October 11, 2023

Cambodia signs financing agreement for cross-border livestock project

Cambodia recently signed an agreement with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on a cooperation financing deal for a cross-border livestock health and value chain infrastructure improvement project.

The agreement entails a total budget of $43 million.

According to a statement by the country's Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) on September 27, the agreement was signed at the eighth annual meeting of the AIIB board of governors in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

The $43 million financing, consists of a $33 million concessional loan from the AIIB and a $10 million grant from the Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response Facility Trust Fund.

The total value of the cross-border livestock health project is $128.8 million, which is co-financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and AIIB. ADB has allocated $62.9 million while the government counterpart fund is around $22.9 million.

The project is aimed at promoting quality and hygienic production and animal husbandry, strengthening animal and human health, preventing and controlling infectious diseases, and promoting cross-border animal trade among countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, including Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and China. It will be implemented in Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham, Oddar Meanchey, Prey Veng, Siem Reap and Takeo.

Meanwhile, MEF's undersecretary of state, Pen Thiron, was quoted as saying that AIIB is a fairly new development partner for Cambodia and has previously provided concessional financing in 2020 under the COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility framework.

"AIIB's co-financing has been making a significant contribution to the development of physical infrastructure and the recovery of the Cambodian economy from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic," Thiron said. "It will continue to play an important role as a development partner in the development of Cambodia's infrastructure and economy in the future."

- The Phnom Penh Post