Sun continues to rise for Japan investments in the Kingdom
Under-fire Apple pulls 25k apps in China
THE number of Japanese firms registered with the Japanese Business Association of Cambodia ( JBAC) has nearly tripled within the last seven years, according to a recent report.
Companies from the Asian nation began entering the Cambodian market in 2011 with a few large investment projects in the manufacturing sector. That year JBAC counted 100 members.
The group’s year-end report for 2017, which was published in June, said it had 254 members and had seen investments spread through the commerce and services industries.
JBAC reportedly expects Japanese investment to continue growing in the Kingdom, especially since the government has been looking fondly on foreign direct investment (FDI) as a key driver of development.
“There are high expectations for Japanese companies and investment [in Cambodia],” the JBAC report said.
Spotlight turns to Poipet
Alongside increased investments, the number of Japanese living in Cambodia has also grown substantially. While there were 2,000 in the country in 2014, that figure saw a 50 per cent jump to 3,000 as of 2016.
Japanese investments in Cambodia totalled $1.66 billion over the last 25 years, according to figures from the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC). Of that sum, most came in after 2010.
The Supreme National Economic Council’s senior adviser, Mey Kalyan, said on Monday that the inflow of Japanese investment to Cambodia will see positive growth, but policymakers and relevant officials should put a higher priority on attracting Japanese manufacturers.
According to Kalyan, manufacturing is pivotal to speed up economic growth. However, the number of Japanese manufacturers in the Kingdom has stagnated.
“It is good to see increasing Japanese investment, but the number of manufacturing projects is still small and less than our expectations,” he said.
However, Kalyan was optimistic about the increasing number of Japanese manufacturers in Poipet as Japanese firms working in Thailand are showing interest in expanding to the border city.
“Investors coming directly from Japan are no longer a strong channel, but there is potential for Cambodia to attract manufacturers that have already invested in Thailand, Malaysia or China,” he said. APPLE said on Monday it had removed many gambling-related apps from its Chinese app store as the US giant comes under scrutiny amid trade tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Apple removed 25,000 apps suspected of facilitating gambling and illegal lotteries, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday, emphasising there was still work to be done.
“Reporters have discovered even after the Apple company’s large-scale repairs, loopholes still exist,” said CCTV anchor Chang Xiao.
A CCTV report last month accused the company of allowing illegal gambling apps to proliferate.
“We have already removed many apps and developers for trying to distribute illegal gambling apps on our App Store, and we are vigilant in our efforts to find these and stop them from being on the App Store,” the company said in a statement.
With the rhetoric between Washington and Beijing heating up, China’s state media has probed for deficiencies in Apple’s China operations.
Another state media report last month tore into Apple for what it claimed was inadequate filtering of messages sent through its iMessage service.