Thai-listed electronics manufacturer, SVI Public Limited, will be next in line to join Cambodia’s emerging light-manufacturing industry.

SVI will build a factory in the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ) where Cambodian workers will assemble security cameras for export to Europe.

The plan was revealed during a meeting on Monday with representatives from SVI, the Ministry of Commerce and Thailand’s Embassy in Cambodia, the Ministry of Commerce confirmed yesterday.

“The RGC welcomes the Company’s interest in establishing a high-tech manufacturing [company] in Cambodia as it is in line with the policy of the government in moving forward to producing skilled labour forces in the country,” Ken Ratha, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, said in an email yesterday.

“This company will help Cambodian people to become qualified engineers and technicians, and then also provide them opportunities to have good jobs with their skills,” he added.

According to the ministry, SVI is currently training 200 Cambodians in their factory in Bangkok to work at the Cambodian subsidiary once it’s completed.

SVI could not be reached for comment yesterday to confirm a date for construction or the cost of the factory build, but a June 9 company statement on Thailand’s stock exchange said a subsidiary in Cambodia was approved with a registered capital of 35 million Thai baht ($1 million).

Hiroshi Suzuki, chief economist at the Business Research Institute for Cambodia, said that the movement of low-skilled manufacturing from Thailand to Cambodia was a natural progression, due largely to lower labour costs.

“So far, some Japanese manufacturing companies, such as Minebea, have developed this trend,” Suzuki said in an email.

“It is very good that the Thailand companies are joining.”