Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen (R) shakes hands with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on March 27, 2023. Cambodia and Malaysia on Monday vowed to further promote their bilateral relations and cooperation in trade, investment, tourism, energy, agriculture, education, and labor among others for mutual benefits. Anwar arrived in Phnom Penh on Monday morning for a one-day official visit at Hun Sen's invitation. (Photo by Ly Lay/Xinhua)
PHNOM PENH, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Malaysia on Monday vowed to further promote their bilateral relations and cooperation in trade, investment, tourism, energy, agriculture, education, and labor among others for mutual benefits.
The commitment was made during a meeting between Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh.
"We discussed cooperation in various areas, highly valued our bilateral relations, and vowed to further enhance bilateral cooperation in all areas including trade, investment, tourism, energy, connectivity and people-to-people contact," Hun Sen said in a joint press conference after the meeting.
"We encouraged both sides to continue exchanging high-level visits more often and at all levels to build closer friendship, to further increase mutual trust and to expand the broader scope of bilateral cooperation," he added.
According to the Cambodian leader, the trade volume between the two ASEAN member countries was valued at 620 million U.S. dollars in 2022, up 24 percent from 500 million dollars in 2021.
At the press conference, Anwar said regional and international issues such as the Myanmar situation, the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and the Korean Peninsula, among others, had been discussed, saying that both sides had "similar views" on these issues.
The Malaysian prime minister also thanked Cambodia for helping 287 Malaysians who had been victims of job scams in the kingdom.
Meanwhile, Anwar promised to encourage Malaysian companies to buy milled rice and cashew nuts from Cambodia.
At the end of the meeting, the two prime ministers witnessed the signing of two memorandums of understanding regarding the recruitment, employment and repatriation of Cambodian workers in the domestic sector and in the formal sector.
Anwar arrived in Phnom Penh on Monday morning for a one-day official visit at Hun Sen's invitation. ■