The new Indonesian Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia (IndoCham) will operate under the country’s national phrase Bhinneka Tunggal Ika “Unity in Diversity” (one is more) according to President Dalton Wong who launched the new business chamber on Friday.
The chamber was officially launched in conjunction with the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh’s Indocham Business Working Dinner on Friday September 23 in Kandal Province attended by Ambassador H.E. Sudirman Haseng.
IndoCham President Dalton Wong is an Indonesian national and Chairman of Speedwind Group, a leading distribution and manage services company with the largest network in Cambodia.
In his inaugural speech Dalton said the newly formed chamber aims to build business, socio-cultural and community inclusiveness.
He added IndoCham planned to work very closely with business development and advisory companies such as Aquarii BD Cambodia and was quickly supported by the local Indonesian business community for its establishment.
“Indocham shall build a strong community network for Indonesian businesses, professionals and employees to interact with each other, exchange views, ideas and best practices, and share or collaborate on business and investment opportunities for mutual benefit,” Dalton said.
“At the same time, we will also create a gateway or platform so that Cambodian and foreign businesses, entrepreneurs and investors in Cambodia or that are interested in establishing a presence here will be able to network with each other and with Indocham members,” he added.
In addition, he outlined that chamber will have a strong inclusive principle with it not only being engaged in business, but also introduces socio-cultural and positive Indonesian values in the eyes of Cambodians.
“As much as possible, IndoCham will endeavor to organize more cultural exchanges between various communities in Cambodia so that we can better appreciate and understand their respective cultural diversity, heritage and history,” Dalton said.
“We also intend to engage with like-minded CSR-conscious companies as well as those that are environmentally friendly with the right corporate social governance, so that we can build a system that is able to provide appropriate and timely support to communities in need,” he added.
The Indonesian Embassy has previously identified major investment opportunities in Cambodia in the agriculture, agro-industry, renewable energy, and construction and real estate sectors.
Cambodia may also seek future cooperation with Indonesia in the importing of natural resources as a number of coal-power plants are scheduled to be operational soon.
Last month, Cambodia Investment Review highlighted several successful businesses already operated by the Indonesian business community in logistics, F&B, recreational activities, banking and renewable energy investment.
In 2020, the total trade volume reached $588.65 million, a decreases of 10.96% compared to the same period in 2019 ($661.11 million), due to the ongoing pandemic.
From 2016 – 2020, the trend of trade balance between both countries was on average 7.53%, based on the data from the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia.
Source from: Cambodia Investment Review