Prominent Cambodia tycoon Kith Meng was re-elected president of Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday for the second election of the term 4, said a senior official of the chambers. He was also re-elected as the president of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce for term 5.
Twenty-six businesspeople were elected as members of the Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce by voters who are members and non-members in the city.
Meng won the election by 39 out of 40 votes of the members of Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce, while one vote abstained. Fifteen out of 18 members of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce (CCC) voted in favour of Meng to become the president, said the official.
Nguon Mengtech, Director General of CCC, told Khmer Times yesterday that the 18 members of CCC are the presidents of provincial chambers of commerce across the country, but said some chambers of commerce cover more-than-one province. He said 698 or 76.45 percent of 909 vendors who have the right to vote in Phnom Penh voted for the 26 members of Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce.
Mengtech further said each president of the CCC and Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce takes a six-year term, but those vendors who run their respective businesses in four different categories including commercial, industrial, agriculture and service will have to vote again in the first election of the term 5—the next election—to elect other 14 members of latter.
“After being elected as the president of both chambers of commerce, Neak Okhna said that this new body will make the chambers work more effectively and efficiently and increase our operations to receive more foreign businesspeople and investors. We will develop our cooperation with them and serve them so that they can do businesses and implement their projects here,” Mengtech said.
Pan Sorasak, Minister of Commerce graced the closing ceremony along with Khuong Sreng, Governor of Phnom Penh Municipality, prominent businesspeople and officials from the government institutions. During the ceremony Sorasak told the audience about the key recommendations. He appreciated the chambers for their telling contribution to the country.
Sorasak asked the leaders and members of the chambers of commerce to work towards attracting more investors to Cambodia, cooperate with the commerce ministry to find possibilities to open representative offices of CCC in the region or a country where there are Cambodian people living to facilitate foreign trading and exporting goods from Cambodia.
The commerce minister also urged the chambers of commerce leaders and members to strengthen and develop the capacities of 18 municipal and provincial chambers of commerce regarding laws and regulations in response to the requirements of investors in the digital age. They would also need to organise more workshops to promote domestic production of general and agricultural products for export.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
