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Cambodia and Azerbaijan have signed three Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) on economy and education, and the elimination of double taxation between the countries, with an economist viewing that Azerbaijan’s expertise could be sought to build the energy sector and a road map into Central Asia.
Prime Minister Hun Manet is on a working visit to Azerbaijan, Türkiye, and Kazakhstan for the 7th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) between October 12 and 17, according to the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ministry (MoFAIC).
On Monday, both the Cambodia and Azerbaijan leaders presided over the signing of the three MoUs on economy, education and double taxation, including one between the MoFAIC’s National Institute of Diplomacy and Azerbaijan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry’s ADA University.
The double taxation MoU sought to eliminate taxation with respect to taxes on income and the prevention of tax evasion and avoidance.
During a joint press conference with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Hun Manet said the agreements set up a framework for further engagement in trade, investment, and other potential areas. He also highlighted a visit by former prime minister Hun Sen in 2014 which laid the foundation for their engagement.
“So, I am confident from my visit today that we can work together to improve areas of trade relationships. We agreed to have the framework agreements which establishes a joint trade with the group to implement concrete actions together,” he added.
According to him, both countries reached an agreement on shared commitment to strengthen cooperation across international platforms. He said the global situation has become very complex and action between regions and countries have become more important.
“In this case, Cambodia and Azerbaijan are committed to strengthen cooperation and contribute to a multilateral engagement,” Hun Manet said, adding that the next step is to discuss, find ways to form concrete actions and products, and acquire the result on the ground.
He also mentioned that he would meet with Azerbaijan’s private sector and invite a business delegation to Cambodia to explore opportunities.
“Because I think the private sector to private sector engagement is quite important in terms of promoting and identifying real opportunities for investment connections. We also talked about our civil aviation sectors discussing the possibility of establishing an agreement to facilitate more connectivity.”
Meanwhile, President Ilham told the press that both countries discussed the establishment of a joint working group which will concentrate on the technical aspects of trade and investment co-operations.
“I hope that with the participation of companies from Cambodia and Azerbaijan in today’s business forum will help them know each other, [obtain] better opportunities, and potential economic priorities, including manufacturing in different industrial areas, tourism opportunities, and education.”
Ilham said in the past, hundreds of Cambodian students studied in Azerbaijan during the time of the Soviet Union. “So, we think that we need to restore this tradition and have mutual opportunities to study in both countries.”
This would establish closer, people-to-people contacts and transportation, digital transformation with both parliaments having “friendship groups”, he added.
Both countries consider peace and security as a prerequisite for development, which should be based on international law norms, on sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Political science and economics expert, Nhil Ratha, believes that an MoUs would open the path for private and state enterprises to invest in each other’s country without barriers.
He said cooperation between the schools under the foreign ministries also enables diplomatic officers to know the regions well, while eliminating double taxation that could attract investors from Azerbaijan.
Cambodia can take advantage of the visit by drawing more investors on energy and agro-industry and making itself the focal point for Azerbaijan to penetrate Southeast Asia, and vice versa with Azerbaijan for Cambodia into Central Asia.
“Through the visit and participation in the CICA meeting, Cambodia can derive four strategic benefits in the South Caucasus region, particularly from Azerbaijan. One of them is attracting investment in energy and agro-industry as they possess major oil companies, so we can engage them to assist us with oil and gas infrastructure.”