Cambodian deputy PM leads delegation to China

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong will lead a group of senior officials representing relevant ministries to attend the first meeting of Cambodia-China Intergovernmental Coordination Committee to be held from Jan 1 to 3 in Beijing.

The Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday that the visit is made at the invitation of Yang Jiechi, State Councilor of the People's Republic of China and Chairman of the China-Cambodia Inter-governmental Coordination Committee.

"The meeting is to exchange views on the implementation of the Action Plan of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation between Cambodia and China on the development in all fields of common concerns," the Ministry said in a statement.

At the end of the meeting, Hor Namhong and Yang Jiechi will preside over the signing ceremony of three documents.

One is the minute of the meeting, another is the air services agreement between Cambodia and China, and the third is the Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of the Inter- governmental Coordination Committee between Cambodia and China, the statement said.

"This is the first high-level political meeting of Cambodia and China in the very beginning of the year 2014 to strengthen and deepen relations of long-lasting and close friendship and productive cooperation in all fields between the two countries," it said.

During his stay in Beijing, Hor Namhong will also pay courtesy calls on Chinese leaders.

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

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.

In regard to the bilateral trade, China is one of the Cambodia' s leading trading partners. The bilateral trade was valued at 2.83 billion US dollars in the first nine months of 2013 and is projected to reach 5 billion US dollars by 2017.

On the tourism side, China is the second largest source of visitors to Cambodia. According to the Ministry of Tourism, during the first 10 months of this year, some 376,570 Chinese tourists have visited Cambodia, up 42 percent year-on-year.