PHNOM PENH: The Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Takei Shunsuke, has told Prime Minister Hun Sen that Japan will send 40 referees to facilitate the organization of the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Cambodia.

While meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen at the Peace Palace on Thursday morning, 23 February 2023, the Japanese Foreign Minister remarked that Cambodia and Japan have good relations and the two countries have established a likely alliance that will reach the level of a comprehensive strategic partnership. He added that Japan will continue to strengthen relations between the two countries, and will also extend support to Cambodia while it hosts the SEA Games.

The Prime Minister’s personal assistant, Eang Sophalleth, confirmed to the media after the meeting that, "In the coming days, Japan will send 40 referees to help Cambodia organize the SEA Games.”

Modern Cambodian-Japanese relations began in 1953, when Cambodia had just been liberated from French colonization. In 2023, Japan has appointed singer Yoko Minamino as a Goodwill Ambassador to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Cambodia-Japan diplomatic relations.

Yoko Minamino also paid a courtesy visit to the Prime Minister at the Peace Palace on Thursday morning, during which, she shared some of her memories of visiting Cambodia in 1989 and 2013, which made her fall in love the country. From these visits, she wrote and dedicated a song about Cambodia and the Cambodian people entitled, 'Rainbow for Tomorrow'.

Eang Sophalleth confirmed that during the Japanese singer’s current visit to Cambodia, she will also be visiting the orphans she had first met back in 1989.

Prime Minister Hun Sen thanked Japan for encouraging more investors to come to Cambodia, as well as for providing assistance in other fields, and further thanked Ms. Minamino for coming to visit.

In the last two years, Cambodia and Japan have shared many memories, with 2022 marking the 30th anniversary of Japanese peacekeeping operations in Cambodia, and 2023 now marking 70th anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic relations.