Ties will outlast temple feud, say Thai officials

Written by George McLeod
Saturday, 02 August 2008
SATURDAY-(1)-Thai-business-ties.jpg
Vandy Rattana
Military police guard the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh. Authorities hope to avoid a repeat of the 2003 riots that saw the embassy burned.


F IRE trucks and armed police may be stationed outside their embassy, but Thai officials and business are putting a brave face on economic ties, which they say will weather the Preah Vihear temple feud.

The more than two-week long dispute has brought fears of a repeat of the 2003 anti-Thai riots, during which the Thai embassy and Thai businesses were looted and torched.

As talks between Thai and Cambodian officials on the most recent spat run on with no clear resolution, rumours have circulated that Thais are fleeing Cambodia or have frozen their investments.



And while the Thai embassy has issued security warnings to citizens traveling to Cambodia, Poonsak Khunudom, the Economic Attache at the Thai embassy in Bangkok, said that he had heard of no Thai business pulling out.

“Our relations are good…We have to support each other,” said Poonsak Khunudom, the economic attache at the Thai embassy in Bangkok.

“A lot of Thai investors are interested in Cambodia,” he said.

Fears revisited
The temple dispute has dredged up memories of the aftermath of the 2003 riots, which saw relations – and business ties – nose-dive.

But according to Yong Yut, a spokesman for Siam Cement Group in Cambodia (SCG), the Preah Vihear dispute has had no effect on the company’s operations. “This month our orders fell, but that was because of the elections – not the temple dispute,” he said.
SCG is Thailand’s largest conglomerate and is a major global construction materials producer.
The company was hard hit by the 2003 riots when its Phnom Penh offices were destroyed by rioters.

SCG currently has operations in Phnom Penh, Kampot and Siem Reap and reported about US$50 million in annual local sales, and production of about one million tonnes of concrete earmarked for the local market.

The company expects 15-20 percent local sales growth this year, according to Yong Yut.

Thailand continues to aggressively promote trade and investment in Cambodia and the region through a number of initiatives such as Thailand’s Import-Export bank and the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Strategy (ACMECS).

The programme targets Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, and saw 2.13 million baht in loans going to Thai businesses investing in Cambodia and regional trade growing to $10 billion last year.

Thailand is the third largest investor in Cambodia from the region and has about 100 SMEs in Cambodia, according to the Thai embassy.

Thai exports rose more than 70 percent this year – the highest rate in five-years, according to Thailand’s Commerce Ministry.
source: PP Post

Tourist arrivals top 1 million for first half of 2008

Written by Hor Hab

Saturday, 02 August 2008

Heng Chivoan Tourist sightsee along the main walkway at Angkor Wat. D espite warnings of potential unrest, international visitor arrivals have reached over a million for the first six months of 2008, representing a 13 percent increase over the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Tourism’s Statistical Report. “The number of tourist arrivals in Cambodia is still growing despite border problems with Thailand,” said Kong Sopheareak, the ministry’s director of the Statistics and Tourism Information Department. “I think the temple tension does not affect the tourists’ arrivals,” said Suos Yara, deputy director general of Cambodia National Tourist Authority. He said he expects at least 2.3 million tourists by the end of 2008. “We don’t have any formula to calculate the benefits from tourism, but [the World Trade Organisation] estimates that a single tourist spends around US$600 to US$700 in Cambodia,” Suos Yara said. Ho Vandy, president of Cambodian Association of Travel Agents, said, “Tourist arrivals declined in June for three reasons: the high price of transportation, the election in Cambodia and the temple confrontation.” Tourist arrivals declined from about 150,000 in May to 130,000 in June, according to the latest Tourism Statistical Report. Ho Vandy partially blamed widespread media coverage of the temple dispute for scaring tourists away, warning that many may yet cancel their holidays or change their destinations. He recommended that the government host a press conference to talk about the situation at Preah Vihear temple and project an image of safety and stability to overseas tourism markets, perhaps enlisting the aid of Cambodian embassies.