(Kampong Chnang): Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet outlined Cambodia’s ambition to become a regional hub for automotive parts manufacturing and distribution, with a focus on integrating the Kingdom into regional and global production chains.

The premier spoke on Thursday (Sep. 17) at the launching of the GAC brand production line in Kampong Chnang province.

The premier cited a Japanese company that recently selected Cambodia as a production base after considering several countries, including the Philippines, with plans to manufacture components in the Kingdom for distribution across the region.

“Recently, I spoke with a Japanese company that was relocating its production. After exploring the Philippines and several other countries, it ultimately decided to choose Cambodia as a base for manufacturing components for distribution across the region,” he said.

Samdech Thipadei instructed relevant ministries and institutions to facilitate such investments and explore additional incentives, particularly for projects that use Cambodia as a manufacturing base to serve regional markets.

“This is one of our major goals. We do not necessarily need to export entire vehicles to supply the regional market,” the premier said. “We could manufacture 10 million components a year for export, produce only tyres for regional markets, or manufacture steering wheels for distribution throughout the region.”

He underlined that expanding automotive component manufacturing would create jobs, develop technical skills among Cambodian workers and strengthen the country’s industrial capabilities.

Cambodia currently has 15 vehicle assembly plants and projects, representing around USD 248 million in investment and approximately 2,744 jobs.
=FRESH NEWS