General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Nguyen Phu Trong (R) and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen (Photo: VNA)

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During the trip, PM Hun Sen had talks with PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc, met with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and President Nguyen Phu Trong and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

He had a meeting with representatives of the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Association and attended a business forum of the two countries. He also laid a wreath at the Monument to War Heroes and Martyrs and paid tribute to late Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh at his Mausoleum in Hanoi.

At the meetings, the two sides highlighted that Vietnam and Cambodia boast friendly neighbourliness and traditional cooperation and stood side by side in the struggles for national independence. This relationship is a precious common asset of the two peoples, therefore it needs to be treasured and developed unceasingly for the sake of future generations.

They agreed to hold activities in both countries to mark the 40th anniversary of the victory over the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime (January 7, 1979) in order to educate young Vietnamese and Cambodians on their countries’ traditions.

The leaders also agreed on major orientations for the promotion of bilateral ties under the motto "sound neigbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation and long-term sustainability”.

They were unanimous in further enhancing defence-security cooperation to firmly safeguard each country’s peace, security and stability, while persisting in the principle of not allowing hostile forces to use a country’s territory to harm the other’s security, and coordinating closely to fight crimes and ensure security along the whole shared borderline.

The two sides will step up collaboration in education, training, capacity building, agro-forestry-fisheries, culture – arts, and people-to-people exchanges. They will also effectively keep dealing with outstanding problems, according to the leaders.

Vietnam and Cambodia will work towards the signing of two documents to officially legalise the completion of 84 percent of the border demarcation and border marker planting in 2019, thereby helping to build a border of peace, friendship, cooperation and development.

The countries will also increase coordination to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese-Cambodians’ livelihoods and ensure their legal status.

Regarding regional and international matters, both sides shared the view on the importance of maintaining peace, security and stability in the region. In the immediate future, they will work closely together in 2020 when Vietnam will hold the ASEAN Chair and Cambodia will host the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit.

On the occasion, PMs Hun Sen and Nguyen Xuan Phuc held a joint press conference and witnessed the signing of five cooperation documents, namely a government-level MoU on the Vietnam-Cambodia transport cooperation strategy for 2018-2025 with a vision to 2030; MoUs on the completion of negotiations on a border trade agreement and educational cooperation; the minutes on the completion of 84 percent of the border demarcation and marker planting work in the field and future plans for the work; and an agreement on the implementation of a project using Vietnam’s non-refundable aid for Cambodia to build various items in the community-based voluntary drug detoxification centre project in Preah Sihanouk province.