Official Visit of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet to Vietnam

Published Time: 2023-12-11T16:46:00+07:00

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh warmly welcomed Samdech Thipadei Prime Minister Hun Manet on his first official visit to Vietnam, which is also his first visit to an ASEAN country. He congratulated Prime Minister Hun Manet on being trusted and elected as Vice President of the Cambodian People's Party at the extraordinary congress on December 10, 2023, and congratulated the important achievements the Cambodian Government has recently attained. He expressed confidence that the Cambodian Government led by Prime Minister Hun Manet will continue to achieve new successes in national construction and development, successfully implementing the Pentagonal Strategy Phase I to make Cambodia an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized Vietnam's consistent policy of always valuing and giving high priority to the "good neighborliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, and long-term sustainability" of Vietnam-Cambodia relations, as well as always cherishing the tradition of solidarity, close attachment, and mutual support between the two countries in the past struggle for national independence and in the current cause of national construction and development. He also conveyed greetings to the Cambodian senior leaders and Samdech Techo Hun Sen.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized Vietnam's consistent policy of always valuing and giving high priority to the "good neighborliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, and long-term sustainability" of Vietnam-Cambodia relations.

Samdech Thipadei Prime Minister Hun Manet expressed his delight at visiting Vietnam officially for the first time in his new capacity. He congratulated the great internal and external achievements attained by the Party, State, and people of Vietnam, which have continuously enhanced Vietnam's role and position in the region and the world. He expressed confidence that Vietnam will successfully realize its industrialization and modernization cause, achieving the set goals by 2030, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam. He affirmed that this official visit to Vietnam aims to inherit the good tradition and continue promoting the traditional friendship, solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries to new heights. He sincerely thanked the Vietnamese army and people for helping Cambodia escape the Pol Pot genocidal regime and cherished the tradition of solidarity and mutual assistance between the two countries during the struggle against colonialism and imperialism. On this occasion, Prime Minister Hun Manet conveyed greetings from former Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and senior Vietnamese leaders.

The two leaders expressed satisfaction with the positive developments in Vietnam-Cambodia relations recently. Political relations are increasingly close and trusting, with regular exchanges of delegations and high-level contacts through various channels and levels. Security-defense cooperation continues to be strengthened. Two-way trade has made great strides, with an average growth of over 20% during the 2015-2022 period and exceeding 10 billion USD in 2022. Vietnam continues to lead ASEAN and be among the top five countries with the largest direct investment in Cambodia, with 205 valid investment projects and total registered capital of 2.95 billion USD. In the first nine months of 2023, there were over 640,000 Vietnamese visitor arrivals to Cambodia and about 250,000 Cambodian visitor arrivals to Vietnam.

Samdech Thipadei Prime Minister Hun Manet expressed his delight at visiting Vietnam officially for the first time in his new capacity.

The two Prime Ministers exchanged views on major directions to vigorously promote comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia in the coming time. Accordingly, the two sides agreed to strengthen exchanges of visits and high-level contacts; effectively implement agreements of the two countries' senior leaders; promote the effectiveness of important cooperation mechanisms between the two Governments, including the "Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Committee for Economic, Cultural, Scientific and Technological Cooperation" and the "Conference on Cooperation and Development of Border Provinces"; enhance connectivity and exchanges between the youth and young leaders of the two countries; and coordinate in organizing practical activities to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Victory Day over the genocidal regime (January 7, 1979 - January 7, 2024), whereby Cambodia will send a Government leader to Vietnam to attend the January 7 Commemoration Ceremony.

Samdech Thipadei Prime Minister Hun Manet affirmed that this official visit to Vietnam aims to inherit the good tradition and continue promoting the traditional friendship, solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries to new heights.

Regarding defense-security cooperation, the two Prime Ministers agreed to continue promoting these two important pillar areas to contribute to maintaining a peaceful and stable environment in each country; steadfastly adhere to the principle of not allowing any hostile force to use one country's territory to oppose the other; continue to effectively implement cooperation plans between the two Ministries of Defense and Ministries of Public Security/Interior; closely coordinate in border management, prevention, and combat of cross-border crimes, and cooperate in addressing non-traditional security challenges; and welcomed the upcoming organization of the first Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia Border Defense Friendship Exchange at the Minister of Defense level by the three countries.

The Cambodian side affirmed that it always values and will continue to coordinate and support the search, collection, and repatriation of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who sacrificed in Cambodia.

The two Prime Ministers exchanged views on major directions to vigorously promote comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia in the coming time.

Regarding economic, trade, and investment cooperation, the two Prime Ministers agreed to support each other in building independent, self-reliant economies that integrate extensively and effectively into the world; strengthen connectivity between the two economies, both in infrastructure and institutional policy connectivity; promote bilateral trade, especially border trade and cross-border economic development cooperation; strive to achieve the bilateral trade turnover milestone of 20 billion USD in the coming time; and agreed to encourage and create favorable conditions for investment and business cooperation activities of enterprises from both countries.

Regarding border cooperation, the two Prime Ministers welcomed the close coordination of relevant agencies from both sides to continue maintaining and consolidating a border of peace, stability, and development; agreed to continue coordinating and promoting the resolution of areas within the 16% of the border line where demarcation and marker planting have not been completed; and continuously enhance the effectiveness of cooperation between functional forces and local authorities of the two countries along the shared border.

Immediately after the talks, the two Prime Ministers witnessed the signing ceremony of three cooperation documents between ministries and sectors of the two countries.

Regarding other areas of cooperation, the two Prime Ministers agreed to strengthen experience sharing, training, and capacity building for officials of both countries; promote human resource cooperation; promote enhanced transport connectivity, including highway connectivity and increasing the frequency of direct flights between major cities of the two countries; and coordinate with Laos to promote "One Journey Three Destinations" tourism packages. On this occasion, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked and requested the Cambodian Government to continue caring for and creating favorable conditions for people of Vietnamese origin to live and work stably and legally in Cambodia, integrate well into the host society, and serve as a bridge of friendship between the two countries.

Exchanging views on regional and international issues, the two leaders emphasized the importance of maintaining peace, security, and stability in the region, including maintaining ASEAN solidarity, common stance, and central role regarding regional security and strategic issues, including the East Sea issue. They affirmed to continue close coordination and mutual support for each other's positions at regional and international forums; continue working with other ASEAN member states to build the ASEAN Community; continue strengthening Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam tripartite cooperation, including effectively implementing agreements reached at the Summit Meeting between leaders of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Cambodian People's Party, and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party; maintain and promote meetings between Prime Ministers, National Assembly Chairmen, and leaders of some ministries and sectors of the three countries; support Laos in successfully fulfilling its roles as ASEAN Chair 2024 and AIPA Chair 2024; promote cooperation in the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle and the Greater Mekong Subregion to narrow the development gap; and cooperate in the sustainable management and use of Mekong River water resources.

Immediately after the talks, the two Prime Ministers witnessed the signing ceremony of three cooperation documents: (1) Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of science, technology, and innovation between the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam and the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation of Cambodia; (2) Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce; (3) Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and the Institute of Diplomacy and International Relations of Cambodia.

Ha Van