H.E. Mr. PAN Sorasak was appointed as Minister of Commerce of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) in April 2016.

Upon his appointment, H.E. Mr. Pan has made the strengthen of trade-related legal and regulatory framework as one of his main priorities. These efforts culminated in the promulgation of many laws and amendments including law on trade remedy (Nov 2017), e-commerce law and consumer protection (Nov 2019) and competition law (Oct 2021). H.E. Mr. Pan was also a driving force behind Cambodia’s integration into the regional and global economy through his stewardship of many regional and bilateral trade agreements, most notably, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (ratified in Oct 2021), Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement (ratified in Oct 2021), and Cambodia-Korea Free Trade Agreement (ratified on Jan 2022) as well as other ASEAN and ASEAN Plus agreements.

H.E. Mr. Pan has been instrumental in strengthening Cambodia’s participation in multilateral cooperation by establishing a dedicated Permanent Mission of Cambodia to the WTO, UNCTAD, WIPO, ITC UNIDO and WCO and other international organizations responsible for economy and trade in Geneva. In 2017, H.E. Mr. Pan spearheaded the successful second Trade Policy Review of Cambodia at the WTO and in 2021, Cambodia deposited its accession protocol to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, thereby confirmed Cambodia’s commitment to strengthen the implementation of international laws. He has frequently lead delegation to participate in many meetings, conferences and forums under the auspices of those international organizations to bring Cambodia’s voice and perspective to the world.

H.E. Mr. Pan also lead many reform initiatives at the Ministry of Commerce. In the effort to improve Cambodia’s business environment, he played critical role in introducing automation systems to provide better access to the Ministry’s public services including the Certificate of Origin and Business Registration Automation System. In relation to this, he was also behind the amendments of Cambodia’s laws on commercial enterprise and law on commercial rules and register (Jan 2022) to amend critical provisions required to improving Cambodia’ ease of doing business. He also leads the re-organization of one of the Ministry’s directorates into a specialized agency for consumer protection, food safety and competition to ensure safety for the consumers and level playing field for businesses and other internal reform to improve effective functioning of the Ministry.