INTERNATIONAL: Cambodia and Philippines have expressed their commitment to strengthen coordination and continue supporting each other in regional and international area, particularly within the ASEAN and the UN frameworks. The two country’s agreement was done during the 3rd Meeting of the Cambodia-Philippines Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation virtually hosted by Cambodia. It was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday chaired by Cambodia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn and Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines Teodoro L. Locsin Jr.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has revealed that both sides had in-depth discussion on issues of common interests and explored the potentials to expand and deepen the existing good cooperation in political-security, defence, trade and investment, agriculture and agribusiness, tourism, air-connectivity, culture, labour, education and vocational training, science, technology and innovation, health, and environment.
MOFAIC has stated, “On defense and security cooperation, Cambodia and the Philippines acknowledged the importance of maintaining active engagements between senior military officials and senior police officers through bilateral and multilateral platforms as well as sharing and exchanging information and best practices between the two countries. The two sides agreed to also strengthen law enforcement in addressing growing challenges facing the region such as terrorism, drug trafficking and trafficking in persons, arms smuggling, money laundering, piracy on high seas, cybercrimes, identity fraud and illegal wildlife trade.”
The Joint Commission was committed to further stimulate two-way trade and investment through the arrangement of more trade events including trade fairs, exhibition, business matching between import-export firms of the two countries. In this regard, the two sides welcomed the virtual signing of the MoU between the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, aiming to increase trade and investment between both countries.
MFAIC has added, “On education, the JCBC encouraged closer cooperation and partnership among universities bound by the Memorandum of Understanding to increase staff and student mobility, upgrade capacity and qualification, promote teaching and learning and improve research collaboration. The Cambodian side highly appreciated the Philippines for providing full scholarships to Cambodia’s post-graduate students in the area of science, mathematics and engineering in top universities in the Philippines and the fourth English language course for the officials and staff of the Secretariat General of the Senate.”
Cambodia and Philippines have agreed to consolidate the bilateral cooperation on agriculture and agri-business through exchange of information, statistics, knowledge, experiences and best practices. The Cambodian side encourage the Philippine investors to explore opportunities to invest in Cambodia’s agricultural sector, especially in rice, vegetables and animal husbandry.
The Philippines has announced that the Philippines Airlines will be operating direct-flights weekly between Phnom Penh-Manila starting next month. Cambodia will host the ASEAN Tourism Forum 022 on 16-22 January in Preah Sihanouk province.
In addition, the Philippines has thanked the Royal Government of Cambodia for providing Covid-19 vaccines to the Philippine Embassy’s personnel and the Filipino Community on a voluntary basis and free of charge.
Cambodia and Philippines will commemorate the 65th Anniversary of the Establishment of their Diplomatic Relations in 2022. The celebration of this landmark event will certainly add more strength and vibrancy to the growing close relations between the two countries.
