Vietnam-Cambodia relations grow in all fields: Ambassador

Phnom Penh (VNA) – The fine political relation between Vietnam and Cambodia has created a firm foundation for the strong and comprehensive development of bilateral cooperation, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Thach Du affirmed in an interview to Cambodia’s Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper.

The daily, Cambodia’s largest Khmer newspaper, published the interview on its front page on June 24 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties.

Ambassador Du said that in recent years, the two countries have maintained the regular exchange of all-level delegations, in which their senior leaders have confirmed their determination to work together to nurture the time-honoured friendship, solidarity and cooperation.

Regarding border-related issues, he affirmed that with joint efforts, Vietnam and Cambodia have to date completed 84 percent of the work under the agreement on land border demarcation and border marker planting.

The two countries are striving to early fulfil this task in order to turn their shared border into a border line of peace, friendship, cooperation and sustainable development.

In terms of trade, the diplomat highlighted that trade between Vietnam and Cambodia reached nearly 3 billion USD in 2016.

To achieve the mutual target of 5 billion USD in bilateral trade as early as possible, the two countries’ agencies and business communities should step up marketing activities and trade promotion programmes while implementing relevant agreements and initiatives to facilitate operations of both sides’ enterprises.

In the investment field, Vietnam is running nearly 190 projects worth about 2.9 billion USD in numerous fields in Cambodia, ranking among the top five largest investors in the country.

Together with trade and tourism, Vietnamese investment has contributed to Cambodia’s economic development as well as its poverty reduction and social welfare improvement.

To attract more investment from Vietnam and other countries, Ambassador Du suggested the Cambodia Government, especially the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), intensify investment promotion activities, make a list of priority projects calling for foreign investment, and have more preferential policies.

It is also necessary to strengthen collaboration between the two countries’ agencies in order to create a more stable and transparent investment environment, he added.-VNA