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Cambodia Set to Ratify Membership in WTO

The Editor
Managing Editor
Cambodian Online

 Information

24-Aug-2005
Last Edited

08.30.2004, 07:38 AM

The National Assembly is set to ratify Cambodia's accession to the World Trade Organization after a nearly one-year delay caused by a political stalemate, officials said Monday.

Kim Sant, secretary general of the National Assembly, said he expects the ratification vote on Tuesday to go through without any obstacles.

Cambodia, along with Nepal, was allowed to join the global trading community at its meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in September last year. But the process could not be completed because Cambodia had no legislature at the time following inconclusive elections last July. The deadlock was resolved this July.

The National Assembly's ratification must be approved by the Senate before it is signed by the head of state. Both steps are considered a formality that are expected to be completed before a September deadline, said Deputy Commerce Minister Sok Siphana.

He said full membership will take effect 30 days after Cambodia notifies the WTO secretariat of the ratification.

"It's a disappointment. We could have moved faster," Sok Siphana said.

During the last 12 months the government has prepared new legal instruments it will have to pass during the next three years to comply with WTO rules, he said.

He said the WTO accession will help build confidence among investors who are looking to do business in Cambodia.

It will "give us an image that we are a country ... open for business and willing to play by the international trade rules," he said.

According to a recent World Bank survey, rampant corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency are threatening the future of Cambodia's garment industry, one of the pillars of the country's economy, and other small businesses crucial for reducing poverty.

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