Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (Source: VNA)He recalled that on June 23, 1967, President HoChi Minh sent a message to Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk highlighting thesound development of the two countries’ neighbourly relations and describingthe establishment of the bilateral diplomatic relations as a manifestation oftheir close friendship and fighting solidarity, and a positive factor inmaintaining peace in Indochina and Southeast Asia.
The Deputy PM stressed that the officialestablishment of Vietnam-Cambodia diplomatic ties on June 24, 1967 was a landmarkin both countries’ history and opened up a new chapter in the bilateralrelations.
He went on to say that the two nations’ faithfulsolidarity and spirit of mutual assistance are the driving force and thestrength for their armies and peoples to gain victory over the Pol Pot genocidalregime, revive Cambodia, and develop the bilateral rapports as strong asnowadays.
The achievements that Vietnam and Cambodia havereaped over the past 50 years are not only the victories in their struggle fornational liberation but also the development of bilateral relations in allfields, Minh said.
The political ties continue to strengthen with theregular exchange of high-level delegations and effective operation of importantcooperation mechanisms such as the Joint Committee and the conference forcooperation and development of border provinces, along with partnershipsbetween ministries, sectors and people-to-people exchanges.
On the basis of treaties and agreements reachedby the two countries’ leaders, relevant agencies and authorities and people ofborder provinces are actively coordinating to implement the land borderdemarcation and marker planting.
So far, the two countries have completed over 84percent of the workload and are resolved to fulfil the remaining as soon aspossible to build a shared border line of peace, friendship, cooperation andsustainable development.
High-ranking officials of both nations have alsoagreed to continue creating favourable conditions for each other’s expatriates.
Along with political ties, the bilateraleconomic-trade cooperation has been growing.
Currently, Vietnam has 190 investment projectsin Cambodia with total registered capital of 2.89 billion USD, mainly focusingon agriculture and forestry.
Meanwhile, Cambodia’s investment in Vietnam has reachedover 58 million USD in 18 projects.
Two-way trade between Vietnam and Cambodia averagedabout 3 billion USD a year in recent years and topped 1.68 billion USD in thefirst five months of 2017. The countries are targeting 5 billion USD in two-waytrade in the following years.
Over the past few years, Vietnam is the largest sourcemarket of Cambodia’s tourism with 960,000 visitors in 2016, making up 19percent of the total number of international arrivals in Cambodia. The sameyear, Cambodia ranked 13th among Vietnam’s tourism markets with 212,000visitors.
Vietnam and Cambodia have also bolsteredaffiliation to other arenas such as training, culture, health,telecommunication, and people-to-people exchanges.
On the international arena, the two countrieshave closely coordinated at regional cooperation mechanisms such as theCambodia-Laos-Vietnam Triangle Development, Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam(CLMV), and Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy(ACMECS).-VNA
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