41 participants and representatives from the Cambodian public and private sectors, inter alia the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), Ministry of Commerce (MoC), Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation (MISTI), Ministry of Economy and Finance, Cambodia Women Entrepreneurs Network (CamWEN), Cambodia Women Entrepreneurs Association (CWEA), Cambodia Chamber of Commerce (CCC), European Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia (EuroCham Cambodia), Cambodian Federation of Employers and Business Associations (CAMFEBA), SHE Investments, SME business owners and many other trade associations and business organizations in Cambodia, attended an outreach event on the ASEAN Trade Repository (ATR, available at https://atr.asean.org) and the ASEAN Solutions for Investments, Services and Trade (ASSIST, available at https://assist.asean.org/) on 4 April 2022. The event was organized by the EU-funded programme ASEAN Regional Integration Support from the European Union (ARISE Plus), in partnership and collaboration with CamWEN and CWEA, and held virtually.
ARISE Plus is convening a series of outreach and training events across the region. The “ATR and ASSIST Outreach Event” in Phnom Penh is the sixth of these series. The objective of the ATR and ASSIST Outreach Events is to create greater awareness on the existence, functioning and trade facilitation benefits of the two primary trade facilitation instruments developed by ASEAN with support from ARISE Plus, known as ASSIST (for Trade in Goods and Trade in Services) and the ATR. This is deemed critical to showcase ASEAN’s increasing regulatory transparency in relation to trade in goods and build on that greater intra-ASEAN trade and trading opportunities. When the ATR is unable to address problems on the ground through transparency, ASSIST is then the primary and most cost-efficient tool of trade facilitation offered by ASEAN to address problems on the ground and offer solutions to ASEAN’s traders and private sector.
Welcoming remarks were delivered by Ms. Camilla Lombard, Deputy Head of Cooperation – Counsellor, Delegation of the European Union to Cambodia; Mr. Paul Mandl, Team Leader, ARISE Plus; LCT. Dr. Eng. Lykuong, President of the Cambodia Women Entrepreneurs Network (CamWEN); and H.E. Chea Ratha, Vice President – External, Cambodia Women Entrepreneurs Association (CWEA). The opening remarks were delivered by H.E. Mrs. Koung Sorita, Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) of Cambodia.
This Outreach Event is followed by the ‘ASSIST Train-the-Trainers Workshop’ on 5-6 April 2022. This training workshop is designed to benefit and help participants to develop, organize and deliver training modules on how to use ASSIST. Participants of the training workshop are expected to become trainers and conduct future capacity building exercises on ASSIST to the benefit of their Bruneian colleagues, members of their trade associations/business organizations, and fellow entrepreneurs.
The ARISE Plus Regional Project and the EU remain committed to supporting the effective implementation of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) through improved transparency and trade facilitation, by assisting ASEAN to advance the development of the ATR in all ASEAN Member States. The ARISE Plus Regional Project will also remain available to work with the private sector to advance ASSIST by holding regular outreach and awareness creation events and training of trainers, in cooperation with the respective private sector stakeholders, gearing towards greater intra-ASEAN trade and regional economic integration.
