The Kingdom of Cambodia and the Swiss Confederation have been committed to increasing existing bilateral relations and expanding cooperation in additional priority fields, including cooperation in international arena.
The commitment was made during a recent bilateral meeting to discuss bilateral economic cooperation between Cambodian Minister of Commerce H.E. Pan Sorasak, and State Secretary of State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of the Swiss Confederation H.E. Ms. Helene Budliger Artieda, in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, on the sidelines of World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2023.
During the meeting, H.E. Pan Sorasak mentioned the good diplomatic relations between both countries established since 1963.
According to the Cambodian minister, the two-way trade between both countries has steadily been increasing from one year to another. The total bilateral trade volume between Cambodia and Switzerland was amounted to over US$974 million in 2021, up from only US$379 million in 2020, he added.
In this regard, H.E Pan Sorasak also discussed with H.E. Ms. Helene Budliger Artieda the possibility of establishing a free trade agreement between both countries to further deepen the cooperation between the two governments.
Taking the opportunity, the Cambodian minister thanked the Swiss government for its assistance and development programmes in areas such as good governance and people’s participation in agriculture and food security, vocational training and employment.
In reply, H.E. Ms. Helene Budliger Artieda welcomed the initiative and stated that the Swiss government has been supporting Cambodia in its transition and economic development efforts.
She also praised Cambodia’s success in curbing the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, and congratulated the Kingdom on its successful hosting of the ASEAN Summits and Related Summits in 2022.
