Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (L) and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen at a ceremony marking 45 years of the journey to overthrow Pol Pot genocidal regime (Photo: VNA) In the interview, Prak Sokhonn said that over the past 55years, Cambodia and Vietnam have affirmed to the world that their relationship issustainable, profound, comprehensive and resilient to regional and internationalgeopolitical fluctuations.
The two countries have the ability to maintain and promotetheir close solidarity and cooperation in all fields and all frameworks, bothbilaterally and multilaterally, in order to improve the living standards oftheir people, and make important contributions to preserving peace, stability,sustainable development and prosperity of the ASEAN community and the world, hestressed.
Recalling outstanding achievements in the bilateralrelations, the Deputy PM said that the bilateral trade scale has grownremarkably. Two-way trade surged from 85 million USD in 1995 to 9.5 billion USDlast year, and 5.45 billion USD in the first five months of this year.
As of late 2021, Vietnam ranked fifth in terms of foreigninvestment in Cambodia with 2.5 billion USD.
In the field of education, since 1981, the two countries haveregularly exchanged students and granted scholarships to each other's students.Each year, Vietnam grants 120 scholarships to Cambodia, while the latter presents15 ones to the former.
Regarding security and defence, Prak Sokhonn stated that thetwo countries’ public security forces and armies have been coordinating andtaking strict and effective measures to prevent and control crimes along theborder.
In terms of the border work, the building of a borderlineof peace, friendship, cooperation and development is Cambodian PrimeMinister Hun Sen's steadfast point of view and determination. The two countrieshave completed 84 percent of the border demarcation and are making efforts to soonfinish the remaining work. Currently, Cambodia and Vietnam have 43 pairs of joint bordergates, including four seaports, 14 international border gates, 13 bilateral and12 auxiliary ones.
In the health aspect, the two countries have supported eachother in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, both in terms of finance,medical supplies and solidarity through the exchange of information andexperiences, especially among border provinces.
Regarding cooperation in regional and international forums, theDeputy PM said that the two countries have cooperated closely at sub-regionaland regional levels such as cooperation frameworks in the Cambodia-LaosDevelopment Triangle Area (CLM), the Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam Cooperation(CLMV), Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS),Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation, and often supported eachother within the framework of the United Nations and international organisations.
To further boost the bilateral ties, Prak Sokhonn said thatthe two countries will continue preserving, nurturing and consolidating theirtraditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation; effectively implementing existingmechanisms, realising signed documents and agreements for the commoninterests of the two peoples and contributing to peace, stability, prosperityand sustainable development of the ASEAN community and the world.
Cambodia and Vietnam will continue to make efforts to solvethe arising challenges on the principles of good neighbourliness, mutualunderstanding and win-win cooperation, he added./.
VNA
