Phnom Penh (VNA) - Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn co-chaired the 21st meeting of the Vietnam–Cambodia Joint Committee for Economic, Cultural, Scientific and Technical Cooperation in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on December 9.
In a spirit of friendship, mutual trust and understanding, the two sides reviewed bilateral cooperation in political–diplomatic affairs, defence–security, economy–trade–investment, culture, tourism, education and training, transport, among others, and discussed orientations for future cooperation.
Prak Sokhonn congratulated Vietnam, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) headed by Party General Secretary To Lam, on the country’s major achievements and its increasingly enhanced regional and international stature. He expressed his confidence that Vietnam will achieve its development targets, including reaching double-digit economic growth, becoming a developing country with modern industry and upper-middle income by 2030, and a high-income developed country by 2045.
Affirming that Cambodia–Vietnam friendship is special and an invaluable shared asset deeply engraved in each country’s history, he stressed that the achievements of both nations stem from the cultivation of their traditional friendship and mutual support.
For his part, Trung hailed Cambodia’s strong development and expressed his confidence that under the leadership of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) headed by President Samdech Techo Hun Sen and the dynamism and vision of the Royal Government, Cambodia will overcome challenges and realise its goal of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income nation by 2050. He affirmed that Vietnam gives high priority to its traditional friendship and cooperation with Cambodia.
Regarding the bilateral ties, the two sides spoke highly of the positive momentum in cooperation, notably the successful high-level meeting between the two Parties in February 2025, regular high-level exchanges, and the effective operation of cooperation mechanisms.
Recent highlights included defence policy dialogue, border friendship exchanges, the meeting of the defence ministers of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, and a joint search-and-rescue exercise. Trade and investment cooperation also recorded positive progress, with bilateral trade reaching 10.4 billion USD in the first 11 months of 2025. Cooperation in other fields has continued to be maintained and expanded, they noted.
Both sides welcomed the inauguration of the Tan Nam–Meun Chey international border gate pair on December 8 in the presence of the two Prime Ministers, which is expected to enhance connectivity, facilitate transport and goods circulation, and boost people-to-people exchanges. Cooperation between localities of the two countries has also progressed positively, as reflected in the successful 13th conference on cooperation and development of border provinces held in late November 2025.
To implement agreements and commitments reached by high-level leaders, further consolidate traditional friendship, and create breakthroughs in economic cooperation, the two sides agreed to continue maintaining and strengthening high-level and multi-level exchanges through all channels; step up communication on the historical value of the bilateral relations among the public; firmly uphold the principle of not allowing any hostile forces to use one country’s territory to harm the other; and closely coordinate in border management as well as in preventing and combating transnational crimes.
They also agreed to promote infrastructure development and connectivity, border trade, and the modernisation of procedures to facilitate investment and effective business operations; enhance transport connectivity and goods exchange; strengthen cooperation in tourism, education and training, and people-to-people exchange; closely coordinate in the management, use, development and sustainable conservation of water resources, the environment and climate change; and continue close coordination at multilateral forums such as the United Nations, ASEAN and Mekong sub-regional mechanisms.
Concluding the meeting, Trung and Prak Sokhonn, on behalf of their respective governments, signed the minutes of the meeting. The two sides agreed to hold the 22nd meeting of the Vietnam–Cambodia Joint Committee in Vietnam at a suitable time in 2026.
Earlier, on December 8, Trung had a meeting with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Neth Savoeun who expressed his delight and deep impression at Vietnam’s development achievements over the past year, including its leading economic growth in the region, the successful organisation of major national anniversaries, and major international conferences.
He expressed his confidence that Vietnam will successfully organise the upcoming 14th National Party Congress, and conveyed greetings from CPP President Hun Sen and Prime Minister Hun Manet to Party General Secretary To Lam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and other key Vietnamese leaders.
The Vietnamese minister conveyed greetings from Party General Secretary To Lam and Vietnam’s senior leaders to King Norodom Sihamoni, CPP President Hun Sen, Prime Minister Hun Manet and other Cambodian leaders.
Trung underlined the hope to elevate bilateral cooperation to a new height, with breakthroughs in economic cooperation, particularly in promoting transport connectivity, strengthening coordination in land border management, and combating transnational crimes. He also thanked the Cambodian Government for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese-origin community in Cambodia to live, work, study and contribute to the country’s socio-economic development.
Regarding recent tensions between Thailand and Cambodia, Trung said Vietnam has been closely following the situation and called on both sides to exercise restraint, de-escalate tensions, engage in dialogue, respect each other’s legitimate interests and adhere to the peace deal.
Vietnam consistently supports the settlement of disputes through peaceful measures, and long-term stability for the benefit of the people of Cambodia and Thailand, and for ASEAN unity, as well as peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world, he stressed./.
