A young country, just like its population, which often leaves to train abroad before returning, Cambodia will have to jostle to get out of the shadow of its two cumbersome neighbors, as explained by these French people from Phnom Penh, the capital.
On the left on the map, Thailand, about 90 million inhabitants. On the right, Vietnam, around 70 million, and between the two, Cambodia, 15 million inhabitants. A small country, the Khmer kingdom, relies on its young population and its position in Southeast Asia, the most economically dynamic area of the planet, to exist. Antoine Fontaine has been a lawyer in Phnom Penh, the capital, for over fifteen years.
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He testifies to the contribution of France in all sectors in Cambodia and regrets that the French are not more present there. “The law has been reconstructed thanks to extremely important support from France, both in the creation of law such as the code of criminal procedure, but also thanks to a very important role in Cambodian higher education, particularly in the sector It’s an extremely French-speaking, extremely Francophile country, and in fact the French are, sadly enough, relatively absent from this country.”
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A test market in the region
However, Cambodia has arguments to attract foreign investors. After a contraction of its post-Covid economy, negative growth for the first time in two decades, the country has returned to positive growth from 2021, and forecasts a 6% increase in its GDP this year.
Ratana Thurik-Callebaut is one of these young Cambodians trained abroad, and returning to the country. Driven by the war, she fled to France at the age of two.
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Married to a Frenchman, she is now a consultant in Phnom Penh, and wants to change the image of Cambodia: “It’s a country that makes it easy to enter the market, in that you don’t need Cambodian partners at all to set up your business, and the investment is minimal. So there is a story perception and domestic size of the market to produce, that’s for sure. But we often forget that the Cambodian market can serve as a test market, to then expand in the region.”
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An emerging economy
There are many of them, here, seeking to change the perception of their country that one can have from abroad, like Blaise Kilian. Arriving in Cambodia more than 20 years ago, the Frenchman is now co-director of the Sosoro Museum, the currency museum in Phnom Penh:
“You may be surprised to know that today, in Cambodia, you can pay for your consumption, using a QR code, and not in cash. These are things that people do not imagine about a very modern Cambodia, and an emerging economy that has experienced extremely strong, exponential growth over the past 20 years, at least until the recession that we went through during the Covid, for a year. “
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If the economy advances in Cambodia, the country will also have to evolve politically. In power for 38 years, the Prime Minister, Hun Sen, should present himself again during the next legislative elections in July, without an adversary of weight, since he has scared away or imprisoned his rivals. The leader of the opposition to his totalitarian regime was sentenced last month to 27 years in prison for treason.
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