Việt Nam’s Border Guard High Command and the Royal Cambodian Army have pledged to facilitate border demarcation work between the two countries.— Photo vov.vn

PHNOM PENH — Việt Nam’s Border Guard High Command and the Royal Cambodian Army have pledged to facilitate border demarcation work between the two countries.

The consensus was reached during a meeting between Lieutenant General Hoàng Xuân Chiến, Commander of the Border Guard High Command and General Hun Manet, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and Commander of Royal Cambodian Army (RCA)  in Phnom Penh yesterday.

The meeting was held to review the cooperation on border safeguarding in 2018 and set forth orientation for 2019 cooperation plan.

The two sides are committed to strengthening solidarity and friendship and create favourable conditions for border residents to develop production and stabilise their lives.

They have agreed to increase joint patrols, maintain talks, meetings and exchange information to promptly deal with issues relating to security and handling emerging problems.

In the future, the two sides will continue bilateral military protocol and plan for cooperation next year, which has been approved by the two nations’ ministry of defence during talks.

The two sides also pledged close cooperation in the fight against crime, terrorism, drugs trafficking and illegal trading of weapons across the border between the two countries.

While appreciating the cooperation’s results, they also pointed out a number of obstacles they need to overcome for the interests and development of the two countries.

Earlier Chiến briefed the outcomes of cooperation between Việt Nam and Cambodia in general and the border guard forces, particularly the recent visit to Việt Nam by Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen last week.

He also congratulated Hun Manet on his appointment as Commander of the RCA, expressing his hope that Hun Manet would make more contributions to the traditional relations between the Vietnamese Border Guard and RCA.

During the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s visit, the two countries agreed to work towards the signing of documents to officially legalise the completion of 84 percent of the border demarcation and border marker planting in 2019, thereby helping build a border of peace, friendship, cooperation and development. — VNS