Smooth accession to the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and capacity building of specialists to lead the economy under a market-economy system in order to achieve economic development are pressing needs in Cambodia. This project, with the help of Malaysian economic experts, aims to provide training to Cambodian economic policymakers, scholars, and business people in order to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the domestic policy issues accompanying the transition to a market economy and the roles of various sectors, and to enable them to gain a sound grasp of the state of the economies of member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
This year, the Faculty of Economics and Administration of the University of Malaya and Cambodia's Ministry of Economy and Finance jointly conducted training in Cambodia and Malaysia (October 9-11, 2002, in Phnom Penh and February 1-19, 2003, in Kuala Lumpur). In the training within Cambodia, two professors of economics from the University of Malaya delivered intensive lectures to some 30 people involved in AFTA-related policy from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Council for the Development of Cambodia, and the Ministry of Planning. The training in Malaysia invited 15 of those trainees to visit Kuala Lumpur to observe various institutions related to the market economy, economy-related government agencies, and other organizations.