Russian premier’s visit to Cambodia to raise bilateral relations to new level - ministry

HANOI, November 22. /TASS/. A visit by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to Cambodia will be an historic event to open a new page in developing traditional relations of friendship and cooperation between Phnom Penh and Moscow, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told TASS on Sunday. The Cambodian foreign minister’s statement comes ahead of the first ever visit by the Russian premier to Cambodia in the history of bilateral relations. The visit is scheduled to take place on November 23-24. "The visit by the head of the Russian government will raise the relations of friendship and cooperation between our countries to a higher level in the political sphere, the economy and trade, tourism and justice, healthcare and cultural and information exchanges," said Hor Namhong who is also vice-premier of the Cambodian government. Cambodia and Russia are maintaining solid relations of friendship and cooperation, which is becoming increasingly dynamic, the Cambodian foreign minister said. "Despite all complex changes occurring in the world, our countries have kept and multiplied mutual understanding and trust over the course of many decades," he said. Economic cooperation The Cambodian foreign minister said Cambodia was currently making preparations for signing an agreement on a free trade area with the Eurasian Economic Union. "This will provide good opportunities for representatives of Cambodian and Russian business circles to use the possibilities of partnership and reach out to the markets of both ASEAN [Association of South East Asian Nations] member states and the entire Asian region as a whole," he said. In his opinion, Cambodia’s strategic location in South East Asia and the Greater Mekong subregion makes the country "a suitable place for the transit of goods to the region." According to him, this "is a good basis for further building up Cambodian-Russian trade and economic cooperation." Speaking about the possibilities of bilateral investment cooperation, the Cambodian vice-premier said that both sides had agreed on establishing a high-level working group on priority investment projects, which would start its work soon. Today four Russian projects in the sphere of tourism and telecommunications worth a total of $300 million are being implemented in Cambodia. "Taking into account the extensive Russian experience, I believe that the potential areas for bilateral investment cooperation could be such spheres as oil and gas extraction, power engineering, the creation of infrastructure and information and telecoms technologies," the Cambodian vice-premier said. Hor Namhong said he was confident that further expansion of investment partnership between Cambodia and Russia would be facilitated by an agreement signed early this year on the encouragement and mutual protection of capital investments. Interaction on international scene Cambodia and Russia are maintaining close interaction at the regional level as part of the mechanism of the ASEAN-Russia dialog partnership, Hor Namhong said. "As a close friend of Russia, Cambodia attaches great importance to strengthening and expanding relations between ASEAN and Russia, consistently standing for the dynamic development of cooperation between the Association and Russia," he said. "In particular, Cambodia has fully supported Russia’s proposal on holding the ASEAN-Russia jubilee summit in Sochi in May 2016," the head of the Cambodian Foreign Ministry said, adding that Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen would take part in this forum and pay an official visit to Russia. In 2016, Cambodia will organize the 4th ASEAN-Russia youth forum, he said. "This event will allow young leaders from ASEAN and Russia to establish close friendly ties, which will help maintain and further develop partnership between the Association and Russia," the Cambodian foreign minister said. "I believe that the status of a dialog partner, which Cambodia has in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, will become a new platform for promoting Cambodian-Russian cooperation both on the bilateral basis and at the regional level in social and economic development and the efforts to maintain peace and stability," the vice-premier said. Medvedev’s week-long tour Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will arrive on a two-day visit to Cambodia on November 23 as part of his week-long tour of South East Asian countries. Medvedev will hold talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and meetings with Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni and the heads of both houses of parliament. The Russian premier attended the APEC summit on the Philippines and is currently staying in Kuala Lumpur where he took part in the 10th East Asia summit. Read more