To accelerate Cambodia’s development and position the country as a prominent player amid growing global uncertainty, the government has launched the “Program for Enhancing Competitiveness, Promoting Diversification, and Strengthening Resilience to Drive Economic Growth in a Highly Uncertain Global Context”.
Deputy Prime Minister Aun Pornmoniroth, Minister of Economy and Finance, who chairs the Economic and Financial Policy Committee, oversaw the January 20 programme launch, held in Phnom Penh.
He explained that the programme was formulated alongside the government’s continued efforts to address the major challenges currently facing the country, such as US tariff measures and the impact of Thai military aggression on Cambodia’s socio-economic development.
The minister described the implementation of the new programme as demonstrating the government’s determination to confront these challenges, to safeguard people’s livelihoods and sustain economic growth. He noted that it also reflects the government’s firm stance and strong political will to maintain peace, protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity, guided by the principle of “transforming challenges into opportunities”.
This will be achieved through enhancing productive capacity and diversifying the production base, strengthening Cambodia’s competitive advantages, improving domestic value chains to better connect with regional and global supply chains, capturing higher value-added production activities, creating more jobs for medium- and high-skilled workers and broadening the national economic base, among other measures, he added.
He suggested that the programme would make an important contribution to boosting economic growth and strengthening national economic independence, especially as rising patriotism and national unity among Cambodians are helping promote and increase the value placed on domestically produced goods.
“The launch of this programme clearly demonstrates the Royal Government’s determination and unwavering commitment to continue strengthening the resilience of Cambodia’s economy and society,” he said.
Pornmoniroth explained that the program introduces a clear, practical, and effectively implementable package of measures structured around three pillars.
The first focuses on short- and medium-term sectoral economic support programmes. It will use new and existing targeted policy measures to safeguard economic growth, particularly in sectors expected to experience slow growth.
The second aims to enhance competitiveness, promote diversification and strengthen resilience.
The third will focus on adapting to changes in the international trade regime, so the Kingdom will be prepared to respond proactively and seize emerging opportunities, especially as Cambodia prepares to graduate from Least Developed Country (LDC) status by 2029.
Sin Chanthy, president of the Cambodia Logistics Association (CLA), attended the ceremony. He told The Post that in recent times — especially since the outbreak of the Russia–Ukraine war — numerous events have occurred in succession, all of which have had negative impacts on global economic growth. He noted that the programme reflects the government’s strong attention to enhancing Cambodia’s competitiveness across all sectors in comparison with other countries worldwide.
“Many factors continue to have negative effects on Cambodia, prompting the government to pay even greater attention to introducing new policies aimed at further strengthening the international competitiveness of Cambodian products,” he said.
