The government will hold the first-ever conference of the Cambodian Cashew Federation in early October, according to a release by the Ministry of Commerce. The Ministry of Commerce, foreign partners, and private companies will join hands to discuss the establishment of the Cambodian Cashew Federation to integrate the sector into the international market. The establishment of the CCF aims at having a national-level coordination and support body to promote Cambodia cashews in both production and marketing in the interest of local producers, processors and exporters. The ministry’s secretary of state and Cambodian Cashew Nut Policy Joint Working Group deputy chairman Reach Ra, who led the meeting recently, stressed that the cashew federation is an important representative of the private sector in the cashew sector, as stated in the draft national policy on cashews, and is an important driving force in the implementation of the policy meet the needs of local and global markets. The ministry he said must pay close attention to chairing the meeting to review the draft statute of the federation, the procedure for electing the board and the process of preparing for the meeting scheduled to be held in October, and to coordinate the procedures for the registration of the federation at the Ministry of Interior. The meeting was followed by a presentation by representatives of the Cambodian Institute for Research Rural Development (CIRD) and the Department of Private Sector Development on the drafting of the federal statute, the procedures for the election of the federal leadership and the registration process at the Ministry of Interior. The meeting then opened with a lively discussion on key issues on the agenda and examined in detail the draft statute prepared by representatives of development partners. The development partners and stakeholders were asked to continue to cooperate with the Ministry of Commerce even after the establishment of the Cambodian Cashew Federation. The CCF will play a proactive and innovative role, contribute to the promotion of human and technical resources and continue to attract national and international partners to develop the Cambodian cashew sector to export to the international market. Cashew nut Association of Cambodia (CAC) president Uon Silot told Khmer Times, “Cambodia has a competitive advantage in the production of high-quality cashew nuts. There is an opportunity to commercialise, diversify and integrate the sector into the international market.†“The primary constraints to the development of the sector are in the production-extension, added-value, commercialisation, sector-organisation and export-process areas,†Silot said. Cambodia exported about 660,000 tonnes of raw cashew nuts worth more than $1.077 billion to Vietnam in the first seven months of 2022, down by 350,000 tonnes or 34.65 per cent year-on-year, according to the head of the CAC.