New Chinese envoy pledges to further ties with Cambodia

Newly-designated Ambassador of China to Cambodia Bu Jianguo on Thursday vowed to help further deepen all rounds of cooperation with Cambodia for the benefits of the two countries and peoples.

Paying a courtesy call on Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Bu said she was very happy to be appointed as the Ambassador of China to Cambodia.

"My important mission is to further strengthen and expand cooperation in all fields between the two countries," she said, noting that her diplomatic mission is made in the year that Cambodia and China are celebrating the 55th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations and the Cambodia-China Year of Friendship.

Bu succeeded ex-Ambassador Pan Guangxue, whose three-year diplomatic mission in Cambodia came to an end last month. She presented her credentials to His Majesty Norodom Sihamoni, the King of Cambodia, last Friday.

Cambodia and China have witnessed rapid development of bilateral relations. The ties reached the top level of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation in December, 2010.

During Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's visit to China in April, the two nations agreed to set up an inter-governmental coordination committee to jointly implement the Action Plan on the Implementation of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation. The committee is co-chaired by Hor Namhong and former Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

Through Ambassador Bu, Yang Jiechi extended an invitation to Hor Namhong for the first committee meeting, which will be held in China in the near future.

Hor Namhong highly spoke of traditional friendship and cooperation between the two countries and expressed his gratitude to the government and people of China for providing a great deal of aid to Cambodia for the development in all fields.

"Cambodia's social and economic development could not be cut off from China's generous assistance," he said.

China is one of the top providers of development assistance to Cambodia. Loans and grants from China during the period of 1992 to present have amounted for 2.7 billion U.S. dollars, according to Cambodia's Finance Ministry.

In terms of economic cooperation, China is the top investor in Cambodia. According to the figures of the Council for Development of Cambodia, from 1994 to 2012, total Chinese investment in Cambodia has reached 9.17 billion US dollars.

China is also one of the leading trading partners for Cambodia. Last year, the bilateral trade volume accounted for 2.9 billion US dollars and was expected to reach 5 billion US dollars by 2017.