Phnom Penh (VNA) – Cambodian King Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni hosted an official welcome ceremony for Vietnamese President To Lam at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh on July 12.
The Vietnamese leader is paying a state visit to Cambodia on July 12 and 13 at the invitation of the King.
Following the welcome ceremony, President Lam had a meeting with King Norodom Sihamoni.
On the basis of the good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, and long-term sustainability between the two countries, President Lam’s state visit to Cambodia, part of his first overseas tour as the State leader of Vietnam, is critically important to continuing to reinforce the political trust and promote all-round cooperation in a more practical and effective manner, thereby affirming Vietnam’s consistent policy of attaching importance to, further intensifying its relations with Cambodia, as well as strengthening the trust and close-knit ties between high-ranking leaders of the two countries.
The bilateral relations have been maintained firmly, with Party-to-Party cooperation holding the core role in setting up orientations for the two countries’ ties. Defence - security cooperation remains a pillar while economic, trade, and investment partnerships are currently a bright spot, especially the vigorous growth of bilateral trade.
Vietnam is currently the third largest trading partner of Cambodia in the world and the biggest trading partner within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The bilateral trade rose from 5.32 billion USD in 2020 to 10.57 billion USD in 2022. Last year, despite negative impacts from the global economic recession, the two-way trade was still maintained at a high level, reaching 8.57 billion USD. In the first five months of 2024, the Vietnam-Cambodia trade hit 4.6 billion USD and is expected to reach the 10-billion-USD mark again for the whole year.
Vietnam now has 205 valid projects with combined registered capital of 2.94 billion USD, ranking first among ASEAN nations and in the top five countries with the highest amounts of direct investment in Cambodia. Meanwhile, Cambodia has 35 valid projects worth 76 million USD in Vietnam.
Vietnam and Cambodia have also been stepping up collaboration in the fields of education, transport, culture - social affairs, tourism, and science-technology. They have recorded new progress in the settlement of legal papers for Vietnamese-origin people. Exchanges and cooperation between people’s organisations of the countries have also been maintained and reformed.
Besides, the two nations have kept cooperation, coordination, and mutual support at multilateral forums, particularly the United Nations, ASEAN, and sub-regional cooperation mechanisms./.
