PM Highlights Cambodia’s Key Contribution to ASEAN

Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen said Cambodia has done many things in contribution to ASEAN, including the entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the signing of Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).

At the groundbreaking ceremony for the reconstruction and upgrading of the 95.27-kilometre-long National Road No. 41 in Kampong Speu province this morning, Samdech Techo Hun Sen said the entry into force of RCEP in Phnom Penh this year is a pride of Cambodia as the negotiations for this mega agreement were also launched in Cambodia as the ASEAN Chair in 2012.

For DOC, he continued, it was signed in Phnom Penh during Cambodia’s ASEAN chairmanship in 2022. It marks its 20th anniversary in Cambodia this year.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is a free trade agreement among the Asia-Pacific nations of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The 15 member countries account for about 30 percent of the world’s population of 2.2 billion people.

The Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea is a milestone document in ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations that embodies the collective commitment of the Parties to promote peace, stability, mutual trust, and confidence in the region, in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the SEA (UNCLOS).

Cambodia joined ASEAN on April 30, 1999 and since then, the Kingdom held the rotating ASEAN Chairmanship thrice: in 2002, 2012 and 2022.

 

Source: Agency Kampuchea Press