01/09/2025
🎯Australian investors are eyeing cooperation in the education, medical, agricultural and mining sectors, said Australian Ambassador to Cambodia Derek Yip, noting that they notice long-term growth potential.
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Cambodia Promotes Investment Opportunities in Australia
Speaking to Kiripost on August 29, following a delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol, dubbed Cambodia Investment Roadmap in Australia, Yip said the outcome of the trip was positive as Australian companies were intrigued and enthusiastic about the opportunities.
Cambodian economy impacted by tariff, conflict
The Ministry of Economy and Finance has downgraded the 2025 gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to five percent from 6.3 percent due to the negative impact of US tariff on Cambodian exports and prolonged border closure with Thailand, which has disrupted trade and tourism.
“To be honest, not many Australian companies asked about the border conflict,” Yip said, adding that only one investor raised the short-term impact on Cambodia's economy.
While Thailand and Cambodia are both expected to see a significant economic slowdown in the second half of the year, potentially missing their GDP forecasts, there is an expectation for a strong rebound in 2026, with growth rates returning to or even surpassing previous expectations.
“That message is very positive for the investors,” he said. “When you’re an investor, you aren’t looking at investing in the next three or six months.”
“You do due diligence and do some scoping on some of the opportunities, and then you are looking at investing in 12, 18 or 24 months. The growth rate going forward, I think that’s the one that they are focused on the most,” he added.
Australia’s investment level in Cambodia is limited
Yip said that the US, the UK, and New Zealand are Australia’s top investment destinations due to the familiarity of language, culture, and legal system.
“A lot of it has to do with familiarity,” he said. “When Australian companies have a contractual issue in New Zealand, they know how the legal system works.”
He believed that to see real change, people and investors need to be more ambitious and less conservative than in the past. Looking at growth rates and demographics, everywhere else, the workforce is aging and shrinking.
On the contrary, Cambodia is “becoming younger and the workforce will be growing," he said. “It’s a gateway into a very dynamic region, a growing market as well.”
“All these things need to be as important for Australian businesses as much as familiarity with the language, the culture, and the legal system,” he added.
Once Australian businesses fully understand the opportunities in Cambodia and Southeast Asia, he believes that it will lead to a significant increase in investment, as a lack of awareness has held back investment levels in Cambodia in the past.
Four industries stand out
Sun Chanthol met with various Australian companies during his visit, including Renaissance Minerals, CIMIC Group, Export Finance Australia, Lowy Institute, Blackrock Investment Management, SunRice Group, Aspen Medical, Australia Investment Council, SYD Airport, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, and Rio Tinto Research and Development facility.
Yip said education remains a strong one for cooperation between Cambodia and Australia, adding that an education mission to Cambodia in March, involving higher education, TVET, and Edutech providers, found opportunities for partnerships.
“They’ve never thought about the Cambodian market, but when they come into the market, they see the opportunities,” he said. “That’s what’s really exciting.”
Medical also has potential, as Australian companies have set up and operated high-standard medical facilities overseas. “In Cambodia, sometimes people travel overseas for medical treatment, but some things people don’t want to do overseas,” he said.
Given an example of cancer treatment, he pointed out the difficulties of constantly travelling to Singapore or Thailand, highlighting the burden of being away from family and home.
“If there’s an ability to bring this high-quality medical service into Cambodia, it’ll be a lot better from a cost and convenience perspective,” he said.
He expressed a strong desire to see growth in agriculture, highlighting Australia's capacity for producing agricultural goods cost-effectively, with high technology, and safely.
Australia, with a population of 27 million, produces adequate food for 70 million people. It exports 70 percent of its agricultural output and supplies 90 percent of its domestic fruit consumption.
“If there are opportunities for Australian companies to do that in Cambodia, to bring those capabilities here, I think that will generate some very positive outcomes for Cambodia,” Yip said.
Another one is mining and resources, he said, citing the Okvau gold mine in Mondulkiri, which is operated by the Australian company Renaissance Minerals, as a key example. As an Australian company, it adheres to strict safety, environmental, and corporate governance standards, which will help elevate the quality of investment in Cambodia.
He also talked about Chantol's visit to Rio Tinto in Melbourne, where he witnessed the mineral extraction process and rehabilitation of mine sites to their original state.
“It’s done by Australian companies in a very advanced way. When you have an Australian company operating overseas, they bring these capabilities,” he said. “Mining is an area where Australia and Cambodia have a strong complementarity that hopefully, in the future, we’ll be able to do more.”
