Cambodia, Thailand see 11 pct rise in bilateral trade in 8 months

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PHNOM PENH, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Bilateral trade volume between Cambodia and its neighboring Thailand increased by 11 percent during the first eight months of 2013, the figures from the Thai Embassy to Cambodia showed Wednesday.

During the January-August period this year, the two-way trade was valued at 3.03 billion U.S. dollars, up 11 percent from 2.72 billion U.S. dollars over the same period last year, the figures said.

Cambodia exported to Thailand was equivalent to 224 million U.S. dollars, up 33 percent, while Thailand exported to Cambodia was 2. 8 billion U.S. dollars, up 10 percent, it said.

A Cambodian trade official said the growth was thanks to improving bilateral ties as border dispute has cooled down.

"We are neighboring countries so that there are many possibilities to increase our bilateral trade volume," said Kong Putheara, director of the statistics and planning department of the Ministry of Commerce, adding that good transportation infrastructure and trade facilitation also attributed to the growth.

Thailand is Cambodia's largest trading partner. Last year, the bilateral trade volume was worth at 3.8 billion U.S. dollars, up 40 percent year-on-year.

Copyright 2013 Xinhua News Agency.