ASIATODAY.ID, PHNOM PENH – Cambodia opens opportunities for cooperation for Indonesia in the agricultural sector, as an effort to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries in Southeast Asia.
This came to the fore in the meeting between the Indonesian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia, Santo Darmosumarto, and the Cambodian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Dith Tina, recently.
During the meeting, Ambassador Santo welcomed the first shipment of Cambodian rice to Indonesia, which arrived at Tanjung Emas Port on November 2.
“We hope this will be a good start for developing cooperation in this field,” he said, quoted Monday, November 20 2023.
Minister Dith invited Indonesian State-Owned Enterprises and the private sector to become part of the rice supply chain in the region by strengthening production capacity in Cambodia. This can be done through investment in the construction of rice mills and dryers.
“Every year Cambodia exports 6 million tonnes of rice in the form of paddy because it does not have adequate milling facilities,” said Minister Dith.
It was also conveyed that by investing in Cambodia’s agricultural sector, Indonesia would be able to maintain the price of rice produced by Cambodia to be more competitive.
“Encouragement is needed so that the private sector in this field starts discussions that lead to concrete cooperation. “Apart from rice, Cambodia is also open to investment in other superior commodities such as cashew nuts and pepper,” said Minister Dith.
Ambassador Santo expressed hope for partnership in the agricultural sector in the face of discrimination efforts carried out by several countries against agricultural products from Southeast Asia, such as palm oil.
“This kind of discriminatory treatment could be applied to many other agricultural products, and have a negative impact on countries like Cambodia,” he added.
The meeting also discussed plans to implement the MoU on Agricultural Cooperation, which was signed when the PM of Cambodia, Hun Manet, visited Jakarta to attend the ASEAN Summit in September 2023.
There is hope that Indonesia can provide educational and training support to strengthen Cambodia’s human resources in the agricultural sector. (AT Network)
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