At the invitation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh , Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet will pay an official visit to Vietnam on December 11 and 12.
On this occasion, VNA correspondent in Phnom Penh interviewed Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sok Chenda Sophea about the special traditional friendship and cooperation between the two countries in recent times and the prospects for cooperation in the future, especially priority areas in economic cooperation, as well as the significance and importance of the visit. Below is the content of the interview.
* Could you, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, please give your assessment of the special relationship between Vietnam and Cambodia over the past nearly 6 decades?
- The history of our two countries has been linked since the 1950s. During the French colonial period, patriots in Cambodia and Vietnam thought and carried out activities to gain independence for their countries.
In my opinion, from that time on, we started to have a relationship between leaders. Some leaders of the Cambodian People's Party went to Vietnam to carry out some tasks as required by that period. Therefore, the Cambodia-Vietnam relationship is a story of a long-term relationship.
Normally, every country always strives to have a good relationship with its neighbors. Therefore, I am very happy to share about the relationship of “Good neighbors, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, long-term sustainability” between Cambodia and Vietnam, especially the phrase “long-term sustainability”. This is very important. Called “long-term sustainability”, it means that the two countries will hold hands and accompany each other for a long time in the future.
Looking back at the special relationship over the past 60 years, we can see that our cooperation has become increasingly closer and tighter, and is looking towards an even longer future. During the past journey, the Cambodian and Vietnamese people have supported and helped each other during the war.
1979 was a historic milestone when Vietnam supported Cambodia in overthrowing the brutal genocidal regime. Throughout history, we have helped and supported each other. From the perspective of neighboring countries, Cambodia and Vietnam have thought together about how to make the relationship between the two countries better and more sustainable in the future.
* In recent years, economic cooperation has become a bright spot in Vietnam-Cambodia relations with bilateral trade turnover in 2022 reaching 10.57 billion USD, an increase of nearly 11% over the same period in 2021. In your opinion, what are the areas that the two countries need to focus on to make economic cooperation more effective, contributing more to the development of each country?
- Trade turnover between the two countries will reach more than 10 billion USD in 2022, up from more than 5 billion USD in 2020. In just two years, it has doubled, one becomes two, that is a strong, wonderful growth rate.
In particular, in 2020, there was the COVID-19 pandemic, sometimes there was social distancing, blockade... but the trade activities between the two countries still took place strongly, showing the mutual benefits and complementarities in trade exchange activities between the two economies.
Regarding the areas that need to be focused on, I think that the areas of trade, investment and tourism can only develop when we ensure hard and soft infrastructure. If we don't have flights, as happened during COVID-19, there are no tourists, everything stops. Therefore, we need to make efforts to improve the connectivity between the two countries, as well as the two economies.
Regarding road connectivity, the Cambodian side has signed an agreement with a Chinese company to build a highway from Phnom Penh to Bavet. We want to connect with the Vietnamese route at Moc Bai. I firmly believe that when the two economies are connected at Bavet - Moc Bai, trade and investment activities between the two countries will explode even more strongly because the connectivity factor is extremely important.
However, as mentioned, besides connecting bridges, roads and flights, soft infrastructure is needed. That is the Border Trade Agreement, customs control procedures, vehicle management methods... The functional forces of the two countries need to coordinate smoothly and synchronously. Even though the roads are convenient, having to stop and wait for 5 hours when arriving at the border will be inefficient.
In 2018, I mentioned the areas that need to be focused on in bilateral relations at a business forum in Hanoi, which was attended by the Prime Ministers of Cambodia and Vietnam. At that forum, I affirmed that the Cambodian and Vietnamese economies are not two competing economies, but on the contrary, they are purely two complementary economies.
Now, economists use the concept of “+1”, such as “Vietnam +1”, “Thailand +1”… In the past, when we were working at the Council for the Development of Cambodia, we thought about this and understood that this flow, this trend would come at some point. Because we have different resources, different human resources, we can share the work.
In the current geopolitical competition, I am happy to see some companies moving production to Vietnam. This means that Vietnam will welcome and take on some jobs, while some other jobs can be promoted to Cambodia to complement each other.
There are many activities in many fields that require production and assembly to be done in many different places. That is why I have great faith in the “Vietnam +1” model. And for that to happen, we must have both hard and soft infrastructure.
At the traditional breakfast meeting between the leaders of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos during the recent ASEAN Summit in Jakarta (Indonesia), Samdech Thipadei also mentioned the above story, saying that our countries can complement each other in many areas and need to make more efforts, both in the industrial and agricultural sectors.
At that meeting, Samdech Thipadei mentioned the tourism sector, saying that Vietnam developed first, with direct flights from abroad. Therefore, Cambodia can coordinate with Vietnam, receiving tourists from Vietnam to travel to Cambodia. Cambodia does not have the famous Ha Long like Vietnam, but it also has the wonders of Angkor Wat, Tonle Sap Lake...
I think that the industrial sector alone, according to the “Vietnam +1” formula, has a lot of potential. In the field of electronics or modern technology, Vietnam is ahead, but in some other industrial sectors, we can completely complement each other, such as agriculture, specifically the production and processing of cashew nuts.
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| Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sok Chenda Sophea gives an interview to VNA. Photo: VNA |
* Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet is about to pay an official visit to Vietnam. Could you please tell us what the significance of Prime Minister Hun Manet's visit to Vietnam is and what prospects it opens up for the Vietnam-Cambodia cooperative relationship in the coming time, in line with the motto "Good neighbors, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, long-term sustainability"?
- The trip on the 11th is Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet's first official visit to an ASEAN member country. That is the first meaning of the visit.
Second, not all friendly countries have delegation exchanges, meetings, and visits between high-ranking leaders like Cambodia and Vietnam. Samdech Thipadei took office as Prime Minister on August 22, and has been in office for more than 100 days. During that short period of time, Samdech Thipadei had 4 meetings with the Vietnamese Prime Minister, all abroad. In addition, Samdech Thipadei also met with the President of Vietnam in Beijing, China. Most recently, Samdech Moha Rathsapheathika Thipadei Khuon Sudary, President of the Cambodian National Assembly, also visited Hanoi for an official friendship visit to Vietnam.
Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet's upcoming visit to Vietnam is his first to an ASEAN member country and is at a high level in the exchange of visits between Cambodia and Vietnam.
In 2022, Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue and Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh visited Cambodia.
Visits between the two sides are extremely important activities. Those meetings and exchanges demonstrate affection. Along with that, the two sides also share views. Within the framework of the friendly relationship between the two countries, we have bilateral cooperation and also cooperation in multilateral frameworks.
The two countries attended the Mekong Sub-region Conference, the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Framework, the ASEAN Conference... Through these forums, the two countries discussed cooperation in all fields, economy, diplomacy, security, health, transportation...
In the event of conflicts arising in some regions of the world, affecting the economic situation of the two countries, we must pay attention and take timely measures to respond through sharing awareness and exchanging views within the bilateral framework. Or in bilateral meetings, the two countries also discuss and exchange related issues in the region and the world, typically the story of food supply and food security issues in the current context.
I believe that Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet’s visit to Vietnam this time will continue to strengthen and expand the traditional friendship. As mentioned above, the content of “long-term sustainability” in the motto of the relationship between our two countries is only 60 years old. In the coming time, we must continue to build to bring development and prosperity to the people of both countries.
Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet’s upcoming visit to Vietnam can be likened to planting trees and tending flowers, requiring us to regularly fertilize and water them. The friendship between Cambodia and Vietnam needs to be nurtured and preserved because both countries are well aware of the advantages and benefits of a good relationship between the two governments, two parties and peoples.
* Thank you very much, Deputy Prime Minister!
According to VNA/Vietnam+
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