Party chief’s upcoming visit to boost Vietnam-Cambodia relations

The Ambassador noted that the visit, the second of the Party chief to Cambodia after the first one on December 6-8, 2011, is taking place on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Vietnam-Cambodia diplomatic ties, which shows that Vietnam always attaches great importance to the neighbourliness and friendship between the two countries.

The visit also aims to affirm Vietnam’s adherence to the motto of good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive, sustainable and long-term cooperation with Cambodia, which was agreed by the two sides in 2005, he added.

The ambassador stressed that the upcoming visit of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong follows a series of visits by President Tran Dai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

He also noted that in recent years, King Norodom Sihamoni of Cambodia has paid several official visits to Vietnam. This year saw Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and President of the Cambodian National Assembly Samdech Heng Samrin visit Vietnam to celebrate the 50th founding anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties.

During the visits, leaders of the two countries have reiterated their strong determination to nurture the bilateral friendship, solidarity and cooperation for the interests of the two peoples.

Highlighting achievements in Vietnam-Cambodia cooperation, the Ambassador said the bilateral rapports have continuously grown through historical ups and downs.

Trade and investment cooperation has expanded rapidly, with Vietnam having become one of the leading economic partners of Cambodia. Two-way trade reached nearly US$3 billion in 2016 and around 190 projects of Vietnam worth nearly US$2.9 billion have been licensed in Cambodia.

However, the diplomat said there is still room for further developing the bilateral cooperation, urging the two sides to pay more attention to boosting affiliation in education, training, healthcare, and culture, while strengthening collaboration in security and defense.

He stressed that both nations continue to commit themselves to the policy of not allowing any hostile forces to use their territory to threaten the security of the other country.

On the basis of agreements and treaties reached by top leaders, the two countries have been actively coordinating to implement the land border demarcation and border marker planting. According to the ambassador, Vietnam and Cambodia have completed over 84 percent of the work and strive to complete it as soon as possible in order to build a border line of peace, friendship, cooperation and sustainable development.

On the prospects of bilateral ties, the Ambassador said in order to maintain the good relations, Vietnam and Cambodia should continue to exchange delegations between their Parties, States, National Assemblies and Governments as well as ministries and localities to reinforce the bilateral trust.

At the same time, it is necessary to enhance partnership across the fields, especially economics, trade, investment, culture-society, tourism, security and defense, to make them match the sound political relations, he said.

He noted the need for both countries to expand and diversify international relations to overcome common difficulties and challenges, with priority given to close coordination at forums such as the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Development Triangle, Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam (CLMV) Cooperation, Ayaoadi-Chaophaya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and United Nations (UN), in order to increase Vietnam and Cambodia’s position and prestige in the region and beyond.

The ambassador also called attention to the education of young generations on the good neighbourliness, traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, which is important to bilateral sustainable cooperation in the long run.