Vietnam will do it utmost, together with Cambodia , to foster the neighbourliness, traditional friendship and comprehensive and long-term cooperation between the two nations.

Nguyen Huy Tang, deputy head of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations, made the affirmation while meeting with Tep Ngorn, member of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) Central Committee and Senate Vice President, in Phnom Penh on June 6.

Congratulating the Cambodian people on their recent all-round achievements, Tang expressed his wish that under the leadership of the CPP, they will reap greater results in national construction and development.

The Vietnamese official informed his host of China’s illegal placement of its oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 in Vietnam’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone, stating the Vietnam’s stance is to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty by peaceful means on the basis of international law, particularly the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC).

For his part, Tep Ngorn spoke highly of the comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties and States and expressed thanks for Vietnam ’s valuable, timely and effective assistance to Cambodia over the past time.

He asserted that the CPP and the Cambodian people will try their best to preserve and develop the traditional friendship between the two countries.

He said he is surprised at China ’s oil rig deployment, especially as the two sides signed an agreement on the basic principles guiding the settlement of sea-related issues.

Voicing concern about the current East Sea situation, the Cambodian official expressed his wish that the parties involved will exercise restraint and accelerate negotiations to solve the issue peacefully in respect for international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS.

The same day, the Vietnamese delegation had working sessions with the CPP’s commissions, and the CPP committees of Phnom Penh , Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom and Siem Reap.-VNA