Cambodia became a destination of foreign direct investment (FDI) after the country’s first general elections which were held in 1993. Although Cambodia attracted certain amounts of foreign investment before the UN-backed general election in 1993 (see further) no reliable firm level longitudinal data on inward FDI could be found.4 Based on approved foreign-invested projects5 FDI in Cambodia originated from 32 countries during the period 1994–2005.6 According to this source the majority of Cambodia’s inward FDI was of Asian origin, and came more particularly from Malaysia, Taiwan, and China, which together accounted for about 60 per cent of the total. FDI from developed countries was quite small both in absolute and relative terms. The FDI from the world’s largest investors i.e., the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) in Cambodia during