PM Hun Sen highly valued outcomes of the talks between General Ngo Xuan Lich and his Cambodian counterpart General Tea Banh and the signing of an agreement on bilateral defense cooperation in 2019 while expressing his delight at the bilateral defense ties over the past time. He underlined that defense cooperation is an important pillar in the Vietnam-Cambodia relationship.
The host affirmed that Cambodia always attaches importance to maintaining and expanding the two countries’ traditional solidarity, friendship, and comprehensive cooperation for the sake of their peoples as well as peace, stability, and development in the region and world.
For his part, General Lich thanked the Cambodian PM for the warm reception and conveyed regards of Vietnam’s PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc to PM Hun Sen.
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Cambodian PM Hun Sen and General Ngo Xuan Lich |
The Vietnamese Defense Minister congratulated Cambodia on the successful election of the sixth National Assembly. He also congratulated the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) on winning the general election and underscored that this result demonstrated the acknowledgement, trust, and aspirations of the Cambodian people for a sound future of the country under the leadership of the CPP and the Cambodian Government led by PM Hun Sen.
General Lich informed PM Hun Sen of the outcomes of his talks with General Tea Banh and held that the bilateral defense cooperation has gained practical results over the past years. In the coming time, the two sides will further boost their defense relations in various fields, especially information dissemination and education for troops of the two militaries on the traditional friendship; personnel training and delegation exchanges; border management and exchanges; and collaboration in searching and repatriating remains of fallen Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts, who had sacrificed themselves while serving international service in Cambodia.
Agreeing with General Lich’s suggestions, PM Hun Sen said that the two militaries should continuously promote solidarity and expand intensive cooperation in every aspect in order to cement the bilateral defense cooperation as a major pillar in the Cambodia-Vietnam relationship.
The Cambodian PM spoke highly of the two militaries in carrying out the Protocol on Regular Search and Rescue in land border areas, including organizing search and rescue missions. He urged the two sides to continue projects on repairing and upgrading Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Monuments, adding that Cambodia will work with Vietnamese units to foster the search and repatriation of remains of fallen Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts in Cambodia during wartime.
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At a ceremony hosted by General Tea Banh to welcome General Ngo Xuan Lich |
* Previously, on December 27, General Lich and the Vietnamese high-ranking military mission were officially received by Cambodian Deputy PM and Defense Minister Tea Banh at a solemn ceremony.
At the talks, General Lich stressed that since the establishment of their diplomatic ties in 1967, the Vietnam-Cambodia relationship has been cemented and developed in all aspects, including defense cooperation. He believed that his visit to Cambodia this time would create a new driving force for the bilateral defense cooperation.
General Tea Banh emphasized that the Cambodian people and the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces always treasure the time-honored neighborliness with the Vietnamese people and the Vietnam People’s Army, and pledged to do his utmost to preserve, foster, and develop the fine relations.
The two defense ministers reviewed results of defense cooperation in 2018. In the coming time, they agreed to beef up the implementation of the above mentioned protocol and their annual cooperation plan, and to focus on improving information dissemination and education work, heightening quality of personnel training, promoting cooperation between their border guard forces, boosting twinning activities between military units and localities on the two sides of the shared border, speeding up search and repatriation of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts fallen in Cambodia, and completing the building and upgrading of the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Monuments.
After the talks, General Lich and General Tea Banh signed a defense cooperation plan in 2019.
* During his stay in Cambodia, General Lich laid wreaths at the Independence Monument and the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Monument in Phnom Penh, and visited the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia.
Translated by Van Hieu