South Korea to help Cambodia set up stock market

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks during the launching of Cambodia Securities Market Project at a hotel in Phnom Penh September 6, 2007.  REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

PHNOM PENH, Sept 6 (Reuters) - South Korea has agreed to help Cambodia set up a stock exchange, the latest sign of the Southeast Asian nation's recovery from the devastation of Pol Pot's "Killing Fields".

Seoul would spend $1.8 million on training and help set up the technology of the modern stock market Cambodia planned to open in 2009, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Thursday, three months after announcing the country would set up a bourse.

Young-Tak Lee, chairman of the Korean Exchange (KRX), said the assistance would include helping establish rules and regulations as well as the technological side.

"It is necessary to foster the growth of domestic securities companies and prevent the market dominance by the foreign investors and securities companies," Lee said in a still poor country where a 30-year civil war ended only in 1998.

"We expect to see the grand opening of the Cambodia securities market in the second half of 2009," he said.

South Korea is a leading investor in Cambodia and a group of its investors plan to build a $2 billion new city near Phnom Penh to include a financial centre.