Laos, Cambodia Further Strengthen Bilateral Cooperation

Source: Lao News Agency

Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen, accompanied by a delegation of senior officials, is visiting the Lao PDR (Feb 13-14) in response to the invitation of his Lao counterpart Sonexay Siphandone.

Hun Sen’s visit aims to enhance the relations, traditional solidarity, and long-lasting and comprehensive strategic partnership between the Lao PDR and the Kingdom of Cambodia.

A bilateral meeting between the two government leaders and their delegations was held at the Prime Minister’s Office in Vientiane on Monday afternoon just right after an official welcome ceremony held in honour of the visiting Cambodian Prime Minister.

Extending a warm welcome to the visiting Cambodian leader, Prime Minister Sonexay highly valued the visit of his Cambodian counterpart as a significant contribution to strengthening the bilateral relations between the close neighbors.

PM Sonexay spoke highly of the great achievements the Cambodian people have made in various areas under the leadership of Hun Sen as well as Cambodia’s successful chairmanship of the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and related summits in 2022 and the 5th communal elections in June 2022 which saw Cambodian People’s Party winning a landslide victory.

Expressing heartfelt thanks for the warm honorable welcome from the government and people of Laos, the Cambodian Prime Minister highly valued the time-honored relations and cooperation between the two neighbors as well as their long-lasting and comprehensive strategic partnership.

The Cambodian Prime Minister expressed his heartfelt appreciation to the host for his appointment as Prime Minister of the Lao PDR at the 4th ordinary session of the National Assembly in December 2022.

He also invited Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone to visit Cambodia at his convenience.

Both sides also reviewed their cooperation under bilateral and multilateral frameworks over the past years noting that the longstanding relations and cooperation between Lao and Cambodian people have been increasingly promoted.

The leaders agreed that upgrading their bilateral cooperation to a long-lasting and comprehensive strategic partnership in 2019 demonstrated the strong commitment of the two countries to lifting their sound cooperation to new heights.

Bilateral cooperation has been constantly promoted especially in areas of national defense and public security, economy and trade, investment, finance, electricity, public works and transport, social culture and tourism, and border affairs, among others.

The cooperation under the frameworks of ACMECS, CLMV and CLV and other regional and sub-regional frameworks has continued to be mutually strengthened and promoted.

Both leaders also exchanged points of view on regional and international issues of common interest.

Prime Minister Sonexay expressed on behalf of the government and people of the Lao PDR gratitude to the government and people of Cambodia for their provision of assistance and support to Laos over the past years.

He stated that the Party, government, and people of Laos will continue to nurture and enhance the sound and long-lasting relations between the two countries. He expressed his confidence that the Cambodian Prime Minister’s successful visit to Laos will contribute significantly to enhancing and strengthening the sound cooperation between Laos and Cambodia.

After the bilateral meeting, the two leaders signed two documents including a treaty on border demarcation, to be used as a reference for settling border issues, and the Laos-Cambodia Action Plan for the Comprehensive and Long-Lasting Strategic Partnership for 2023-2027, which lays the foundation for the cooperation on economy and trade, investment, border demarcation as well as cooperation in regional and international arenas.

They also witnessed the signing of the minutes of the Laos-Cambodia Joint Boundary Commission meeting.