DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh on Monday met with visiting Minister of Foreign Trade of the United Arab Emirates Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi to discuss ways to strengthen and expand bilateral trade and investment ties.

The meeting would pave the way for cooperation between the two countries in halal food and rice deals in the future, Cham Prasidh said in the meeting.

He said that for halal food, Cambodia planned to negotiate with Malaysia for cooperation to produce halal food products to export to Dubai.

On the rice side, Cambodia wanted Dubai investors to broker Cambodian milled rice for countries surrounding the Persian Gulf, he said.

Sheikha Lubna said her visit to Cambodia was to widen trade and investment opportunities between the two countries, adding that the bilateral trade volume was 89 million U.S. dollars last year, up 121 percent year-on-year.

"The trade volume is still small, there are more opportunities to strengthen and expand our bilateral trade ties," she said.