Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Thursday commended China for providing vaccines to other countries including Cambodia to fight against COVID-19.
"As we currently combat the spread of COVID-19, I would like to take this opportunity to commend the People's Republic of China for her role in providing vaccines to fight against the COVID-19 outbreaks for countries in the region," he said during the opening session of the seventh Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Summit via video link.
"I would also like to express my profound thank again to the People's Republic of China for her donation of COVID-19 vaccines to the Cambodian people," he added.
Hun Sen also expressed his gratitude to the international community through the World Health Organization's COVAX program, as well as to other bilateral partners for sharing and providing vaccines to Cambodia.
"These reflect our friendship and solidarity in time of crisis, as I used to say 'Love each other in times of need, know good friends in times of trouble'," he said. "It is this friendship and solidarity that contribute to every effort made by the Royal Government to return Cambodia to normalcy and recover her economy after the COVID-19 crisis."
Hun Sen stressed that solidarity under the spirit of multilateralism is essential to ensure robust socio-economic recovery in the post-COVID-19 pandemic.
He said currently, although it is expected that the COVID-19 crisis will ease in the near future due to the surging momentum of global vaccination programs, the world remains at risk with a new wave of COVID-19 pandemics caused by the Delta variant which continues to disrupt public health systems, tourism and global supply chain.
"In this context, it is crucial that we accelerate and deepen our solidarity under the spirit of multilateralism in order to ensure robust socioeconomic recovery after the crisis," he said.
For Cambodia, Hun Sen said the government has made its best efforts in controlling the COVID-19 crisis with the rollout of the nationwide vaccination campaign and enforcement of public health and administrative measures.
"Nevertheless, this new wave of COVID-19 pandemic has had severe impacts on Cambodia's economy, most notably in the areas of textiles, tourism, and other service sectors, which brings about uncertainty in her recovery for 2021," he said.
"In this context, I believe that our joint efforts are essential for our post-crisis recovery and growth especially with the adoption of the GMS COVID-19 Response and Recovery Plan 2021-2023 which will enable us to launch timely responses that will pave the way for smooth operations of supply chains, trade, investment, tourism and public health in our region," he added.
Held once every three years, the GMS summit took part via video conference by the leaders of the six GMS countries.
It focuses on high-priorities subregional projects in the fields of transport, energy, telecommunication, environment, human resource development, tourism, trade, private sector investment, and agriculture.
The GMS countries include Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.
