The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) has announced the establishment of a consultant office in Phnom Penh, marking a concrete step to deepen two-way trade and investment ties between Hong Kong and Cambodia, while calling on Cambodian businesses to take a more direct role in promoting their own opportunities abroad.
Speaking at a business networking event in Phnom Penh, Leung Kwan Ho, Regional Director for Southeast Asia and South Asia at HKTDC, said the new consultant office would serve as a permanent bridge to encourage Hong Kong companies to invest in Cambodia and support Cambodian firms seeking access to Hong Kong and wider international markets.
“My job is very simple,” Leung said. “To encourage more Hong Kong people to come to Cambodia to do business, and to encourage more Cambodian people to go to Hong Kong to do business.”
He described the Phnom Penh office as a practical response to the growing need for on-the-ground support, noting that a small regional team was no longer sufficient to cover Cambodia’s expanding business landscape.
Leung formally introduced Larry Ng Shuen Fai, the HKTDC representative who will lead the Phnom Penh consultant office, saying the local presence would help Cambodian companies better understand Hong Kong’s platforms, trade fairs and business-matching opportunities, while also giving Hong Kong firms more confidence to explore Cambodia’s market.
Beyond the institutional announcement, Leung delivered a frank message to Cambodian entrepreneurs: foreign investors are more likely to be convinced when Cambodian business leaders speak for themselves.
“When I talk to Hong Kong people and tell them about opportunities in Cambodia—logistics, infrastructure, agriculture, rice, cashew nuts—they only partly believe me,” he said. “Because I’m a Hong Kong face, not a Cambodian face.”
He urged Cambodian business owners to travel to Hong Kong, introduce their companies personally and present investment opportunities in their own words.
According to Leung, Hong Kong’s role as an international city gives Cambodian firms exposure far beyond its seven to eight million residents.
“When you come to Hong Kong, you are not only meeting Hong Kong people,” he said. “You may meet Japanese, mainland Chinese, Korean or Middle Eastern investors. Through Hong Kong, you can promote Cambodia to the whole world.”
Kuon Thida, Vice President of the Cambodia Oknha Association (COA), welcomed HKTDC’s move, saying it aligns with the Cambodian private sector’s readiness to engage more actively with international partners.
Representing COA at the event, she highlighted the association’s role in bringing together influential Cambodian business leaders across all sectors of the economy.
As of today, COA has more than 440 Oknha members representing over 40 companies, with investments spanning healthcare, finance, insurance, hospitality and legal services, she said.
“The Cambodian private sector is organized, diversified and ready to cooperate with international partners,” Thida noted.
She also underscored the complementary roles of HKTDC and the Hong Kong Business Association of Cambodia (HKBAC), describing them as key institutions facilitating trade, investment and business expansion between the two economies.
HKTDC, established in 1966, operates more than 50 offices worldwide and is widely known for its international trade fairs, exhibitions, business missions and market intelligence services.
For both sides, the message was clear: proximity and connectivity matter. Leung noted that Phnom Penh and Hong Kong are just a two-hour flight apart, making travel, business missions and people-to-people exchanges increasingly practical.
“I believe when friendship builds, magic things will happen,” he said, expressing hope that stronger personal and business networks would translate into deeper economic cooperation.
With the opening of the Phnom Penh consultant office, HKTDC signaled that Hong Kong’s engagement with Cambodia is shifting from promotion to presence—placing greater responsibility, and opportunity, in the hands of Cambodian businesses to step onto the regional and global stage.
