PHNOM PENH: The Prime Minister of Cambodia and Chair of ASEAN 2022, Hun Sen, arrived in Myanmar at about 10:15 this morning to begin his official two-day state visit to the country, which he said would help bring Myanmar back to ASEAN and strengthen ASEAN unity.

During the visit, Prime Minister Hun Sen will meet directly with military leader General Min Aung Hlaing to discuss how to help the situation in Myanmar return to normalcy, in addition to other bilateral and multilateral talks related to ASEAN interests.

Speaking at the 23rd ASEAN Lecture on Cambodia's 2022 ASEAN Chairmanship, Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said that Cambodia's immediate focus as the 2022 Chair is to help improve the situation in Myanmar, and confirmed that Cambodia wants to make this state visit useful with useful outcomes.

He said that even though they are saying that the state visit of Prime Minister Hun Sen is a bilateral visit, the purpose of his visit is in order to talk directly with General Min Aung Hlaing and see what Cambodia can do to help restore normalcy for Myanmar. He added that Prime Minister Hun Sen has set no conditions or preconditions for his visit, but the Cambodian Foreign Minister stressed that he had made it clear to Myanmar Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin that Cambodia wishes to make the Prime Minister’s visit as useful as possible.

For the state visit, Prime Minister Hun Sen also delivered a number of donations of medical supplies to help Myanmar in the fight against Covid-19, which he personally handed over to the Foreign Minister, Wunna Maung Lwin when he got off the plane.

The crisis in Myanmar stems from the military coup that took place on 1 February 2021, which saw the arrest of State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myin and other ruling party officials, by the Myanmar Armed Forces who refused to recognize the November 2020 election results, and handed over the leadership of the country to the Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, General Min Aung Hlaing.

While speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the Customs and Excise Building on the morning of 23 December 2021, Prime Minister Hun Sen had said that he understood the feelings of those who oppose him in Myanmar, but he believes that Cambodia’s efforts to restore peace in the country will later benefit the people as well as the democratic process in Myanmar.

Prime Minister Hun Sen will be in Myanmar from January 7 to 8.