Cambodia, Colombia Hold 2nd Bilateral Consultation

The Kingdom of Cambodia and the Republic of Colombia held their 2nd Bilateral Consultation in Bogota early this week to bolster the wide-ranging cooperation between the two countries.

According to a press release of the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation AKP received this morning, the meeting was co-hosted on Dec. 5 by H.E. Ouch Borith, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister and Standing Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and H.E. Francisco José Coy Granados, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Colombia.

In the meeting both sides reviewed bilateral relations and entailed an exchange of views and updates on a wide range of topics of bilateral interest – ranging from development cooperation and national reconciliation to trade, investment, education, tourism, agriculture, demining and peacekeeping operations.

As the trade volume between the two countries is still modest, the two sides agreed to work together to intensify the trade exchange between the two countries. In this connection, H.E. Ouch Borith briefed his counterpart about the favourable conditions on business environment and investment policy in Cambodia, and proposed to have Business Forum organised on the sidelines of the next session of Bilateral Consultation in Phnom Penh to expand business-to-business activities.

In tourism sector, both sides agreed to enhance tourism cooperation and assist each other in holding tourism promotion activities and encourage their citizens to travel to each other’s country. In this regard, the Colombian side proposed to the Cambodian side to take into consideration the lifting of the visa for the holders of the normal passport.

In the educational field, the Colombian side welcomed the Cambodia’s proposal to have a Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries’ diplomatic institutes, and has been committed to continuing to provide Spanish language scholarships to Cambodian officials in the coming years. It also has decided to offer Master’s and Doctoral Degrees scholarships to Cambodian students from 2023 onwards.

Both sides expressed commitment to strengthen cooperation on the agricultural sector by sharing technology particularly rice genetics breeding, training and exchange visits of competent authorities and experts. The Colombian side also proposed a joint training project between both countries on agriculture through the National Training Service of Minister of Labour of Colombia.

As for the demining and peacekeeping cooperation, the Colombian side expressed its deep gratitude to the Royal Government of Cambodia for providing demining training to more than 180 Colombian officials from 2010. H.E. Ouch Borith expressed the Royal Government of Cambodia’s support for the training of Colombian officers for three more years (2023-2025) in the framework of trilateral cooperation Cambodia-Japan-Colombia.

The two sides also exchanged views in regional and international issues of mutual interest, including geo-political landscape as well as support for multilateralism and international system with the United Nations at the core. H.E. Francisco José Coy Granados commended Cambodia’s success in hosting ASEAN Summits and Related Summits during geopolitically challenging times. H.E. Ouch Borith took good note of Colombia’s goodwill and commitment to strengthen its relationship with ASEAN and to bridging closer cooperation between the ASEAN and South America region.

The two sides agreed to further boost bilateral ties and continue to support each other in the international arena for the mutual benefit of the two countries and peoples. They also agreed to organise important events in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Cambodia and Colombia. H.E. Ouch Borith expressed his sincere thanks to Colombian side for printing postage stamps as token of friendship between the two countries in this auspicious occasion.

 

 

Source: Agency Kampuchea Press