Sokimex is not only the first Cambodian company of petroleum products, but it has several businesses in other areas of the Cambodian economy. Can you introduce us briefly your corporation with its main axes of activity?

Sokimex is indeed the first petroleum company of the country but it is also involved in several other businesses like pharmaceutical products; tourism with hotels in Siem Reap and Sihanoukville; we are also present in the garment industry with two factories in Phnom Penh and we have other business operations in Sihanoukville with an oil jetty, and an export terminal in the port.

We started business as a trading company importing mainly construction materials like cement, steel, beverages, petroleum and other needed materials and exporting agricultural products like beans, rice, corn and rubber. At that time Cambodia was leaving a planned economy system to enter a period of free market.

Can you share with us the main figures of Sokimex and its evolution in the last few years?

Sokimex has around 2000 employees in total. The capital of the company is 100 million USD, most of the capital is in the form of fixed assets, around 60%, as we invest a lot in properties in Cambodia, like the hotels, the jetty, the gas stations, etc... The turnover in the year 2002 was between 500 and 700 million USD. We have around 184 gas stations and small distribution outlets distributed all over the country.

Your company is the market leader in the field of petroleum products, what is your market share and what are your development plans to maintain this leading position?

Sokimex has 45% of the market in Cambodia. We reached and will maintain this position by being the cost leader. Our strategy is to reduce the costs in every process we undertake. First, we follow the trends in the oil market so we only buy oil when the prices are low. We have quite a big storage capacity with tanks of our own in Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh and Battambang so we can allow ourselves to have huge quantities of stock at barely no cost. Our own jetty in the port of Sihanoukville helps us also to reduce the costs and we have also our own trucks to deliver the oil to the stations.

Your activities in the oil industry are all downstream, but Cambodia has a promising potential in the exploration and exploitation of oil. Do you have any plans to start in the upstream side of the oil industry?

So far there are no intentions for Sokimex to get into the exploration and exploitation of the oil reserves of Cambodia. We have seen several foreign companies coming to Cambodia and spending big quantities of money into exploration. the costs attached to this kind of operations are too high. We prefer to keep our business into the import and distribution. We have done some feasibility studies to build a refinery, but if we build a small capacity refinery, the quality of the final product will not be as desired and building a high-technology refinery would take an investment Sokimex can not engage at this moment. Furthermore, the need of the Cambodian market is not big enough for a large refinery and that would force us to export our products, leaving us exposed to a market where we cannot compete with the big international oil companies.

Sokimex has a strong diversification policy, specially what concerns tourism. You have the ticketing concession of the Angkor Wat temples and the Sokha Beach resort in Sihanoukville. Can you tell us more about Sokimex's tourism development policy?

The Cambodian government and our company as well is focusing in tourism as there are several natural resources we can exploit. There are hundreds of temples sites spread throughout the country and the landscape of Cambodia offers also nice beaches and mountains that can attract tourists towards our country. Sokimex has the long term plan to build several hotels throughout the country. A 3 star hotel in Sihanoukville is almost finished and later on will be upgraded to 5 star hotel. We have already built a 5 star hotel in Siem Reap and we have a nearby terrain where we will build a motel too. Other projects we have in the tourism sector is the construction of a hotel in Preah Vihear, close to the Thai border. We have proposed the government to provide us the concession agreement and we will build the road from Preah Vihear to Siem Reap. In the same spirit, we want to build another hotel in Kampong Thom close to another temple site under the same conditions, that is, concession agreement in exchange of road construction. If we achieve that, we will be able to offer to tourists a whole package. First we link several temple sites and from there, the tourist will be able to go South to visit Phnom Penh and finally relax at the beach resorts of Sihanoukville. With this strategy we hope to help Cambodia develop a strong tourism sector.

Can you explain us more about the capacity of the hotel in Siem Reap and the other hotels you are planning to construct?

Our hotel in Siem Reap has 200 rooms with Chinese, Thai and Japanese restaurants. There are spa and massage facilities, shopping center, conference rooms and sport installations including a swimming pool. The other hotels will have the same kind of structure. Our target market is the upscale international and local tourist.

For the temples of Angkor Wat you have a contract with the Apsara Authority. The construction of the oil jetty in the port of Sihanoukville was in partnership with Marubeni Corporation. What is your strategy in terms of partnership and for which of your businesses would you be interested into attracting associates?

We are indeed looking for a foreign partner, specially to manage our properties. I am involved in the negotiations with potential partners. Often, we come across barriers when it comes to budget and salary negotiations. Due to that, we are willing to try to operate the hotels by our own hiring someone with expertise in the field who can train the personnel and help us save money.

What about other businesses you have? Specifically in which ones would you be interested into attracting partners?

Cambodia has also a great potential in agriculture. So far we are not implicated in this sector, but we are looking at the possibilities. In the long term Sokimex will be involved in this sector, not only in the production but also in the processing area and we will definitely engage a foreign partner to help us specially in the financing. Agriculture is a long term business and it needs a lot of investment.

Next to your function as Vice-Chairman of Sokimex, you are also implicated in the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce where you are the Vice-President. Can you tell us a little bit more about the Chamber of Commerce?

I have been working for 5 years in the Chamber of Commerce. There I meet a lot of foreign delegations interested in Cambodia. The Chamber mainly gathers and channels information for our members about the business and economy of Cambodia and also about possibilities outside our country. We also work in collaboration with the government providing them with information and helping them to improve the laws concerning the business environment and investment possibilities. The Chamber of Commerce has also cooperation agreements with other chambers in neighbouring countries to exchange information. The Chamber has 36 elected members and 20 advisor members appointed by the Minister of Commerce. Further there are around 700 ordinary members comprising all kind of companies, from the biggest corporations in the country to small and medium enterprises.

A man with such a broad scope of activities, is the kind of people that interests our readers. What can you tell us about your professional background and what has been your greatest satisfaction while working at Sokimex?

I have a degree as engineer and a post-graduate MBA degree. I worked 4 years for the government and then I decided to establish my own business for two years. After this short experience, I started to work for Sokimex in 1991. Seen Sokimex growing so fast and having the opportunity to develop my own skills and creating jobs for so many Cambodians, are without a doubt my greatest satisfactions.

With your position in Sokimex and at the Chamber of Commerce, you are one of the main representatives of the private sector in Cambodia. In this position, what would be your final message to potential investors interested into Cambodia?

Cambodia has several natural resources, but we lack human and financial resources. There is still need of participation of the private sector to rebuild the economy of the country. There are several opportunities, just come, talk to the local businessmen and join them in partnerships to exploit those natural resources Cambodia is so rich of. The Cambodian government will also be there providing a good environment to conduce businesses in the country. I think it is the right moment to come to Cambodia to do business.