Vietnam, Cambodia agree to boost agricultural cooperation

VietNamNet Bridge - A senior Cambodian legislator has urged Vietnam to increase its flow of investments into agriculture in his country.

The Chairman of the Cambodian National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Commission, Chheang Vun, made the call while meeting with Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Nguyen Chien Thang on Dec. 25.

Chheang Vun said Cambodia boasts large and fertile farmland acreages which are favourable conditions for investment in agriculture.

The move will benefit both nations as it will help Cambodia learn Vietnam ’s agricultural production experiences and improve the local people’s living conditions, while Vietnam will be able to increase its farm produce output for export, he said.

According to the lawmaker, Cambodia annually exports more than 200 million USD worth of products to Vietnam and imports goods totalling some 1 billion USD from the country.

Ambassador Thang pledged to ask his government to consider Cambodia ’s suggestion, saying that boosting investment in Cambodia is one of Vietnam ’s priorities in order to beef up the bilateral relations.

The ambassador said Vietnamese companies are planning to grow rubber trees on an additional 30,000 ha in Cambodia in addition to over 30,000 ha already planted in Kracheh province.

He also emphasised the importance of cooperation for mutual development in the triangle region shared by Vietnam , Cambodia and Laos .

Vietnam hopes that Cambodia will host a meeting between leaders from the triangle region’s 10 provinces next year to introduce the potentials for development in this area, the diplomat added.
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Cambodian-Thai border talks set for January

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia will resume talks with Thailand over their disputed border in late January, as a tense military standoff at contested areas of the frontier enters its sixth month, national media said on Monday.

"The next meeting (of the Joint Border Commission) will be held in Thailand as agreed," Var Kinhong, Cambodia's top negotiator for border issues, was quoted by English-language daily newspaper the Phnom Penh Post as saying.

"The Thai parliament will hold internal discussion on the border issues first, and after they have approved (the agenda), the two sides will set the schedule," he added.

Cambodia and Thailand have never finally demarcated their 805-km shared border, but a meeting between both foreign ministers in November yielded an agreement to scale down troop numbers along the border and begin demarcation and demining operations from mid-December.
It was the most concrete progress made yet to resolve tensions on the border, which escalated after Cambodia first accused Thai troops of entering its territory in July, shortly after Cambodia's Preah Vihear Temple was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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