Phnom Penh (VNA) – Vietnamese Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc and his Cambodian counterpart Samdech Techo Hun Sen agreed on variousmeasures to bolster the countries’ multi-faceted relations at their talks inPhnom Penh on April 25.

PM Hun Sen considered the Vietnamese leader’sofficial visit as having historical significance amid the 50th anniversary ofdiplomatic ties, voicing his belief that the trip will provide a strongmomentum for their traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation tothrive.

He spoke highly of Vietnamese investors’contributions to his country, noting that the military-run telecom groupViettel, the Vietnam Rubber Group, the Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) andother businesses of Vietnam have run profitably and fully paid taxes to theCambodian Government. 

Notably, Metfone-Viettel has paid 400 millionUSD in taxes over the last decade. They have also contributed to socio-economicdevelopment and the care for local people’s material and spiritual life,especially low-income earners and rural residents, he added.

The two PMs agreed to continue promoting trade,services and cooperation between Vietnamese and Cambodian localities, particularlythe ones located along the shared borderline. They said locality-to-localityties have proved fruitful in the spirit of friendship neighbourliness andcomprehensive cooperation.

They will order the joint committee for borderdemarcation and land border marker planting to step up negotiations, seeksolutions regarding border sections not demarcated, and work closely in bordermanagement, thereby enhancing peace, stability, cooperation and sustainabledevelopment along the shared border.

At the talks, the Government leaders valued theoutcomes of mutual visits by the countries’ senior leaders and agreed toincrease delegation exchanges at all levels.

They vowed to facilitate and seek effectivemeasures to boost partnership in potential areas such as trade-investment,banking, electricity, mining, oil and gas, industrial tree planting, transport,telecommunications, and education-training.

Vietnam and Cambodia will keep close cooperationin security and defence, they said, reiterating the principle of not allowingany hostile forces to use the territory of this country to sabotage the other’ssecurity and the two countries’ friendship and cooperation.

Both sides are set to enhance collaboration tofight terrorism, transnational crimes, smuggling, drug crime and humantrafficking. They will also press ahead with the search for and repatriation ofthe remains of Vietnam’s volunteer soldiers who sacrificed their lives in warsin Cambodia, the PMs added.

At the meeting, they discussed stepping up connectionswithin the framework of ASEAN and the Greater Mekong Subregion. They alsoexchanged views on international issues of shared concern.

On this occasion, PM Phuc appreciated Cambodia’sprovision of good conditions for Vietnamese expatriates, asking the country totake appropriate measures to soon recognise their legal status and Cambodiannationality. He also called on Cambodia to recognise schools managed byVietnamese-Cambodians there as part of the country’s education system.

In response, PM Hun Sen promised to directrelevant agencies of Cambodia to provide fabourable conditions forVietnamese-Cambodians to be treated as equally as expatriates of othercountries.

Following the meeting, the two PMs witnessed thesigning of cooperation documents. 

Vietnam’s Transport Ministry and Cambodia’sMinistry of Public Works and Transport signed a memorandumof understanding (MoU) on cooperation on promoting the study of theconstruction of Ho Chi Minh City-Moc Bai and Phnom Penh-Ba Vet expressways.Another MoU on building a voluntary rehabilitation centre for drug addicts inPreah Sihanouk province was inked between Vietnam’s Ministry of Labour,Invalids and Social Affairs and Cambodia’s Ministry of SocialAffairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation.

The Directorate of Fisheries under theVietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Fisheries GeneralDepartment under the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheriessigned an official letter discussing the extension of the MoU on fisherycooperation for another three years.

Meanwhile, the administrations of Hanoi andPhnom Penh signed a MoU on the assistance to the construction of a Phnom Penh-Hanoifriendship avenue.

After the talks, PM Phuc and his spouse laidwreaths at the Independence Monument, the memorial to late King NorodomSihanouk, and the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Monument in Phnom Penh.-VNA