Cambodia Constructor’s Association President takes on new role

• 30 March 2017
• Association Focus
• 2614 Views

As a Chinese-Cambodian descendant and a leading figure in Cambodia’s business community, Neak Oknha Pung Kheav Se was recently elected as the new head of the Cambodian-Chinese Association in Cambodia, succeeding Oknha Duong Chhiv, who has retired after holding the post for the last 16 years.

At a dinner reception for over 4,000 Chinese and Cambodian participants presided over by Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen on 4 February at Diamond Island, Neak Oknha Pung Kheav Se gave a detailed overview of this significant association.

The Cambodian-Chinese Association was established in Cambodia in 1990 and as the community has grown over the years, the current membership now consists of 140 associations including all five Chinese ethnic communities, 13 big Chinese surnames, branches of Chinese-Cambodian communities from Cambodia’s 25 cities/province, and 50 Chinese schools with over 50,000 students.

Today, about 1 million people of Cambodian-Chinese descent and Chinese people are living in Cambodia. Among them, 800,000 are Chinese descents born in Cambodia and the rest are Chinese migrants originated from China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan,.

“This association was incepted to inspire all Cambodian-Chinese people living in Cambodia to jointly contribute to the socio-economic developments in this country. The association has also attracted many overseas Cambodian-Chinese investors to do business in Cambodia,” the new president explained.

The association now plans to plans to expand its operations and activities to serve for the prosperity of Cambodian-Chinese people here as well as help contributing to Cambodia’s economic development. The association has also set up two new offices for trade facilitation and legal consultancy.

Neak Oknha Pung Kheav Se, left Cambodia to Canada in the 1970s due to the civil war. He returned in 1991 and established Canadia Bank, currently the second-largest commercial bank in Cambodia.

He is also the director of the kingdom’s largest conglomerate the Overseas Cambodian Investment Corporation (OCIC), the developer behind dozens of real estate projects including the multibillion-dollar Diamond Island satellite city and Chroy Changvar satellite city.

He was also recently elected as head of the Cambodia Constructors Association for its 2nd mandate, and is chairman of the Association of Banks in Cambodia. 40 delegates from the Cambodia Constructors Association were also invited to attend the hallmark dinner event to celebrate his presidency of the Cambodian-Chinese Association.

During his speech, Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen outlined his strong support for the Cambodia-China Strategic Partnership Policy saying that, “I appeal to every person of Cambodian-Chinese descent from all associations and surnames to implement cooperation in the framework of strategic partners between Cambodia and China, which during the latest visit, President Xi Jinping and I have promoted to comprehensive strategic partner status. This has been the pride of a long-lasting historic relation between Cambodia and China”. 