It’s an evening in June.
The heat of summer in the bustling city is replaced by the bubbly atmosphere of Cambodian language classes at a Khmer-Cambodia training centre in Hanoi.
Founded in 2012, the centre has opened many Cambodian classes with several levels for hundreds of learners.
Learners at the centre vary from students, white-collar workers, managers of companies which have Cambodian customers or workers, or youngsters who want to do business in or travel to Cambodia.
The ASEAN Economic Community came into existence in December 2015. The formation of the community hasbrought numerous job opportunities for labourers from ASEAN countries, including Vietnam, as it allows skilled workers in eight fields to move freely within the bloc under the Mutual Recognition Arrangements Framework agreed upon by the ASEAN member states.
In addition, the demand for learning Cambodian has been stepped up by an increase in Vietnam’s investment in Cambodia and two-way trade between the two countries.
Vietnam currently has 190 investment projects with total registered capital of 2.89 billion USD in Cambodia, mostly in agriculture and forestry. Cambodia’s investment in Vietnam totals 18 projects worth 58.125 million USD at present.
Bilateral trade exceeded 2.9 billion USD in 2016 and is estimated at 936 million USD in the first quarter of 2017, a year-on-year increase of 11.6 percent.
The centre though faces many difficulties, as a rare foreign language, lack of a stable source of learners and teachers but all those difficulties can not hinder the love for the language of lecturers and students.
Beginning from the passion of learning foreign languages, the centre’s founders hoped to promote the language of the region.
The centre, its lecturers and students are making marked contributions to enhancing the friendship and sustainable comprehensive cooperation of Vietnam and Cambodia.-VNA
