asianews

www.chinaview.cn

2009-09-22

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Vietnam on Tuesday signed a MOU of rubber investment cooperation to expand area of rubber plantation of Vietnamese companies in Cambodia.

The agreement was signed in Phnom Penh by Chan Sarun, Cambodian minister of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, and Cao Duc Phat, visiting Vietnamese minister of rural development and agriculture.

According to this bilateral agreement, Vietnamese companies will plant rubber crops in 100,000 hectares of land in Cambodia, Chan Sarun told reporters after the signing ceremony.

The Vietnamese companies have already invested in rubber plantations in Cambodia, but through the agreement, they will be able to plant more rubber crops, he said.

According to the agreement, the Vietnamese side will also build a refinery factory of rubber products in Cambodia, he said.

"The agreement will also provide opportunity for local people to sell their rubber products to Vietnamese companies and it will offer more jobs for local poor people," he added.

"So far, our local people and local private companies have planted rubber crops on 100,000 hectares of land," he said, adding that Vietnamese companies already got the economic concession land for planting the rubber crops.

"Through the MOU we will also strengthen the bilateral cooperation on other fields like fighting against communicable diseases and other things including bird flu and swine flu, and encourage investing more on other agro-industrial crops."

This investment will help to push economic development and social affairs in the country, he said, adding that Vietnamese side also will help train human resources for Cambodia.