Vietnam and Cambodia have plenty of rooms to further their ties, President Truong Tan Sang told Rasmei Kampuchea, the largest daily in Khmer language in Cambodia ahead of his visit to the country on December 23-24.
The front page of the daily published on December 21 covered an interview with the President by its Editor-In-Chief Pen Samitthy.
The Vietnamese President said his visit aims to further deepen the traditional friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia, meeting aspirations of the two peoples.
In the coming time, he expressed wish for facilitating visits at all levels to raise mutual understanding.
Both countries should strengthen cooperation across tourism, telecommunications, banking, oil and gas, industry and agriculture, towards achieving a trade value of 5 billion USD in 2015 as agreed, he said.
He added that science-technology, education, health care and culture also need due attention.
Vietnam will provide more scholarships for Cambodian graduates and post-graduates studying in the country, he promised.
He suggested raising awareness of younger generations about the tradition of bilateral ties and working on land border demarcation for a borderline of peace, friendship, cooperation and development.
On regional and international arena, the two countries should offer mutual support within the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam development triangle, the Ayeywady – Chao Praya – Mekong economic cooperation strategy, the Greater Mekong Sub-region, ASEAN, and the United Nations, he said.
He noted that history recorded all difficulties that had been jointly surmounted by the two countries and sacrifices they had made for each other for their national independence and freedom, saying these are invaluable pride that need to be handed down to next generations.
The President said the political and diplomatic ties between the two countries have been deepened basing on the mutual trust and understanding.
Economic, trade and investment cooperation was given top priority in the bilateral connection while that in security and defence received a lot of attention.
Affiliation in education, training, healthcare and culture has been unceasingly boosted, the President told the paper.
He noted that the two countries’ cooperation within multilateral mechanisms has been strengthened over the past times.
In the end of the interview, the State leader expressed his full belief that the bilateral friendship and coordination across the board will go forward with great strides.-VNA
