Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong (Photo: VNAHanoi (VNA) – The visit to Cambodia by General Secretary of the Communist Party ofVietnam (CPV) and President Nguyen Phu Trong is an important opportunity forthe two sides to promote their bilateral ties.
Vietnam and Cambodia established diplomatic relations on June 24, 1967. The twoneighbouring countries stood side by side during past struggles againstcolonialists and the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, and have supported eachother in national construction and defence.
Both countries have pursued a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance andmultilateralisation and diversification of relations.
They have also attached importance to the bilateral relationship under themotto “friendly neighbourliness, traditional friendship and comprehensive,sustainable, long-term cooperation,” and on the principles of respecting eachother’s independence and territorial integrity, not interfering in internalaffairs, not using or threatening to use force, not allowing any political andmilitary forces to use their territory to sabotage the other country, equal andmutually beneficial cooperation, and handling all issues between the twocountries peacefully.
Despite regional and global uncertainties, the Vietnam-Cambodia relationshiphas made important developments, becoming a crucial factor to building apeaceful and sustainable environment to spur development and ensureindependence and sovereignty in each country.
Over the years, the two sides have maintained and made effective use of cooperationmechanisms, increased the exchange of visits and meetings and signed many documentsserving as a foundation for bilateral cooperation.
They coordinated to organise various activities marking the 40th anniversary of the victory of Vietnam’s Southwest border defence war and thejoint victory over the genocidal regime in Cambodia (January 7, 1979).
The two sides have also increased people-to-people exchanges and paid attentionto raising public awareness of preserving and upholding the Vietnam-Cambodia solidarityand friendship.
Apart from implementing agreements on national defence and securitycollaboration, the two countries have maintained negotiations and cooperationto address outstanding issues regarding land border demarcation and markerplanting, the legal status of Vietnamese-Cambodians and the search for andrepatriation of remains of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers and experts who diedin Cambodia. In 2018, the remains of 690 Vietnamese soldiers and experts werebrought back to Vietnam.
The two countrieshave done 84 percent of the workload in land border demarcation and areconducting negotiations towards signing a document to legalise the completedworkload while seeking measures to early complete the remaining work.
Vietnam and Cambodia have maintained mechanisms to share information aboutregional and international matters, and coordinated at multilateral forums,especially within the United Nations, the Association of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN) and Mekong Sub-region cooperation mechanisms.
Bilateral economic and trade ties have also made big strides. With 210 projectsvalued at more than 3 billion USD, Vietnam has become one of the five biggestinvestors in Cambodia. Vietnamese investment focused on agriculture, banking,telecom-IT, industrial production, processing-manufacturing, commerce businessand healthcare.
In 2018, eight new Vietnamese projects were licensed while four existingprojects increased their investment, with accumulated capital hitting 33.8million USD.
Meanwhile, Cambodia has run 19 projects worth 63.42 million USD in Vietnam,focusing on agriculture, forestry, fishery and commerce.
Two-way trade stood at 4.68 billion USD in 2018, up 23.76 percent against 2017.Of the amount, Vietnam’s exports were valued at 3.74 billion USD, up 34.98percent and imports were worth about 963 million USD, up 6.46 percentyear-on-year. Bilateral trade is expected to reach 5 billion USD by 2020.
Vietnam is the second largest source market of tourists to Cambodia. In October2018, about 500,000 Vietnamese holidaymakers visited the country, while 222,000Cambodian tourists flocked to Vietnam in 2017.
The two countries have also stepped up partnerships in education, agriculture,forestry, fishery, transport, electricity and mining.
Collaboration between ministries, agencies and organisations of the twocountries, as well as people-to-people exchanges, especially at border localities,has also been enhanced. -VNA
VNA
