The opening ceremony of the 2nd Italian Expo Cambodia was held on February 5, 2026, at the Diamond Island Exhibition and Convention Centre in Phnom Penh, bringing together businesspeople, traders, and major companies from Italy to explore business partnerships, networking opportunities, and regional cooperation.
The ceremony was presided over by H.E. Samheng Bora, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Commerce, with remarks also delivered by H.E. Nut Unvoanra, Deputy Secretary General of the Cambodia Investment Board of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC); Oknha Dr. Tan Monivann, Vice President of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce; Gabriele Faja, Chairperson of the Italian Business Chamber (ItaCham) and the European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham); and Paolo Bridi, General Manager of Prometeo Group SRL Unipersonale.
Organised by Prometeo Group and Twin Goat Exhibition and Trading Co. Ltd., Italian Expo Cambodia 2026 is a three day expo (February 5–7, 2026) that provides a platform for Italian companies to strengthen their presence in Cambodia’s growing market while establishing new business relationships with potential clients, importers, and distributors.
The expo features around 80 booths representing approximately 50 companies across a wide range of sectors, including agricultural machinery, furniture, food and beverages, kitchenware, cosmetics, construction materials, clothing, and more, imported from Italy. The event also showcases booths featuring locally made Cambodian products.
“Italian Expo Cambodia is not merely a showcase of products and services, it is a platform to design and connect businesses, test partnerships, exchange technology and translate interest into concrete commercial outcomes,” said H.E. Samheng Bora, during his opening remarks. “Exhibitions of this nature are most meaningful, and they generate momentum that continues well beyond the exhibition floor.”
Representing the main organiser of the event, Paolo Bridi also underlined how the expo is taking place during a historical moment that is deeply marked by international tensions and conflicts that inevitably have a significant impact on the global economy, as well as on the country's prospect for growth and development.
“The message conveyed by events such as Italian Expo Cambodia 2026 is the importance of promoting cooperation between different countries, different economies, different cultural and business opportunities," said Bridi.
He also noted that Cambodia has a growing need for technology and machinery to enhance its production capacity for export – such as in agricultural fruit cultivation and textiles – and Italy, as the world's fourth largest manufacturing country, is well positioned to provide this technology and machinery.
According to figures from the General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE), bilateral trade between Cambodia and Italy reached USD 490 million in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 21.8 per cent from USD 402 million in 2024.
Of this total, Cambodia exported USD 381 million worth of goods to Italy, up 16.4 per cent from USD 327 million in the previous year, while imports from Italy surged by 45 per cent to USD 109 million.
Cambodia mainly exported consumer goods such as garments and footwear to Italy, while importing Italian cosmetics, industrial textile machinery, and automotive products.
