Impoverished Cambodia and oil-rich Kuwait on Monday inked five agreements, including trade, aviation and investment deals, during a meeting by prime ministers of the two countries, a spokesman said. Prime Minister Hun Sen and visiting Kuwaiti premier Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmed al-Sabah held talks in Phnom Penh where officials from both counties signed the deals, Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.
The officials signed agreements on economic co-operation, trade, investment, foreign affairs co-operation and civil aviation, the spokesman said. "Prime Minister Hun Sen welcomes any investment by Kuwait's companies in Cambodia because it has a big potential in developing economic growth," Khieu Kanharith said. He said the two countries would discuss more ways to boost trade and investment, and that Kuwait had promised to help Cambodia develop its agricultural sector.
The two premiers also discussed co-operation in oil, with Cambodia asking Kuwait to help train local experts on the petroleum industry, which is starting to take root here after the discovery of offshore deposits. Cambodia expects to begin producing oil from its offshore fields in 2011, following the discovery of oil in 2005 by US energy giant Chevron.
But it remains unclear how much oil can be recovered, or whether any potential revenue would be used to benefit Cambodia, ranked among the world's most corrupt countries. Cambodia has climbed back from decades of civil unrest to emerge as one of the region's most vibrant economies, marked by an unprecedented building boom that is radically changing the face of the once-sleepy capital. The Kuwaiti premier arrived in Cambodia on Sunday for a three-day visit.
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