Buoyed up by the recent spike in the two-way trade, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) and the Australian Government recently reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen cooperation in key areas including investment, tourism, and agriculture while tackling the development of the Mekong-Australia Partnership (MAP).
The commitment from both sides was made during the Fourth Senior Official’s Talks (4th SOTs) between Prak Nguon Hong, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia (MFAIC) and Michelle Chan, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia (DFAT) in Phnom Penh.
The General Department of Asia-Pacific of MFAIC on Wednesday announced that the official meeting of the two government’s representatives aims to review and examine progress in cooperation in key areas including exchanges of high-level officials’ visits, trade, investment, tourism, agriculture, education, development cooperation, and the Mekong-Australia Partnership.
During the discussion, the Cambodian and Australian envoys applauded the spike in two-way trade in recent years, leading to an agreement to continue enhancing further cooperation especially to strengthen trade and investment activities.
They also expressed optimism over the launch of the ‘Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2024’, the establishment of a Trade and Investment Office at the Australian Embassy in Cambodia, and the recent ‘Air Services Agreement’ would contribute to boosting trade, investment, tourism and people ties.
The MFAIC press release stamped on April 12, but April 17, said, “The Australian Government has provided over $1 billion in official development assistance (ODA) to the Kingdom in the last three decades, supporting priority sectors such as education, trade, agriculture, health, infrastructure, gender equality, governance and climate change which significantly contributing to the country’s socio-economic development.”
The Australian Deputy Secretary underlined his desire for a modern and mature partnership responding to current challenges as well as working on a draft of the ‘Development Partnership Plan’ (DPP) for the Kingdom from 2024-2028 to align with Australia’s new international development policy and the Pentagonal Strategy – Phase One of RGC, the statement added.
For the MAP collaboration, RGC highly appreciated the assistance from the Australian Government for the development of clean water and energy management, modernisation of agriculture, the green economy and the digital economy, especially in training and capacity building of Khmer diplomats.
In response, the Australian Envoy briefed the importance of supporting resilience and prosperity in the Mekong sub-region by providing 222.5 million Australian dollars (A$), equivalent to $143.5 million in funding under the partnership for the next five years.
According to DFAT, the Mekong subregion includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. This is the second fund budget in the first phase Australia injected A$232 million or about $150 million to launch the MAP in November 2020 aimed at bolstering the subregion’s resilience, supporting inclusive and sustainable growth.
The Cambodian Secretary appreciated the engagement in ASEAN and congratulated them on the success in hosting the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in March this year, and the adoption of two documents such as the ASEAN-Australia Leaders’ Vision Statement and the Melbourne Declaration.
Source:Khmer Times
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<p>Time: 2024 By: Ministry of Industry and Trade</p>
