At the meeting (Photo: VNA) Phnom Penh (VNA) – Vietnamese Minister of National Defence Phan Van Giang and his Cambodian counterpart Tea Banh have agreed to enhance bilateral defence-security ties in the principle of not allowing any hostile force to use one’s territory to sabotage security of the other.
During a bilateral meeting in Phnom Penh on December 22, the two ministers pledged to effectively implement existing defence and security agreements, improve the efficiency of border protection and management, uphold existing cooperation mechanisms and strive to search, unearth and repatriate remains of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers and experts who died in Cambodia.
Tea Banh expressed his thanks for the strong support and assistance that various generations of leaders and people of Vietnam have given to Cambodian people in the past and at present, affirming that Cambodia will always keep in mind the Vietnamese volunteer soldiers’ assistance to the Cambodian people in liberating Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge genocide regime in 1979.
He announced that Cambodia has decided to reopen its whole economy since November after effectively curbing COVID-19 pandemic.
In his capacity as Chairman of the Cambodia SEA Games Organising Committee next year, Tea Banh wished to visit Vietnam to learn from its experience in organising the biggest sport event in Southeast Asia.
Minister Giang spoke highly of Cambodia’s economic development, especially in urban infrastructure.
He suggested the two countries jointly hold a border exchange next year on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of Cambodian PM Samdech Techo Hun Sen’s national salvation journey at his stopover X-16 in the southern province of Binh Phuoc.
The Vietnamese minister highlighted a need to continue holding drills against non-traditional risks, search and rescue exercises, enhancing discussions on holding Vietnamese and Khmer languages to the two countries’ trainees.
On the occasion, Minister Tea Banh invited Minister Phan Van Giang to pay an official visit to Cambodia in the near future./.
