Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak has high hopes for the new China Commercial Market, saying on Thursday that it would help the Kingdom’s businesses export more to the regional powerhouse.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony in Kandal, Sorasak said the market will help promote Cambodian goods in China.

“The market will absorb domestic goods produced by SMEs to boost exports,” he said, adding that jobs will also be created in the venture.

The China Commercial Market is located along National Road 4 in Kandal province’s Ang Snoul district.

Zhang Ying, the deputy director of the Trade Department of Sichuan province, who also attended the inauguration, said the market was a move in his country’s “One Belt, One Road” development initiative.

China is the largest investment partner in Cambodia. The value of bilateral trade between the two countries hit $5.8 billion last year, with exports from Cambodia accounting for $1 billion of that figure, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce.