Sok Sopheak, Cambodia

Director General

General Directorate of International Trade

Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia
Public Policy Program (’00)

H.E. Sok Sopheak was appointed Director-General of the General Directorate of International Trade, Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia in September 2007 and is as such responsible for trade policy formulation and negotiations.

Mr. Sok graduated with a Bachelors degree from the University of Economics of Cambodia in 1992 and obtained a Masters in Financial Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), of the University of London in 1997 under a special arrangement with the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) and with financial support of the Swedish International Development Agency. He completed his Masters in Public Policy at GRIPS’ predecessor GSPS in 2000, with a master’s thesis on the fiscal impact of trade liberalisation under “Common Effective Preferential Tariff” for AFTA/ASEAN..

H.E. Sok Sopheak started his career as official in charge of electricity policy planning of Koh Kong province in 1986. He was promoted to Director of the Power Plant of Koh Kong Province in 1989. In March 1992, he entered the Ministry of Commerce, as Assistant to the Director of the Foreign Trade Department. From October 1997 till July 2004 he served at the ASEAN and International Organizations Department, first as Deputy Director and from August 1999 as Director. He was appointed Deputy Director-General of the General Directorate of Trade in 2004, in charge of  the ASEAN and International Organizations Department, and the CAMCONTROL Department. He was promoted to Director-General of the General Directorate of International Trade in 2007.

Mr. Sok has been a key member of many high-level trade negotiations committees. Below are some of the activities H.E. Sok Sopheak has been involved in since 2000:

•     Coordinator of Pillar I, Cross Cutting Issues and Legal Reform Team of Trade Sector Wide Approach Program, Ministry of Commerce;
•     Core Member of Negotiating Team for WTO Accession of Cambodia to the World Trade Organization;
•     Chief of Cambodian Negotiator for ASEAN-China FTA Negotiating Group and Member of Trade Negotiating Committee for ASEAN-China Free Trade Area;
•     Head of Cambodia’s delegation for ASEAN-Japan Committee for Close Economic Partnership;
•     Senior Official Meeting for Triangle Development between Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam
•     Member of the Steering Committee on Joint Development Study for Cambodia-Thailand Economic Cooperation Plan;
•     Focal Point of Cambodia for Trade Facilitation Working Group of the ADB/GMS;
•     Member of the Negotiating Team for the Cross Border Transport Agreement of the GMS;
•     Senior Official Meeting on Trade and Investment between ASEAN and EU;
•     Alternate to Project Director for AUSAID Project on Trade Analysis and Reform Project for Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand;
•     Think Tank Member for Implementation of Cambodian Commitments under WTO Membership;
•     Member of National Transport Committee for negotiation on cross border transport agreement between Cambodia-Vietnam and Cambodia-Thailand.