Cambodia's Secretary of State for Economy and Finance Ouk Rabun, currently on a visit to Pakistan, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pakistan's Secretary of Economic Affairs Division on Friday (May 28) in Islamabad, on the utilisation of a soft-term loan of $10 million promised by the Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali who paid an official visit to Cambodia recently.
It was reported that during his visit, Cambodian officials had discussed with Mir Zafarullah Khan certain infrastructure projects which could be assisted by Pakistan through supply of goods and services within the framework of the proposed loan facility.
The loan facility would include export of Pakistani engineering goods and other materials for use in the construction of infrastructure projects in Cambodia in addition to the participation of Pakistani experts in executing the projects.
It is significant that the Cambodian government has rather quickly followed up the Prime Minister's offer of loan by sending a minister to Pakistan for the finalisation and signing of the MoU within weeks of the Prime Minister's visit.
This shows that the Cambodian government is keen not only to construct its pending infrastructure projects without any loss of time with Pakistan's assistance but also to open up trade and economic ties with Pakistan in right earnest.
It may also be pointed out here that Pakistan's economic assistance to Cambodia would go a long way in projecting it as a friendly country willing to promote bilateral and multilateral economic ties in the region.
Pakistan has already initiated a move for entry into the institutional framework of the ASEAN, which would facilitate regular economic exchanges in the form of bilateral trade with each country of the region.
In this context, the Prime Minister's offer of concessional loan assistance to Cambodia would be seen as a timely step.
Pakistan's construction companies, both public and private, have been actively operating, specially in the Middle East, on construction projects, but it will be for the first time that construction of highways and roads would be undertaken by Pakistani public sector companies in Cambodia.
This may in the long run prove to be instrumental in securing construction contracts from other countries of the region as well.
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