Prime Minister Hun Manet Friday held a meeting to assess the progress of establishing Cambodia’s first cashew industrial park in Kampong Thom province, aimed at advancing the development of the country’s cashew sector. The cashew industrial park, the first of its kind in Cambodia, is planned for construction in Kampong Thom province, the region with the largest cashew cultivation in the country. The park, covering nearly 600 hectares, will primarily focus on cashew processing and is located approximately 13 kilometres from the provincial capital of Kampong Thom. The meeting was also attended by Sun Chanthol, Deputy Prime Minister and First Vice President of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), Aun Pornmoniroth, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance (MEF), Sok Chenda Sophea, Deputy Prime Minister, Sok Siphana, Senior Minister in charge of Special Missions and Chairman of the Trade Policy Advisory Board of the Royal Government of Cambodia, Nuon Pharath, Governor of Kampong Thom province, along with many other senior officials. “Leading a meeting to review the progress of the preparation of a cashew industrial park to promote the development of the Cambodian cashew sector,” Mr Hun Manet wrote on his social media. Suy Kokthean, Vice President of the Cashew Nut Association of Cambodia (CAC), told Khmer Times on Sunday that it is fortunate that Prime Minister Hun Manet has paid direct attention to this sector, and this attention is not only on paper, but he has also personally inspected the community. He said that the Prime Minister decided to establish the cashew industrial park in Kampong Thom province. He is confident that the cashew sector will grow faster than the rice sector in the near future, while investors have also gradually started to invest in the province. “I believe that this sector will grow rapidly in the near future, and Cambodia will become the king of all parts including quality, grain size, and quantity. This sector will also grow faster than the rice sector in the next few years because the rice sector does not yet have a large industrial park like cashew,” Kokthean emphasised. Kampong Thom Governor Nuon Pharath earlier told Khmer Times that the proposed agro-industrial park is planned on an area of more than 500 hectares with feasibility studies underway to explore potential partnerships on the project. He added that Kampong Thom province is rich in agricultural and industrial potential, particularly in rice, rubber, cassava, and cashew nuts. The province cultivates about 152,611 hectares of land, producing approximately 221,758 tonnes of cashew nuts annually. It may be recalled that earlier this month, Prime Minister Hun Manter visited a modern cashew nut farming community in Kampong Thom province and got first-hand information on cashew cultivation. Meeting with the Prasat Sambo Rong Roeung modern cashew nut community in Kaul commune, Prasat Sambo district, Kampong Thom province, the Premier learned a lot about the real situation of cashew cultivation, its benefits as well as the challenges faced by the farmers. “Our economic development depends on the agricultural sector, and the Royal Government, since previous mandates, has given significant attention to cashew nuts,” Mr Hun Manet emphasised. Cambodia produced 850,000 tonnes of cashew nuts so far this year, up 26.8 percent and exported 815,000 tonnes of cashew nuts, up 31 percent. However, exports to Vietnam remained stagnant at 793,453 tonnes.