Phnom Penh: Prime Minister Hun Sen, has received a courtesy visit from Lao Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh at the Peace Palace on Monday.
Prime Minister Hun Sen's personal assistant, Eang Sophalleth says that Phankham Viphavanh has congratulated the Kingdom of Cambodia's development . He stesses that his current visit shows Cambodia is progressing, especially Phnom Penh.
The Prime Minister of Laos also congratulated the Cambodian Prime Minister on his success in all fields, including the recent Asia-Europe Meeting and the upcoming ASEAN Chairmanship next year. In this regard, he has also expressed his support and promised to cooperate and help Cambodia to lead ASEAN's success in the future.
Prime Minister Viphavan has mentioned that Cambodia and Laos have a long history of friendly relations and culture and traditions. He has also added that Cambodia and Laos may have changed, but the spirit of people-to-people remains the same.
The Lao Prime Minister has made eight requests to Prime Minister Hun Sen. First is to expand and strengthen cooperation with each other to continue the exchange of visits between each other in order to promote the completion of previously agreed work. Second, continue to discuss and negotiate how to complete the cooperation agreement in the comprehensive partnership. Third, to continue the meeting through the existing mechanisms. Fourth, continue to urge the Joint Boundary Commission to continue to work to achieve the goals achieved by the leadership. Fifth, to promote trade cooperation and promote trade between the two countries. Sixth, to promote cooperation in the fields of education, culture and tourism, as well as other areas that are potential for both countries. Seventh, promote the private sector, promote investment between the two countries and support investors between the two countries, and eighth, promote cooperation in regional and international forums.
In response, Prime Minister Hun Sen has thanked Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh for supporting Cambodia as the chair of ASEAN and attending the ASEM meeting, supporting Cambodia as the previous ASEM chair, which made Cambodia successful. The Cambodian Prime Minister fully supported the eight points raised by his Lao counterpart.
In the firld of tourism, the Prime Minister of Cambodia asked Prime Minister Viphavan to consider allowing the two people to travel to each other, as this is a mutually complementary sector. Prime Minister Hun Sen has also expressed support on the investment sector to encourage and support investments between the two countries, as investment is the basis for strengthening political cooperation.
Prime Minister Hun Sen took the chance to infrom Lao Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh of Cambodia's assistance to Laos in the amount of $13 million, of which the $3 million comes from the Royal Government of Cambodia's budget and $10 million dollars from philanthropists. The Kingdom of Cambodia has also provided with 500,000 doses of Sinovak vaccine and two vaccination vehicles to the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
The Lao Prime Minister has also expressed his condolences to the death of Prince Norodom Ranariddh to the Royal Family and to the whole Kingdom of Cambodia.
