National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan delivers a speech at the ceremony (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan delivereda speech at the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam-Cambodia diplomatic ties held inHanoi on June 24.
Following is the full text of the speech translated by VNA.
Exellency Samdech Heng Samrin, Honorary President of the Cambodian People’sParty, President of the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Chairmanof the Solidarity Front for the Development of Cambodian Motherland NationalCouncil,
Exellency Leaders, former Leaders of the Party and State of Vietnam,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Cambodian and Vietnamese friends,
In the celebration of the 50th year of the Vietnam – Cambodia diplomatic ties,we are happy to be here today in this ceremony, with pride in the bright futureof the “good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperationand long-term sustainability” between Vietnam and Cambodia.
On behalf of the leaders of the Party and Government and the people of Vietnam,I would like to warmly welcome to the high-ranking delegation from the Kingdomof Cambodia led by Samdech Heng Samrin, President of the National Assembly ofCambodia, Honorary President of the Cambodian People’s Party and Chairman ofthe Solidarity Front for Development of the Cabodian Motherland; delegates fromthe Cambodian Embassy; and Cambodian officials and students who are working andstudying in Vietnam to the ceremony today.
The presence of Mr. President and ladies and gentlemen has brought us thefeelings of close friendship with the people of Cambodia. On behalf of theParty, State, National Assembly and people of Vietnam, I would like to extendmy warm greetings to Mr. President Heng Samrin and Cambodian delegates here aswell as through Mr. President to King Norodom Sihamoni, leaders and people ofCambodia on our anniversary day.
I would also like toextend my sincere greetings to leaders and former leaders of the Party and State;representatives from ministries, departments and organisations at central andlocal levels; former Vietnamese experts and voluntary soldiers in Cambodia;relatives of war martyrs and invalids and people from all walks of life who areattending the event.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Vietnam and Cambodiaare the two neighbouring countries with the traditional, long-standing relations.The relationship has been nurtured by generations of leaders and people of thetwo countries, and is our priceless estate.
On this day 50 years ago, the two countries officially set up diplomaticrelations. This was a great event that marked a new chapter in the twocountries’ relations. In a message sent to Head of State of Cambodia NorodomSihanouk on June 23, 1967, President Ho Chi Minh said: “The establishment ofdiplomatic relations between our countries is a bright manifestation of theclose friendship and solidarity in combat. It is a historic event in therelationship between Vietnam and Cambodia, a positive factor in the maintenanceof peace in Indochina and Southeast Asia.”
On the basis of thelong-standing relationship and the fight against colonialism, the foundation ofthe diplomatic ties created favourable conditions for people of Vietnam andCambodia to continue standing side by side in the struggle for nationalliberation, and together, they won a historic victory in the spring of 1975.Unfortunately, Pol Pot’s forces betrayed the victory of the Cambodian peoplewith an ambition of setting up a genocidal model named “Democratic Kampuchea”which killed millions of Cambodian people. In response to the pressing call ofthe Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation, the army and people ofVietnam once again continue to be on the side of the patriotic forces and peopleof Cambodia to liberate the country and save the Cambodian people from the PolPot genocidal regime, prevent the return of the genocidal regime and bring therecovery to Cambodia, for peace and stability in the region. The history of thehumankind and the people of Vietnam and Cambodia is forever engraved with thevictory on January 7, 1979.
On this specialoccasion, we express our sincere gratitude to the two peoples for their effortsand sacrifice in that lofty fight, particularly of heroic martyrs, warinvalids, formers experts, former volunteer soldiers of Vietnam who did notspare their blood and bones and sacrificed themselves to consolidate thetraditional solidarity and friendship between the two nations and peoples ofVietnam and Cambodia.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
After the generalelection in 1993, relations between Vietnam and Cambodia entered a new periodwhich was in accordance with each country’s situation. Leaders and people ofthe two countries continued making efforts to solidify and promote the “goodneighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, long-termsustainability.”
With that direction,the two countries’ relations have continually been reinforced and developed inall fields, bringing about practical benefits for the two peoples and activelycontributing to peace, stability and cooperation in the region and the world.We satisfactorily realise that the two countries’ political relations havecontinued developing soundly. Senior leaders of the two countries haveregularly made mutual visits and affirmed the resolve to together nurture thetwo countries’ solidarity, traditional friendship and comprehensivecooperation. Cooperation between the two countries’ ministries, sectors andlocalities, with the establishment and increasingly effective implementation ofcooperation mechanisms, has intensified cooperation in various areas in a moreand more substantive manner. The cooperation between the two NationalAssemblies has continued to be strengthened and fostered in the fields oflawmaking and supervision, and in coordination at multilateral parliamentaryforums. People-to-people diplomatic activities of the Vietnam Fatherland Front,the Parliamentary Friendship Groups, the Friendship Associations, andorganisations of the public of the two countries have been carried out withnumerous and diverse contents and forms, helping to improve the awareness ofpeople, especially younger generations, of the traditional solidarity,friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between the two nations andpeoples.
Bilateral cooperationin security and national defence has been strengthened. The two sides pledgedto implement policies not allowing any hostile forces to use the territory ofone country to threaten security of the other country. On the basis of thetreaties agreements and deals between the two nations’senior leaders, relevantagencies, authorities and people of the two countries’ border areas are workingtogether to implement border demarcation and landmarker planting. The two sideshave so far completed over 84 percent of the border demarcation and land markerplanting work, and are determined to complete the work as soon as possible tobuild the two countries’ shared border line into one of peace, friendship,cooperation and sustainable development. The two nations’ leaders also pledgedto continue facilitating the two countries’ people to live in each other’sterritory, in line with the respective law.
The economic, tradeand investment relations between the two countries have seen fast developmentand encouraging achievements. Currently, Vietnam has 190 investment projects inCambodia, with a total registered capital of 2.89 billion USD, mostly in agricultureand forestry. Meanwhile, Cambodia runs 18 projects worth 58.125 million USD inVietnam. Trade between the two nations has reached three billion USD a year inrecent years. The two sides aim to raise the trade to five billions USD in thecoming years.
Over the past years,Vietnam has continuously been the biggest tourists source of Cambodia, with960,000 people in 2016 or 19 percent of the total international visitors toCambodia. In 2016, Vietnam welcomed 210,000 Cambodian visitors, ranking 13thamong Vietnam’s source markets. Cambodian leaders highly valued investment, andbusiness activities of Vietnamese enterprises in the country, which havecontributed significantly to social welfare, development and prosperity of Cambodia.
Priorities have beengiven to cooperation in education, culture, health care, telecommunication,among others. Vietnam offers hundreds oflong-term scholarships to Cambodian students to study in Vietnam each year,while Cambodia also helps train Vietnamese students at the request of Vietnam’sministries, sectors and localities. They are expected to be the future ownersof each nation and to serve as bridges connecting the solidarity, friendshipand comprehensive cooperation between the two nations in the future.
Numerous cultural andart exchanges have been constantly organised, particularly in borderlocalities. With the humanitarian spirit, Vietnam has regularly organised delegationsof voluntary doctors to Cambodia to provide free health check-ups and medicinesfor local people. Cambodian patients enjoy the same fees for health examinationand treatment in Vietnam as locals.
As from January 1,2017, subcribers of Vietnam’s mobile network Viettel enjoy domestic telecomcharges (without internaitonal roaming fees) when making phone calls tosubscribers of Cambodia’s Metfone and vice versa, thus facilitating communicationsfor the two countries’ people.
In implementing the foreignpolicy of multilateralisation and diversification of international relations,the two nations have coordinated closely at international and regional forums,such as the Cambodia – Laos – Vietnam (CLV), the Cambodia – Laos - Myanmar –Vietnam (CLMV), the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy(ACMECS), ASEAN, ASEM, the United Nations, among others, contributing toenhancing the reputation and status of each nations in the region and theworld.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Party, State andpeople of Vietnam warmly welcome great achievements that the fraternalCambodian people, under the sound rule of King Norodom Sihamoni and leadershipof the Senate, National Assembly and Royal Government of Cambodia in which theCambodian People’s Party plays a crucial role, has scored in the recent years.
As a close neighbourof Cambodian people, the Vietnamese fellows firmly believe that the Cambodianpeople will continue achieving greater successes for the Kingdom of Cambodia ofpeace, stability, development and prosperity.
For their part, overthe past 50 years of the establishment of Vietnam-Cambodia relations, theVietnamese people are very proud of victory in the national liberation andreunification cause and delivery of international commitments, which were ofhistorical significance to the renovation process initiated and led by theCommunist Party of Vietnam. Over the past years, Vietnam’s political-socialclimate has been stable while the economy has recorded high growth, culture andeducation has progressed in many aspects. Lives of people from all walks oflife have improved significantly, national defence and security have beenstrengthened, external relations have seen new leaps, thereby increasinglyimproving Vietnam’s prestige and role on international arena.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Looking back the past50-year path, in defiance of ups and downs in history, the traditionalsolidarity, friendship and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam andCambodia have been ceaselessly reinforced and developed, becoming aninvaluable, sacred and sustainable asset of the two nations.
We believe that howthe global and regional developments have changed, Vietnam and Cambodia willfurther intensify bilateral solidarity, traditional friendship andcomprehensive cooperation, make such relationship everlasting for the benefitof the Cambodian and Vietnamese people. It is not only a noble responsibilityand obligation of ours today but also generations of leaders and people of thetwo nations in the future.
On the occasion, onbehalf of the leaders of the Party, State, National Assembly and people ofVietnam, I would like to express my deepest and sincere gratitude for valuablesupport that former King Norodom Sihanouk and incumbent King Norodom Sihamoni,generations of leaders and people of Cambodia have provided for the Vietnamesepeople in the past national liberation cause as well as the national constructionand defence at present.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Creator blessesthe two countries with the Mekong River with alluvia cherishing immense paddyfields on the two banks, and fishes and shrimps enriching the two peoples. Thatriver has also incessantly witnessed close-knit relationship between our twonations. On this formal occasion, I wish that the solidarity, traditionalfriendship and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia wouldflow like the great Mekong Delta and forever be the root of peace andprosperity of our two nations.
Thank you verymuch.-VNA
VNA
