PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Chief Executive Officer of Cambodia\'s Soma Group Sok Puthyvuth (R) and Vice-chairman of Thailand\'s CP Trading Group Prasit Damrongchietanon (L) shaking hands after signing a joint-venture agreement here on Thursday. — Xinhua Photo PHNOM PENH, June 19 (Xinhua): Cambodia's Soma Group and Thailand's C.P. Intertrade on Thursday signed a joint-venture agreement to build a sophisticated rice milling and refining factory in the western Kampong Speu province of Cambodia.
The deal was inked between Sok Puthyvuth, chief executive officer of Soma Group, and Prasit Damrongchietanon, vice-chairman of C.P. Trading Group.
Speaking to reporters after the signing ceremony, Sok Puthyvuth said the joint venture was to invest in constructing a large-scale rice milling and refining factory in Cambodia with an estimated investment of US$50 million.
"The factory will be capable to process 300,000 tonnes of rice a year," he said. Puthyvuth, who is the son of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and son-in-law of Prime Minister Hun Sen, said the factory would begin to produce the best quality rice for global market from the first quarter of 2015.
Prasit Damrongchietanon said, "The joint-venture marks a significant milestone for the Cambodian rice industry as C.P. Intertrade will bring its state of the art expertise in rice milling and refining as well as ready market access to more than 100 countries in the world."
Cambodia produced about 9.4 million tonnes of paddy rice last year. Of this amount, the country has more than 3 million tonnes of milled rice left over for exports this year.
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