Cambodia and Laos are celebrating the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. To mark the occasion, letters have been exchanged between Prime Minister Hun Sen and Laos’ Prime Minister, Mr. Phankham Viphavanh. The two countries first established diplomatic ties on 15 June 1956.

In his letter, Prime Minister Hun Sen, on behalf of the government and people of Cambodia, extended his “heartfelt congratulations and best wishes…on the momentous occasion of the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations”. The Prime Minister wrote that he was “delighted to witness that over the past 65 years, Cambodia and Lao DPR have enjoyed a strong bond of traditional friendship and excellent cooperation, built upon the spirit of good neighbourliness, solidarity and mutual understanding.”

The Prime Minister went onto assure his Laotian counterpart of his “firm commitment to continue to work closely with you to further deepen our comprehensive and long-lasting strategic partnership so as to promote national development, address current regional and global challenges, particularly the Covid-19 pandemic, and jointly enhance peace, stability, prosperity and sustainable development for our peoples, as well as the ASEAN community and beyond.”

In his letter, Laos’ Prime Minister extended his warmest congratulations to Prime Minister Hun Sen for Cambodia’s “great success and prosperity” as a result of its national development. He wrote, “I am very pleased to note that over the past 65 years, the traditional bonds of friendly relations and good cooperation existing between our two countries have been further expanded and mutual trust between our two governments and peoples have been further enhanced.”

Mr. Phankham Viphavanh went onto say that he was pleased “our two peoples have agreed to elevate our relationship to a comprehensive and long lasting strategic partnership”. He said he firmly believed that with this close cooperation, the “existing traditional bonds of friendly relations will be further advanced so we can bring about mutual benefits to our two nations as well as continued peace, stability and cooperation for development in the region and the world at large”.