, businesses and investors.
Topics covered by various speakers during the seminar included an overview of the political and socio-economic climate of Cambodia, its favorable business and investment policies, and the opportunities that the Kingdom offers to Indonesian investors and businesses, agriculture and real estate development landscape in Cambodia.
Raise awareness of the business opportunities and investment potential of Cambodia
The speakers were subject matter experts from Khmer Enterprise, Phillip Bank, C.I.A.C, Kenko Shoku and Prince Real Estate.
The primary purpose was to help raise awareness of the business opportunities and investment potential of Cambodia, and to explore collaboration and partnership opportunities with their Indonesian counterparts through the various networking activities during the seminar.
It included a question-and-answer segment which was moderated by Michael Tan Founder and CEO of Aquarii BD Cambodia, an advisory and consultancy firm and the official advisor to IndoCham.
This was followed by a business discussion session and a networking dinner reception where delegation members met with Indonesian businesses and investors from diverse industries and sectors.
Over 120 potential investors attended the Cambodia – An Overlooked Destination for Business and Investment seminar.
The seminar was preceded by a lunch with members of the KADIN Bilateral Committee Vietnam-Cambodia. His Excellency Mr Ayodhia G L Kalake, Secretary of the Ministry of Maritime and Investment of the Republic of Indonesia, His Excellency Sudirman Haseng, Indonesia Ambassador to Cambodia and senior KADIN members also attended the event.
The overwhelming participation for the seminar had exceeded the co-organizers’ expectations. The question-and-answer session also drew robust questions and enquiries from the participants.
A grounds-up private sector-led initiative to promote Cambodia and
Asked about the outcomes of the visit and seminar, President of IndoCham Dalton Wong said the response and participation from the Indonesian business community had exceeded expectations. The Indonesia Ambassador to Cambodia and senior KADIN members also extended their congratulations to IndoCham and Aquarii for what they had described was an “overwhelmingly successful event”.
“The unique feature of the event was that it was a grounds-up private sector-led initiative to promote Cambodia and raise awareness of its potential and opportunities as the priority, and not a hard sell for business tie-ups,” Dalton added.
The question-and-answer session after the presentation.
Aquarii BD’s CEO Michael Tan, who helped to strategize the approach of the business visit and seminar, said it was important to showcase to Indonesian businesses and investors that other than Cambodian businesses, there were also foreign companies and investors that have a proven successful track record in Cambodia.
“Having a mixed delegation of Cambodian and foreign businesses and professionals in the delegation was a deliberate decision to elicit and instill confidence that Cambodia is indeed a pro-business and pro-investment destination,” he added.
Several expressions of interests from various businesses, investors and associations
A tangible measure of the success of the event was that it had elicited several expressions of interests from various businesses, investors and associations to visit Cambodia to further explore investment and business opportunities. They included tourism and hospitality, logistics and distribution, real estate, furniture, manufacturing and retail among others.
A member of the KADIN Bilateral Committee Vietnam-Cambodia had committed to bringing a delegation of eco-tourism investors and operators to visit Cambodia in early-2023.
Pak Hendra Widyaja, founder and Chairman of the Indonesia Retail Association said, “I will bring our retail business members to see opportunity to invest in Cambodia”. Its members are retailers in malls and of more than 400 famous brands of products.
The 32-member business delegation comprised Cambodian and foreign businesses from various industries and sectors.
He added that they will have an ASEAN Retail Summit in Jakarta next year, and hope that Cambodian retailers will be able to participate.
The 32-member business delegation comprised Cambodian and foreign businesses from various industries and sectors – banking and finance, real estate development, advisory and consultancy, agri-tech, manufacturing, SEZ, logistics and distribution, services, infrastructure and investment.
This inaugural private-sector led event was jointly organized by Aquarii BD Cambodia and IndoCham, with the generous support of Khmer Enterprise, and the strong support and inputs from the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry or KADIN, and the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.