Phnom Penh: The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn thanked the Government of Japan for supporting Cambodia's economic and social development, including the development of human resources, which is bringing more positive results for Cambodia. He added that since 2000, the “Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship” (JDS) provided by Japan to Cambodia has trained 439 officials, and now some of them have held leadership and key positionsvin their respective ministries and institutions.

During the signing ceremony of the exchange of letters and related documents on the continuation of Japan's grant funding for the "Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship" (JDS) on Monday morning, 13 June, Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn said that since JDS was provided to Cambodia in 2000, this project has significantly contributed to the development of human resources in Cambodia by providing scholarships to 522 Cambodian civil servants from various ministries and institutions, including 27 officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

The officers were all trained in Japan, and 439 returned to Cambodia. Some of them hold leadership positions and key positions in their respective ministries and institutions.

The Foreign Minister thanked the Government and people of Japan for not only providing JDS grants and scholarships to Cambodia, but also providing Official Development Assistance (ODA) to support Cambodia's socio-economic development. .

"The friendship and multilateral cooperation between Cambodia and Japan remain stable and continue to grow due to the strong commitment of our two countries to further develop bilateral relations," he said.

Cambodia and Japan have signed an exchange of letters and related documents on a Japanese grant of 363 million yen (over 3 million US dollars) for the implementation of the Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS). Under the grant, 26 Cambodian government officials, including 24 postgraduate and 2 doctoral candidates, will receive scholarships to study at several prestigious universities in Japan.