Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Prak Sokhonn, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has urged for more cooperation in three main areas, at the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference (PMC) with the Republic of Korea.
At the meeting held yesterday by videoconference, H.E. Prak Sokhonn encouraged stronger cooperation in the fields of human resource development, smart cities, and rural and urban infrastructure development.
The Cambodian diplomat took the opportunity to thank the ROK for providing vaccines and medical supplies to assist Cambodia in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the end of the meeting, the Ministers applauded the progress of ASEAN-ROK cooperation and reiterated their commitment to further strengthen ASEAN-ROK Dialogue Relations, including through the ROK’s New Southern Policy Plus (NSPP), according to the press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation issued this afternoon.
In this regard, ASEAN supported the ROK’s proposal for a Leaders’ Joint Statement on advancing ASEAN-ROK cooperation in line with the NSPP and ASEAN’s major strategies and initiatives. ASEAN also welcomed the ROK’s proposal to set up the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management (AMMDM) Plus ROK mechanism.
The ASEAN Foreign Ministers expressed deep appreciation to the ROK for its strong support in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic as exemplified by the convening of the ASEAN-ROK Health Dialogue.
The Meeting took note of the efforts to strengthen ASEAN-ROK business-to-business linkages and emphasised the importance of expanding cooperation in areas such as public health and vaccine multilateralism, trade and investment, MSME promotion, finance, science and technology, green infrastructure and development, air transport, and digital education in order to facilitate a speedy recovery from the pandemic and sustain long-term growth.
The Ministers also agreed to continue working on the maintenance of regional peace, security and stability, including by strengthening collaboration on addressing climate change and cyber security issues. In this connection, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers commended the efforts made by the ROK to bring a lasting peace to the Korean Peninsula and applauded the recent agreement to reopen the Inter-Korean Liaison Office.
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press