Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh holds talks with Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia Hun Manet

On the morning of December 11, after the welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had talks with Samdech Thipadei, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Hun Manet, who is on an official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Manet. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh warmly welcomed Samdech Thipadei Prime Minister Hun Manet on his first official visit to Vietnam, which was also Prime Minister Hun Manet's first visit to an ASEAN country; congratulated Samdech Thipadei Prime Minister Hun Manet on being elected Vice President of the Party by the Cambodian People's Party at the Extraordinary Congress on December 10, 2023; congratulated the important achievements that the Cambodian Government has achieved in recent times; expressed confidence that the Cambodian Government led by Samdech Thipadei Prime Minister Hun Manet will continue to gain many new achievements in the cause of national construction and development; successfully implement the Pentagon Strategy Phase I, turning Cambodia into an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that Vietnam's consistent policy is to always attach importance to and give high priority to the "good neighborliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, long-term sustainability" relationship between Vietnam and Cambodia; as well as always respecting the tradition of solidarity, close-knit relations, sharing and mutual support between the two countries in the past struggle for national independence and in the cause of national construction and development today.

Samdech Thipadei Prime Minister Hun Manet expressed his joy at his first official visit to Vietnam in his new position; congratulated the great domestic and foreign achievements that the Party, State and People of Vietnam have achieved in recent times, helping to continuously enhance Vietnam's role and position in the region and the world; expressed his belief that Vietnam will successfully carry out the cause of industrialization and modernization, achieving the set goals by 2030 - the year of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Prime Minister Hun Manet affirmed that this official visit to Vietnam aims to inherit the fine tradition and continue to promote the traditional solidarity, friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries to a new height; expressed sincere thanks to the Vietnamese army and people for helping Cambodia escape the Pol Pot genocidal regime, as well as respect the tradition of solidarity and mutual assistance between the two countries during the past struggle against colonialism and imperialism.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh holds talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Manet. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

The two leaders expressed their satisfaction with the positive developments in the Vietnam-Cambodia relationship in recent times. Political relations are increasingly close and trustworthy; the two sides regularly exchange delegations and high-level contacts at all channels and levels. Security and defense cooperation continues to be promoted. Two-way trade has made great strides, growing by an average of more than 20% in the 2015-2022 period and exceeding 10 billion USD in 2022; Vietnam continues to lead ASEAN and is in the top 5 countries with the largest direct investment in Cambodia with 205 valid investment projects with a total registered capital of 2.95 billion USD. In the first 9 months of 2023, there were more than 640,000 Vietnamese visitors to Cambodia and about 250,000 Cambodian visitors to Vietnam.

The two Prime Ministers discussed major directions to strongly promote the comprehensive cooperation relationship between Vietnam and Cambodia in the coming time. Accordingly, the two sides agreed to increase the exchange of high-level visits and contacts; effectively promote important cooperation mechanisms between the two governments, including the "Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Committee on Economic, Cultural, Scientific and Technical Cooperation" and the "Conference on Cooperation and Development of Border Provinces"; strengthen connections and exchanges between youth and young leaders of the two countries; jointly organize practical activities to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the victory over the genocidal regime (January 7, 1979 - January 7, 2024), accordingly, Cambodia will send government leaders to Vietnam to attend the January 7th celebration.

Regarding defense and security cooperation, the two Prime Ministers agreed to continue promoting these two important pillars to contribute to maintaining a peaceful and stable environment in each country; firmly uphold the principle of not allowing any hostile force to use the territory of one country to fight against the other; continue to effectively implement cooperation plans between the two Ministries of Defense and Public Security/Interior Affairs of the two countries; closely coordinate in border management, prevent, combat and combat all types of cross-border crimes and cooperate to deal with non-traditional security challenges; welcome the fact that the two countries and Laos will soon organize the first Vietnam - Laos - Cambodia Border Defense Friendship Exchange at the Defense Minister level.

The Cambodian side affirmed that it always attaches importance to and will continue to coordinate and support the search, recovery and repatriation of the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Cambodia.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the talks. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Regarding economic, trade and investment cooperation, the two Prime Ministers agreed to support each other in building an independent, self-reliant economy with deep and effective international integration; strengthen connectivity between the two economies, both in terms of infrastructure and policy institutions; promote bilateral trade, especially border trade and economic development cooperation in border areas; strive to reach the bilateral trade turnover milestone of 20 billion USD in the coming time; and agree to encourage and facilitate investment and business cooperation activities of enterprises of the two countries.

Regarding border cooperation, the two Prime Ministers welcomed the close coordination between relevant agencies of both sides to continue maintaining and strengthening the peaceful, stable and developing border; agreed to continue coordinating and promoting the settlement of areas in the 16% of the border that have not yet completed demarcation and marker planting; and continuously improve the effectiveness of cooperation between functional forces and localities bordering the two countries.

Regarding other areas of cooperation, the two Prime Ministers agreed to increase experience sharing, training and coaching of officials of the two countries; promote human resource cooperation; promote enhanced transport connectivity, including connecting highways and increasing the frequency of direct flights between major cities of the two countries; and coordinate with Laos to promote "One journey, three destinations" tourism packages.

On this occasion, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked and requested the Cambodian Government to continue to pay attention and create favorable conditions for people of Vietnamese origin to live and do business stably and legally in Cambodia, integrate well with the local community and serve as a bridge of friendship between the two countries.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet speaks. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Discussing regional and international issues, the two leaders emphasized the importance of maintaining peace, security and stability in the region, including maintaining solidarity, common stance and ASEAN's central role on regional security and strategic issues, including the East Sea issue; affirmed to continue to closely coordinate and support each other's stance at regional and international forums; continue to work with ASEAN member countries to build the ASEAN Community; continue to strengthen cooperation between Vietnam - Cambodia - Laos, including effectively implementing agreements reached at the Summit between the leaders of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Cambodian People's Party and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party; maintain and promote meetings between the Prime Minister, National Assembly Chairman and leaders of a number of ministries and branches of the three countries; support Laos in fulfilling its role as ASEAN Chair 2024 and AIPA 2024; Promote cooperation in the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle and the Greater Mekong Subregion to narrow the development gap; cooperate in managing and sustainably using Mekong River water resources.

On this occasion, Samdech Thipadei Prime Minister Hun Manet conveyed the greetings of former Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and senior leaders of Vietnam; Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sent greetings to senior leaders of Cambodia and former Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen.

Immediately after the talks, the two Prime Ministers witnessed the signing of three cooperation documents, including: Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of science, technology and innovation between the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam and the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation of Cambodia; Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry and the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce; Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and the Institute of Diplomacy and International Relations of Cambodia.

According to VNA

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