ERIA President: Japan Investors Eye Cambodia as Manufacturing Hub

ERIA President: Japan Investors Eye Cambodia as Manufacturing Hub

PHNOM PENH, Feb 9, 2026 — Cambodia has strong potential to attract Japanese investors and could emerge as a new regional manufacturing base, the head of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) said on Monday.

Professor Tetsuya Watanabe, president of ERIA, made the remarks during a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, according to an official readout.

Watanabe said Cambodia offers growing opportunities for Japanese investment, particularly as Japanese companies seek to relocate production facilities within Southeast Asia amid shifting regional supply chains.

He briefed Hun Manet on ERIA’s study on the proposed Cambodia–Japan Green Special Economic Zone (C-J GSEZ), highlighting Cambodia’s potential to become a new industrial production hub that would support both national economic growth and regional and global value chains.

Watanabe also said Japanese investors had expressed interest in expanding their presence in Cambodia and noted plans to organise a Cambodia–Japan business forum to encourage further investment inflows.

In response, Hun Manet welcomed ERIA’s findings and praised the institute’s research, reaffirming the government’s focus on developing green special economic zones, as well as industry-and country-specific SEZs.

The prime minister encouraged ERIA to continue working closely with relevant ministries, particularly the Council for the Development of Cambodia, and with private-sector stakeholders in both Cambodia and Japan, to explore viable models for bilateral or trilateral special economic zones, the statement said.

Cambodia has been positioning itself as an alternative manufacturing destination as firms diversify supply chains away from traditional hubs, leveraging competitive labour costs, improving infrastructure and expanding regional connectivity.