Cambodian People’s Party Samdech Techo Hun Sen hosted a banquet last Friday for Party General Secretary Tô Lâm in Phnom Penh. — VNA/VNS Photo

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia’s national news agency AKP on Sunday highlighted the state visit by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam (CPV) Tô Lâm and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation last Friday, saying the trip is expected to inject fresh energy into the comprehensive development of relations between the two Southeast Asian neighbours.

The article gave prominent coverage to the talks between General Secretary Tô Lâm and President of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) Samdech Techo Hun Sen, held immediately after the official welcome ceremony with full honours at the Royal Palace.

During the meeting, Samdech Techo Hun Sen warmly welcomed General Secretary Lâm and the visiting delegation and praised the timing of the visit, which followed the successful 14th National Congress of the CPV. He said the trip clearly demonstrated the importance the CPV and the Vietnamese leadership attach to relations with Cambodia.

For his part, General Secretary Lâm briefed the CPP leader on the outcomes of the congress as well as Việt Nam’s development goals and orientations for the 2026–30 period. He reaffirmed that the Congress’s Resolution continues to underscore Việt Nam’s consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development and multilateralisation and diversification of external relations. Within this framework, the Party and State of Việt Nam place special importance on and give priority to fostering good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation and long-term sustainability with Cambodia, based on mutual respect for independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and legitimate interests.

At the meeting, both sides stressed that Party-to-Party relations served as the guiding foundation for the overall Việt Nam–Cambodia relationship. They said the meeting between the CPV Politburo and the Standing Board of the CPP Central Committee was of great significance, helping build a solid political foundation, orient bilateral ties and address specific issues of shared concern.

The AKP article also notes that both sides shared the view that the global and regional situation is undergoing rapid, complex and unpredictable changes that affect all countries, including Việt Nam and Cambodia. Against this backdrop, the two Parties and States agreed on the need to further strengthen solidarity, coordination and mutual support.

Beyond the top-level Party meeting, the article reports that during other engagements on the visit, the two sides pledged to strengthen economic connectivity, particularly in transport infrastructure, energy, digital transformation and industrial processing and agricultural supply chains by tapping the complementary strengths of the two economies.

The article highlights their agreement to step up investment, trade and tourism promotion activities, striving to raise bilateral trade to US$20 billion in the coming period. Both sides also pledged to enhance cooperation in education, training and human resources development while building new cooperation frameworks to tighten linkages.

AKP further mentioned ongoing efforts by the Việt Nam–Cambodia Joint Border Committee to build a land border of peace, stability and development.

The two sides also agreed to intensify cooperation between Party agencies, the parliaments, ministries, sectors and localities, particularly border provinces, while promoting people-to-people exchanges and maintaining security and stability along the border.

At the multilateral level, Cambodia and Việt Nam agreed to closely coordinate and support each other at regional and international forums, especially within ASEAN and Mekong sub-regional cooperation mechanisms, with a focus on sustainable water resource management and climate change response.

Concluding the article, AKP said it was confident the state visit would open a new phase in Việt Nam–Cambodia relations, marked by higher political trust and deeper, more extensive cooperation, creating intertwined strategic interests across multiple fields. — VNA/VNS