South Korea to Assemble 3,000 Hyundai Cars Yearly in Cambodia

Written by DAP NEWS -- Thursday, 15 October 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Camko Motor Company is building a Hyundai car assembly factory in Koh Kong province with a capacity of assembling 3,000 cars per year, a Wednesday press release from the South Korea embassy said.

The factory will cover 165,000 square meters and be divided into Maintenance facility, dormitory facilities. SUVs, vans and other cars will be assembled there, the press release added. Lee Kyung Soo, South Korean ambassador to Cambodia, told reporters at a news conference in Phnom Penh that he could not recall the size of the total investment.

Uhm Won Jae, first secretary of the South Korean embassy, said detai- led information will be released in November. He did not know exactly when the project would break ground.

“Foreign direct investment from South Korea in Cambodia last year was worth about US$1.238 billion and if comparing with six month of this year, it dropped about 58 percent because of the global financial crisis,” South Korean ambassador Soo said. “As for the bilateral trade between the two countries, in 2008, Cambodia imported good products about US$309 million from South Korea and Cambodia exported about US$294 million to South Korea .So far this year the two-way trade volume is worth about US$120 million. Both sides will try to foster more trade volume.” South Korean investors to Cam-bodia have become involved in rubber plantations, mines, energy, oil and gas, real estate, tourism, construction, agro-industry, he added. Both sides will sign oil, energy cooperation during the upcoming official state visit of South Korea president Lee Myung-Bak on October 22-23, Soo said.

Both sides also will sign loan and grant aid agreements from South Korea, Soo added. Cambodia and South Korea re-established diplomatic ties in 1997. Both sides are moving closer to provide mutual benefits for the both nations.

There are 5,800 Cambodians living South Korea, with 2,900 Cambodian women married to South Korean men. South Korea companies have invested in large scale construction in Cambodia, including the IFC building, Camko city on the outskirts of Phnom Penh and Golden Tower 42 in the center.