Biggest industrial investment project signed in Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone

Celimo Tires project, totaling $300 million, landed in Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) in Preah Sihanouk Province, Cambodia on Friday. The project is invested by Hodo Group, a private enterprise in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. It is the largest industrial project in the zone.

Zhou Haijiang, board chairman of Hodo Group, together with staff at SSEZ, witnessed the whole process at the "Upgrading of SSEZ" video conference in Wuxi.

"The factory will go into operation before the end of next year. The output is expected to be 6 million tires a year, and the factory is expected to provide 1,600 job opportunities." Gu Cui said. He is the representative of the investor and board chairman of Jiangsu General Science Technology Co., Ltd., a holding subsidiary of Hodo Group. The tires will be sold to the United States and Brazil for business cars and family cars.

Long Dimanche, vice governor of Preah Sihanouk Province, said SSEZ provides nearly 30,000 job opportunities to local people and helps decrease the rate of poverty. It contributes as the most important part to the development of Preah Sihanouk Province. Li Jun, vice director of Development and Reform Commission of Jiangsu province agreed, as the symbolic project of the Belt and Road in Jiangsu, SSEZ brings down-to-earth satisfaction and happiness to staff in the zone and people living in the neighboring regions.

Twenty-eight days ago, SSEZ was highly appraised on the third symposium on the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, which gave Zhou Haijiang great encouragement. In 2007, together with his colleagues, Zhou Haijiang, hoping to help local people get rich and enjoy better lives, set foot on the wild land with no electricity or tap water. Fourteen years later, there are standardized factory buildings, university buildings, legal service centers, libraries and shopping streets, which was mainly invested by Hodo Group. SSEZ is home to 170 enterprises. From January to November this year, thanks to the effective containing of COVID-19, the economy of SSEZ increased against the current trend. The imports and exports from January to November this year have amounted to $2 billion, up 40.03 percent year-on-year. Last month, it even set a record of $200 million.

The fast development of SSEZ not only directly brings more widespread and profound cooperation between Wuxi and Sihanoukville City, and that between Jiangsu province and Preah Sihanouk Province, but also impels the launch of flight between Wuxi and SSEZ. On Friday, Wuxi and Preah Sihanouk Province started a batch of new projects for people's livelihood, including profound cooperation for a remote medical consultation program.