Cambodia loosens visa restrictions for Chinese investors

Cambodia will issue three-year multi-entry visas for Chinese investors, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced in Phnom Penh on Thursday to a delegation of leading Chinese privately-owned enterprises, as the ASEAN country works to attract more foreign funds to propel its quickly growing economy.

"Chinese investors may come back and forth as many times as they wish," Hun Sen announced at the Cambodia-China Business Forum and Financial Development Forum, which was hosted by China Minsheng Investment Group (CMIG), China's leading international private investment group founded in 2014 with registered capital of 50 billion yuan.

Investors from South Korea, according to Hun Sen, will also enjoy this new visa rule.

But he did not specify when this will take effect.

The audience included dozens of China's private-sector business leaders, many of whom are shareholders of CMIG.

Dong Wenbiao, CMIG's board chairman who initiated this business delegation, said they are interested in investment opportunities in Cambodia's sectors of new energy such as solar power as well as real estate, infrastructure and financial services.

Under Cambodia's current visa scheme, business travelers, including potential investors, would normally apply for a 30-day single-entry visa to enter Cambodia. They can extend it from inside the country for up to 12 months, with multi-entry.

The new visa scheme hopes to offer convenience for China's investors who are seeking promising deals across the world, including the dynamic and fast rising ASEAN region.

China is already Cambodia's largest source of foreign investment in the past five years, with a total capital of investment reaching $4.9 billion between 2011 and 2015, Hun Sen said.

China's total volume of investment going into Cambodia reached $12 billion, President Xi Jinping said during his state-visit in October.

Chinese investment may play a key role in propelling Cambodia's growth, which stands at an average annual rate of more than 7 percent in recent years, as more Chinese companies have increasingly invested in road, bridge and hydro power construction to address Phnom Penh's pressing need to improve infrastructure and power supply.