PHNOM PENH: Minister of Foreign Affairs and Thai Deputy Prime Minister Don Pramudwinai has led an official visit to the Kingdom of Cambodia between the 16 and 18 of December for the 11th Meeting of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation between the two nations.
At the invitation of Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Prak Sokhonn, the Thai counterpart, Don Pramudwinai, has also paid a courtesy call with Prime Minister Hun Sen.
During the meeting, Thai Deputy Prime Minister has conveyed the warmest regards sent by Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha congratulating Prime Minister Hun Sen for Cambodia’s great success in hosting the 13th ASEM Summit, expressing Thailand’s full support for Cambodia’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2022.
Don Pramudwinai also have praised the Cambodian Prime Minister for the successful vaccination campaign in the Kingdom, achieving 90% of the population inoculated, speeding economic recovery and development. Prime Minister Hun Sen has thanked the message from the Thai Prime Minister, highly praising the traditional friendly ties and growing cooperation between both nations.
On 18 of December, the Thai Foreign Minister has also met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Prak Sokhonn, during which the two Foreign Ministers discussed about bilateral cooperation on trade and investment, tourism, connectivity, and people-to-people exchange.
The 11th JC Meeting of this year was under the theme of ‘Peace, Prosperity and Recovery Together’, and have the presence of both Foreign Ministers and Prime Ministers. They have reviewed the progress of the implementation of the Record of Discussion of the 10th JC Meeting in 2016 as well as the outcomes of the 3rd Joint Cabinet Retreat in 2017.
Both sides have agreed to strengthen visit between leaders with regular exchanges of meetings in their respective institution and ministries. They have also expressed the need to promote training and information sharing in the fields of security, illegal logging, drug, arms and human trafficking along the border.
Cambodia and Thailand have also expressed their confidence to achieve the bilateral trade target of 15 billion dollars by 2025. One of the incentives would be the MoU on Transit of Good, which both nations have agreed to accelerate its conclusion. They are also willing to open more international check points to facilitate faster and better transportation and increase the volume of bilateral trade between the two Kingdoms.
Regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, both nations are pleased for the support and assistance to each other, including provision of Covid-19 vaccines, equipment and medicines. As for now, the commitment is set to revive their economies, with Cambodia highly appreciating Thailand for granting permission to Cambodian workers whose Overseas Cambodian Worker Card (OCWC) and Travel Document (TD) have expired to stay and work in Thailand until February of 2023.
On education and human resources developments, Cambodia has also appreciated Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn as well as the Royal Government of Thailand and the Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA) for providing scholarships, short and long-term training courses and seminars to Cambodian students and government officials to pursue their studies in Thailand.
Both sides are looking forward to the Fourth Cambodia-Thailand Joint Cabinet Retreat which will be hosted by the Thai side at the mutually convenient time, as well as the 12th Meeting of the Joint Commission of Bilateral Cooperation between both nations, expected to happen in Bangkok in 2023.
