Japan and Cambodia on Thursday signed a bilateral investment pact to attract more capital from the world No. 2 economy to the Southeast Asian country.

The pact was signed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visiting Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who started his three- day journey on Wednesday.

According to the pact, Japanese firms will be treated equally with local firms in terms of regulations and taxation, and the Cambodian side will make efforts to build a favorable investment environment.

Japan hopes that the pact will contribute to Cambodia's strategy to protect and promote direct investment by foreign firms as part of efforts to restore its economy, Kyodo News quoted Japanese officials as saying.

A bilateral joint statement released later in the day reads that "trade and investment are important for sustainable economic growth in Cambodia."

According to Japanese officials, Japan will dispatch "a business mission composed of representatives from both the government and private sector" to Cambodia next month to discuss opportunities for economic cooperation.

On the international efforts to tackle global warming, Cambodia extended its support to Japan's recent proposal of cutting global greenhouse emissions by 50 percent by 2050 and expressed its willingness to cooperate with Japan over creating a post-Kyoto climate change framework.

Source: Xinhua