At the meeting (Photo: VNA)Phnom Penh (VNA) – The Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) within the framework of the 17th meeting of the Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Commission for Economic, Cultural,Scientific and Technological Cooperation (JC 17) opened in Phnom Penh on August20.
Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Quoc Dung and Secretary ofState at the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and InternationalCooperation Eat Sophea co-chaired the event.
The annual meeting aims to promote the scale and efficiency of bilateral cooperationin a range of spheres, while offering an opportunity for the two sides toexchange viewpoints on collaboration within regional and international frameworks.
Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh isscheduled to pay a courtesy visit to Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Senbefore he and Cambodian Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs andInternational Cooperation Prak Sokhonn co-chair the plenary session of JC 17 onAugust 21.
According to a press release from the Cambodian ministry, JC 17 will help toenhance the relationship between the two countries, and contribute to regionaland international peace and prosperity.
Trade between Vietnam and Cambodia reached 4.7 billion USD in 2018, up 23.8percent year-on-year. In the first five months of 2019, the number stood at 2.3billion USD, up 19.1 percent against the same period last year. It is expectedto hit 5 billion USD this year.
Vietnam is one of Cambodia’s five biggest investors. The country has, to date,run 214 projects worth over 3 billion USD in the neighbouring country.
Vietnamese businessesin Cambodia have contributed to economic development as well as social welfarein the host country.
Besides, Vietnam is also one of the biggest sources of tourists to Cambodia,with nearly 900,000 holidaymakers in 2018.
The two countries have signed many deals to promote their economic ties such asthe framework agreement on Vietnam-Cambodia economic connectivity by 2030, theaction plan for Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam economic connectivity, the agreement ondouble taxation avoidance and the memorandum of understanding (MoU) ontransport cooperation by 2025 with a vision towards 2030.
Vietnam’s national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and the Cambodian Ministry ofTourism also signed a MoU on tourism connectivity.
The two countries are preparing for the signing of a border trade agreement in2019.-VNA
VNA
