Spokeswoman: Vietnam attaches importance to ties with Cambodia

 

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam always attaches importance to and gives high priority to its good neighborliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive and sustainable cooperation with Cambodia, said Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang.

During the ministry’s regular press conference in Hanoi on November 19, Hang said Vietnam wants to carry forward substantial and effective ties between the two nations for the benefit of the two peoples.

She emphasized that bilateral ties have developed positively over the recent past. Before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the two sides exchanged many high-level delegations, including a State visit to Cambodia by Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong in February 2019, and two official visits to Vietnam by Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen in December 2018 and October 2019. The two countries held a meeting marking the 40th anniversary of Vietnam's southwest border defence war and Vietnam-Cambodia joint victory over the genocidal regime on January 7, 2019.

The two countries’ leaders also regularly held phone talks to discuss COVID-19 prevention and control measures and maintain cross-border trade.

The spokeswoman noted that the two countries have maintained economic and trade cooperation. In 2018 and 2019, the two nations signed a total of 21 cooperation documents, including a Supplementary Treaty to the 1985 Treaty on the Delimitation of National Boundaries and the 2005 Supplementary Treaty, a Protocol on border demarcation with about 84 percent of work completed. The two sides also exchanged border topographic maps at 1:25,000 scale last August.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vietnamese Government, ministries, agencies and localities provided medical supplies for Cambodia while fostering bilateral cooperation in various areas and coordinating closely with Cambodia within multilateral mechanisms, as well as at regional and global forums to address common regional issues, she said./.