Vietnam and Cambodia have inked a Memorandum of Understanding on building a model border market in Cambodia.

Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu and Cambodia’s Secretary of State of the Ministry of Commerce Mao Thora signed the document in Phnom Penh on July 27.

At the signing ceremony (Source: VOV)

The project forms part of the agreement reached at the 13th session of the Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Committee on Economic, Cultural and Scientific and Technological Cooperation in February 2014.

It aims to promote the strengths and potential of Vietnam’s southern province of Tay Ninh and its bordering Cambodian province of Tbaung Khmum to expand trade, build distribution and import-export systems, and improve the living standards for locals in the shared border areas.

The first model border market will be built on an area of nearly 20,000 square meters at Thary Tbaung Khmum special economic zone in Memot district. It is opposite to Chang Riec border gate in Tay Ninh’s Tan Bien district.

Work on the project, invested in by the Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade, will begin in the fourth quarter of 2016 and be put into use in 2018, with the total investment of over 44 billion VND (1.98 million USD) as part of the Vietnamese Government’s non-refundable aid package.

The market will include a parking lot, restrooms, and water and electricity supply stations.

Source: VNA