Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen on February 3 hold a teleconversation with Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and State President Nguyen Phu Trong a few days after the Vietnamese leader’s re-election.

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (left) and Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and State President Nguyen Phu Trong in a meeting last year. Photo: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP

Mr. Hun Sen congratulated Mr. Trong as being ratified on the post of CPV’s Secretary General and vowed to strengthen the bilateral relations, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Both leaders highlighted the enhanced relations in recent years, saying that the two sides would continue to strengthen the ties which is comprehensive strategic partnership, contributing to the maintenance of peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

Enhaned relations

Vietnam and Cambodia are the neighbors sharing more than 1,100 km of border.

The two nations established diplomatic relations in 1967.

In various official statements, both sides upheld the principles of “good neighborliness,” “traditional friendship,” and “comprehensive, sustainable and long-term cooperation”.

In January 2019, Cambodia celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the ousting of the genocide regime of Khmer Rouge, aided by Vietnamese troops.

Linkages between the two countries have been expanded to all areas beyond political and security aspects. The two sides have agreed to speed up the border demarcation process which has completed nearly 90%.

Vietnam has been one of Cambodia’s biggest trading partners and investors. In 2019, their two-way trade volume was about US$5 billion.

Metfone, a telecommunications company invested by Vietnam’s military-run Viettel Group, was assessed to be the most valuable brand in Cambodia in 2016.

In addition, Vietnamese tourists made up the second largest proportion of inbound arrivals in Cambodia in 2017, only behind China.

According to a research on “Taking Cambodia-Vietnam Relations to New Heights” by Mr. Him Raksmey and Mr. Heng Kimkong from Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, these historical sentiments obviously have important implications for the invigoration of Cambodia-Vietnam relations in the near and distant future.

"Being close neighbors and having been strategic partners in their modern history for 53 years, Cambodia and Vietnam need to continue to constructively and proactively work together to address unresolved inconveniences and challenges and to move their relations forward," they noted.