Cambodian PM "not sick" during Bangladesh visit: senior official [The Bangladeshi minister cannot just say Hun Sen was sick unless the Cambodian side told him so]

 

Photo/CEN

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was not sick during his landmark three-day visit to Bangladesh, a senior government official said Wednesday.

"The prime minister looks healthy as normal, not sick at all as you all see him walk out of the plane," Kao Kim Hourn, minister attached to Prime Minister Hun Sen, told reporters at Phnom Penh International Airport upon Hun Sen's return from the trip to Bangladesh.

His remarks came after Bangladeshi media reported Tuesday that Hun Sen fell sick and cancelled prescheduled meetings with Bangladeshi Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam and Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Tuesday morning.

"Hun [Sen] has been feeling illness since the Monday night though he is not in a serious condition," Alam was quoted as saying by banglanews24.com, a Bangladeshi online newspaper. "Due to illness, Hun's meetings with me and the commerce minister have been cancelled, and his other schedule will remain unchanged."

Kao Kim Hourn said the Cambodian side requested to cancel meetings with Bangladeshi senior officials on Tuesday morning because Hun Sen had a tight schedule.

He said Hun Sen held a bilateral talk with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina as scheduled on Tuesday afternoon and witnessed the signing ceremony of four documents for bilateral cooperation.

Kao Kim Hourn described Hun Sen's visit to Bangladesh as a fruitful trip for bilateral ties and cooperation in economics, trade, investment, tourism, education, and culture.

"The visit opens a new chapter of relations between Cambodia and Bangladesh," he said.