President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Đỗ Văn Chiến meets Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen. — VNA/VNS Photo

PHNOM PENH — A high-ranking delegation of the Việt Nam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee visited Cambodia from July 28 to 30 to further intensify friendship and cooperation.

The trip was part of activities in celebration of the 55th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and the two countries’ Friendship Year 2022.

The delegation had meetings with Cambodian King Preah Bat Samdech Preah Bormneat Norodom Sihamoni, leaders of the National Assembly, Senate and Government of Cambodia, and many organisations and agencies.

Speaking at those events, President of the VFF Central Committee Đỗ Văn Chiến said Việt Nam always attaches importance to the development of traditional ties with Cambodia.

Việt Nam’s consistent viewpoint is supporting an independent, peaceful, neutral and developed Cambodia. It always wishes to cooperate with Cambodia to firmly maintain security and defence while developing independent and self-reliant economies with extensive and effective international integration, he emphasised.

Chiến also expressed his hope that the Cambodian King and leaders will support the early completion of land border demarcation and border marker planting so as to build a borderline of peace, friendship, and cooperation for common development.

He asked Cambodian authorities to continue assisting and resolving difficulties facing Vietnamese-origin people, promote communications and education to help the countries’ young people understand more about the traditional friendship, step up transport connectivity, boost infrastructure development at border gates, and actively coordinate with Việt Nam to search for and repatriate remains of Việt Nam’s volunteer soldiers and experts killed in Cambodia during wartime.

At the working session with the President of the National Assembly and Chairman of the National Council of the Solidarity Front for Development of the Cambodian Motherland Samdech Heng Samrin, the two Fronts agreed to work together to build and carry out a plan for the memorandum of understanding on the cooperation programme among the Fronts of Cambodia, Laos and Việt Nam, along with the three Fronts’ joint communiqué on the outcomes of an international conference on building the Việt Nam-Cambodia borderline for 2022-2025 to be held in Việt Nam this September.

Heng Samrin applauded the fruitful multifaceted cooperation between the two Governments as seen in bilateral trade growth and the COVID-19 combat, which has helped reopen the countries and reactivate their economic and tourism activities.

Talking to the Vietnamese delegation at a separate meeting, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen expressed his satisfaction at the stability of bilateral relations, especially the completion of 84 per cent of the land border demarcation, and agreed to accelerate work on the remaining 16 per cent in order to have a stable borderline and facilitate cross-border travel.

The VFF delegation also met with President of the Cambodian Senate Samdech Say Chhum; Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Chairwoman of the Cambodian Front’s National Council and Chairwoman of the Cambodia-Việt Nam Friendship Association Men Sam An; and Great Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia Samdech Tep Vong.

On July 30, they held a working session with the Khmer-Vietnamese Association and visited and presented gifts to Cambodians of Vietnamese origin in Phnom Penh. — VNS