Vietnam, Cambodia vow to boost ties

Vietnam and Cambodia Tuesday agreed to lift their friendship to new heights in the years to come.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stressed the significance of the visit by his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen, saying it would help strengthen neighborliness and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries. The two prime ministers agreed to give priority to cooperation in human resources development, trade and investment, energy, mining, oil and gas, industrial crops and transport. The two sides aim to increase two-way trade to more than US$2 billion by 2010 and encourage cooperation between localities. They also agreed to continue close cooperation in security and defense, as well as the fight against terrorism, transnational crimes, smuggling, drugs and human trafficking. The two sides reaffirmed their principle of preventing hostile forces from using the territory of either country to harm the other and undermine Vietnam-Cambodia ties. The two PMs highly valued the achievements made in the planting of border markers and affirmed their determination to accelerate the work so it can be completed within the first six months of 2012. Following the talks, the two PMs witnessed the signing of five agreements, including pacts on visa exemptions for ordinary passport holders, transit of goods and railway cooperation. Other cooperation agreements were reached between the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications and the Cambodian Information Ministry and between the Radio Voice of Vietnam and the Cambodian National Radio. Hun Sen also met with Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh and President Nguyen Minh Triet in Hanoi Tuesday. Source: VNA