On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of Victory Day, January 7, the day Cambodia was liberated from the Pol Pot genocidal regime (January 7, 1979 - January 7, 2024), the homepage of the Royal Academy of Cambodia (RAC) recently published an article by expert Uch Leang, a researcher at RAC, reviewing the important historical event that took place nearly half a century ago and the role of the Vietnamese Volunteer Army, the achievements of Cambodia in the development and peacekeeping process, while emphasizing the achievements and prospects for comprehensive cooperation between Cambodia and Vietnam.
Article on the homepage of the Royal Academy of Cambodia. Photo: VNA
According to a VNA correspondent in Phnom Penh, the article titled "Celebrating the 45th Anniversary of Victory Day on January 7: Cambodia and Vietnam continue to foster cooperative relations in all fields and at all levels" emphasized the significance of the event when the Cambodian people were rescued and liberated from the Pol Pot genocidal regime, which turned Cambodia into a killing field for 3 years, 8 months and 20 days and killed more than 3 million innocent Cambodians.
According to the article, on January 7, 1979, the military forces of the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation and the Cambodian people, with the support and assistance of the Vietnamese Volunteer Army and people, overthrew the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime led by Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, and Khieu Samphan, liberating the Cambodian people and country from the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime. This victory was a historic event demonstrating the spirit of international solidarity between the people and armies of Cambodia and Vietnam, opening a new page in the friendly and good neighborly relations between the two countries.
After the glorious victory on January 7, 1979, the Vietnamese Volunteer Army continued to provide training and coaching until the Cambodian army was capable of fighting to prevent the return of the genocidal regime, which had fled and was stationed in the Cambodian-Thai border area. After that, the Vietnamese Volunteer Army completely withdrew from Cambodia in September 1989.
Researcher Uch Leang commented that since the Vietnamese Volunteer Army completely withdrew from Cambodia, the relationship between Cambodia and Vietnam has continuously progressed to this day and is increasingly developing in many areas, bringing many practical benefits to the people of the two countries. The relationship between Cambodia and Vietnam is not only a traditional, neighborly relationship but also a brotherly relationship that shares the same fate in the struggle for national liberation and unification, and in the construction and development of the country today.
The article reviews the achievements in maintaining peace and development in Cambodia, as well as the results of Prime Minister Hun Manet's two-day official visit to Vietnam on December 11 and 12, 2023. Accordingly, through the visit, the heads of the two governments highly appreciated the stable development of bilateral relations and comprehensive cooperation, and discussed the roadmap for action in the fields of trade and investment, tourism, connectivity, health,education , security, border and defense between the two sides; at the same time, committed to continue to strengthen cooperation and consider new areas with great potential, through regular exchanges of visits, dialogues and contacts between leaders at all levels.
During the visit, the Cambodian side proposed to enhance trade and investment through additional cooperation in the form of "Vietnam + 1", especially in the fields of agriculture , industry and tourism; at the same time, it emphasized the common benefits of building an action plan to develop tourism between Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam with the slogan "Three countries, one destination".
According to RAC experts, Prime Minister Hun Manet's visit to Vietnam has contributed to consolidating and deepening the friendship and cooperation in all fields based on the spirit of good neighborliness, solidarity and mutual understanding. Since then, the Cambodia-Vietnam relationship has grown through increased trade and investment activities, in the context of the two countries having great potential for economic partnership and supply chain connectivity. Accordingly, the increasingly developing trade relationship between Vietnam and Cambodia recorded an average annual growth rate of more than 20% in the 2015-2020 period and exceeded the 10 billion USD mark in 2022, reaching 10.57 billion USD, an increase of nearly 11% over the previous year. Based on the stable growth rate of bilateral trade, the leaders of the two countries have set a target of 20 billion USD in bilateral trade in the coming time. To realize this goal, the two sides agreed to effectively promote existing cooperation mechanisms, including the Joint Committee on Economic, Cultural, Scientific and Technological Cooperation.
The article cited a report from the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment stating that by 2023, there would be 206 Vietnamese investment projects in Cambodia with a total registered capital of 2.94 billion USD, ranking second among 80 countries and territories receiving Vietnamese investment capital, leading the region of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Vietnam is also in the top 5 countries with the highest direct investment capital in Cambodia.
According to researcher Uch Leang, along with the goal of increasing bilateral trade turnover between Cambodia and Vietnam to 20 billion USD in the coming time, promoting the connection point of the Phnom Penh-Bavet and Ho Chi Minh City-Moc Bai expressways to promote trade and investment flows, and additional cooperation activities through the "Vietnam + 1" format, especially cooperation in agriculture, industry, tourism in particular and all fields in general, will actively contribute to realizing the vision of making Cambodia an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050.
From the above comments, RAC experts believe that economic, trade and investment cooperation is an important driving force to promote the relationship of "good neighborliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation and long-term sustainability" between Cambodia and Vietnam.
According to Baotintuc.vn
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