Cambodia has signed a double taxation agreement with Vietnam that protects each country’s nationals from dual taxation, according to a news release from the General Department of Taxation released on Tuesday.

The agreement was signed on Saturday on the sidelines of the Greater Mekong Subregion Summit held in Hanoi.

Chou Vichith, secretary of state at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, signed the agreement with Vietnamese Vice-Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha at a ceremony attended by both countries’ prime ministers. Details of the agreement have not yet been released.

The DTA should be a boon for cross-border trade, according to Clint O'Connell, head of the Cambodia tax practice at DFDL law firm.

"The recent signing is significant as Vietnam is an important source of FDI in Cambodia, and the DTA will hopefully act as a stimulus to encourage further Vietnamese investment into Cambodia" by streamlining tax processes, O'Connell said yesterday.

According to the tax department, the agreement with Vietnam brings the total number of double taxation agreements signed by the Kingdom to five, including deals with Singapore, China, Brunei and Thailand. Negotiations with Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Japan are ongoing.