"The King's visit strengthens Vietnam-Cambodia political trust"

At the invitation of President Luong Cuong, Cambodian King Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneat Norodom Sihamoni will pay a state visit to Vietnam on November 28-29.

Ahead of this important visit, a Vietnam News Agency correspondent based in Phnom Penh interviewed Vietnamese Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia Nguyen Huy Tang, about the significance and importance of the visit to the Vietnam-Cambodia bilateral relationship.

- According to the schedule, Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni will pay a state visit to Vietnam from November 28-29. How does the Ambassador assess the significance and importance of the upcoming visit in promoting the bilateral relationship between Vietnam and Cambodia?

Ambassador Nguyen Huy Tang: King Norodom Sihamoni rarely makes visits to neighboring countries, including ASEAN member countries.

However, for Vietnam, since the King's coronation on October 29, 2004 until now, after 20 years of reign, King Norodom Sihamoni has made three visits to Vietnam in 2006, 2012 and 2018. This time, the King made a state visit, the fourth visit to Vietnam.

According to the agenda, during this visit, King Norodom Sihamoni will have talks and meetings with all of Vietnam's top leaders.

Through this, King Norodom Sihamoni wants to convey to the leaders and people of Vietnam the warm, close friendship between the leaders of Cambodia and the leaders and people of Vietnam. Thereby, contributing to strengthening political trust between the two sides, promoting cooperation in various fields, including economy, culture, education, as well as other fields.

In that spirit, the visit will certainly contribute to deepening the Vietnam-Cambodia relationship under the motto "Good neighbors, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, long-term sustainability."

- Vietnam and Cambodia have achieved many good achievements and results throughout the history of relations between the two countries. Could the Ambassador review some outstanding achievements in the bilateral relationship between the two countries in recent times?

Ambassador Nguyen Huy Tang: Regarding the achievements in the relationship between the two countries in recent times, we can point out the following key areas:

Firstly, in terms of politics, the two countries' senior leaders have regularly visited each other. In 2024, Vietnam visited Cambodia with a state visit by President To Lam .

And most recently, there was the official visit of National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man, combined with participation in two international conferences hosted by Cambodia, the 12th Plenary Session of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP-12) and the 11th Plenary Session of the International Parliament for Tolerance and Peace (IPTP-11).

On the other hand, on the Cambodian side, in December 2023, there were visits by National Assembly Chairman Khuon Sudary and Prime Minister Hun Manet, and this time it was a state visit by King Norodom Sihamoni. In addition, there were many high-level contacts and meetings between the leaders of the two countries.

Specifically, in July 2024, leader Samdech Techo Hun Sen led a Cambodian delegation to attend the funeral of the late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in Hanoi. At that time, Mr. Hun Sen had high-level contacts with all leaders of our country. Thereby, contributing to deepening political trust between the leaders of the two sides and creating an orientation for the overall relationship between the two countries.

Regarding cooperation in the fields of national defense and security and foreign affairs, in recent years, Vietnam and Cambodia have always understood that the security and stability of one country is also the benefit of the other. Therefore, cooperation in the field of national defense and security is highly valued by both sides.

The two sides have regularly and effectively implemented the 5-year Protocols as well as the annual Cooperation Plans between the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense and the Cambodian Ministry of National Defense, and between the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security and the Cambodian Ministry of Interior. Thereby, contributing to maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for mutual cooperation and development.

In foreign affairs, the two sides have regularly consulted each other on issues related to bilateral interests, as well as regional and international issues, ensuring that the two sides handle regional and international issues in a harmonious manner, ensuring the interests and sovereignty of each country.

Regarding economic cooperation, this is an area where we have seen positive changes in recent years. Meanwhile, regarding investment cooperation, Vietnam continues to be one of the 10 countries and territories with the largest investment in Cambodia and is the leading ASEAN country in terms of investment in Cambodia.

Currently, we have 205 valid projects with a registered capital of 2.94 billion USD, including a number of Vietnamese enterprises that are operating quite effectively and contributing positively to the Cambodian budget as well as to the relationship between the two countries, such as Metfone, Vietnam Rubber Industry Group, Angkor Milk, commercial banks, etc.

Most recently, the Thaco Group’s high-tech agricultural project is implementing two very large projects in Ratanakiri and Kratie provinces. This is a project that brings many expectations for cooperation in the agricultural sector between the two countries.

In terms of trade, in recent years, bilateral trade has also seen encouraging developments and growth. In 2022, we surpassed the 12.57 billion USD mark. In 2023, despite the difficult global economic downturn, Cambodia is still an important market for us, with bilateral trade turnover remaining high at 8.57 billion USD.

This year, after the first 10 months of this year, the trade turnover between the two countries has reached 8.4 billion USD, and we are very hopeful that this year we will return to the milestone of over 10 billion USD. This is also the premise for us to continue implementing the ambitious goal set by the two Prime Ministers of bringing the two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Cambodia to 20 billion USD.

Regarding cooperation between National Assembly committees, ministries, branches, unions, socio-political organizations, and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries in recent times, they have also continued to be maintained and developed very well, especially cooperation between border provinces has contributed to ensuring stability of the border between the two countries, serving the development and building of a peaceful, friendly, cooperative border for mutual development.

These are outstanding results in the Vietnam-Cambodia cooperation relationship, not to mention cooperation in the field of education and training, which both sides also pay great attention to and value, contributing to supplementing human resources for the political systems of the two countries.

Every year, Cambodia has about 2,400 to 2,500 international students in Vietnam, while Vietnam has more than 100 international students in Cambodia. This is a very important source of human resources and political systems of the two countries.

- The Vietnam-Cambodia relationship has achieved many good results in recent times, but there are still many opportunities for further development. In the coming time, what areas will the two countries prioritize to promote the Vietnam-Cambodia bilateral relationship, as well as multilateral relations in the region and internationally, Ambassador?

Ambassador Nguyen Huy Tang: In the coming time, besides the difficulties and challenges due to the complicated developments in the world and the region, the Vietnam-Cambodia and Cambodia-Vietnam relations will have good opportunities to develop, especially in emerging fields such as high technology, green technology, clean technology, digital technology and digital transformation, Artificial Intelligence (AI)...

These are the areas that attract the attention and promote investment of businesses of the two countries in each other's markets, and are also the areas to attract and utilize resources of foreign businesses in the two markets of Cambodia and Vietnam.

With the traditional relationship between the two countries in recent times, I think we will have to continue to prioritize and focus on further enhancing the relationship in the following areas:

Firstly, politically, we must continue to make political relations worthy of being the core to guide bilateral relations and constantly raise awareness of the importance and role of bilateral relations for the development of each country.

Second, we must know how to overcome challenges and seize opportunities to promote development in cooperation, especially economic cooperation, so that the economy becomes the driving force for bilateral relations, and at the same time the economy must become a factor ensuring sustainable development in relations between the two countries.

Third, cooperation in the field of security and defense will continue to be one of the important pillars of the bilateral relationship. We will have to continue to cooperate in this field, thereby contributing to ensuring a peaceful, stable and secure environment so that Vietnam and Cambodia will continue to develop strongly.

On that basis, the two sides will need to conduct good consultations with each other in bilateral and multilateral mechanisms, especially on issues related to the interests of the two countries. The two sides need to actively exchange and share information to ensure the harmonious interests of the two countries.

Fourth, we need to continue to pay attention to, promote and further improve the quality of cooperation between the National Assembly committees and legislative bodies of the two countries, between ministries, branches, localities, unions, political organizations, and people-to-people exchanges. This is an extremely important field. In the coming time, we will have to prioritize to do better, especially people-to-people exchanges.

Fifth, the two sides need to continue to promote propaganda and education for the people of the two countries, especially the young generation of today and tomorrow, to clearly understand the traditional role and importance of the Vietnam-Cambodia relationship. Thereby, promoting the sense of responsibility in preserving and nurturing the Vietnam-Cambodia relationship forever for the development of each country and for the happiness of the people of the two countries.

- Thank you very much Ambassador!