Dr. So Naro, Minister Delegate Attached to the Cambodian PM in charge of ASEAN Affairs, told the Viet Nam News Agency that it will be PM Le Minh Hung's first official visit to Cambodia since taking office. He previously met with Cambodian PM Hun Manet in Hanoi and Cebu, the Philippines.
The visit marks a new step forward, continuing the regular high-level exchanges and visits between the two countries’ leaders. It comes as Cambodia posts gains in socio-economic development, particularly exports, and steps up a crackdown on transnational criminal networks, notably online scams. The country recently hosted an international conference on the issue. At the same time, it is working to promote peace and address the Cambodia-Thailand border issue on the basis of international law and existing agreements.
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Khanh Binh International Border Gate in An Giang province plays a crucial role in connecting trade between Viet Nam and Cambodia. |
Viet Nam, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV), has undertaken a historic wave of large-scale institutional reforms, with economic growth picking up speed as it pursues the strategic goals laid out by the CPV for 2030 and 2045.
Naro mentioned that the trip aims to implement strategic guidance agreed in February by Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen and General Secretary of the CPV Central Committee and President To Lam. The two nations are gearing up to celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations in 2027, with their prime ministers set to exchange views on global and regional matters of mutual interest and concern.
Looking back on 2025, he said Vietnamese arrivals in Cambodia topped 1.2 million in 2025, the largest of any international tourist market. Cambodian visitors to Viet Nam were also among the biggest groups from ASEAN countries that year.
Two-way trade exceeded USD 11.3 billion in 2025, up from just over USD 10 billion previously, keeping Viet Nam as Cambodia's third-largest trade partner behind China and the U.S. Vietnamese investors have launched about 104 projects in Cambodia with registered capital of more than USD 3.2 billion.
Ministries and agencies at central and local levels, particularly at border gates, have expanded cooperation at a brisk pace.
The two Government leaders are expected to discuss speeding up decisions on transport links, with a focus on the Phnom Penh-Bavet expressway. The road will connect to Viet Nam's Ho Chi Minh City-Moc Bai expressway, completing a highway between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City. They will also seek to widen road and waterway links and add flights.
On trade, the two sides will discuss simplifying procedures for moving goods across the border to save time and cut logistics costs.
They also plan to link the power grids of Cambodia, Viet Nam and Laos, feeding into a broader ASEAN grid, and expand tourism cooperation among the three countries under a "Three Countries – One Destination" concept. Cooperation on national defense, security, education, culture, healthcare, and information and communications is set to deepen.
Trade, investment and tourism links have grown every year. PM Hun Manet earlier said he expects bilateral trade to reach a USD 20 billion target soon, from about USD 12 billion currently.
On border affairs, the two sides will direct their border commissions to negotiate and mark the remaining 16% of the shared border that has yet to be demarcated, aiming to complete the process as soon as possible.
On the Cambodia-Thailand dispute, he said Cambodia thanked Viet Nam for deploying an Interim Observer Team (IOT) under its Defense Attaché Office and continuing to send personnel to the ASEAN Observer Team (AOT) to tackle border issues.
During the visit, both sides are expected to sign memoranda of understanding that agencies are working to finalize.
According to him, history has long shaped how leaders and people in both countries approach diplomacy and people-to-people exchanges. Close geography has tied the two nations' fates together, and each can achieve peace, stability and development only when the other does. They have backed one another through the struggle against French colonial rule, foreign invasions, and Viet Nam's struggle to regain independence and reunify.
More recently, Vietnamese volunteer soldiers made heavy sacrifices fighting alongside Cambodian liberation forces to end the Khmer Rouge's genocidal rule, then helped Cambodia rebuild as it is today.
Greater public awareness of that history and the sacrifices of earlier generations is essential to preserving the friendship and cooperation, building political trust, settling differences peacefully through fair and reasoned negotiation, and supporting each other in hard times, and learning from each other to advance peace, development and progress, he said.
That matters all the more because hostile forces are relentlessly seeking to undermine and divide the two countries' bonds, which are an important source of their strength, he added.
In his view, a firm grasp of that history will help future leaders sustain and expand the relationship. Expanding exchanges among young people and emerging officials, and training a skilled workforce, is important.
The 2027 anniversary offers a chance to teach younger generations in both countries about the importance of the friendship and mutual assistance between their people, he said.
In particular, PM Hun Manet has consistently backed broad training of young personnel from both countries. Their young people thus should study these valuable historical lessons and remember them, he said.
Source: VNA