The European Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia (EuroCham) has called for the European Commission (EC) deciding Cambodia’s future entitlement to import concessions under the ‘Everything But Arms (EBA)’ trade scheme to have a ‘sober second thought’.

The call came in a media release issued today (Sep 25) which said suspending Cambodia’s access to the trade concessions ‘will be tantamount to sanctions. These will, it said, ‘jeopardise European investments, the European business community, European development initiatives, and the livelihoods of Cambodian citizens’.

The potential loss of concessions provided under the EBA scheme are part of a double whammy threatening to cause Cambodia society and exporters a lot of pain in the new year, with the US threatening to do similar under its Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) scheme.

About 90 per cent of Cambodian exports are covered by the two schemes. In 2018 about 34 per cent of Cambodia’s total exports worth about $4.2 billion went to the EU. An additional 23 per cent went to the US.

Published On : 25-09-2019

Source : Aec News Today