By:
• Torn Chanritheara

• August 22, 2024 , 4:15 PM

PHNOM PENH – Cambodia and Indonesia have agreed to strengthen cooperation in sectors including combating human trafficking. The agreements came as Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi visited Phnom Penh for a regular joint commission meeting. 

Marsudi visited on August 20 and 21 and co-chaired the 5th Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) with Foreign Minister Sok Chenda Sophea. Marsudi met Prime Minister Hun Manet on August 21.

Hun Manet said in a social media post after the meeting that Marsudi commended Cambodia as role model between peace and development while stressing that war was easy to start but hard to end.

The PM thanked Indonesia for its role in Cambodia’s peace process in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The countries are celebrating their 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations, 

“Hun Manet and Marsudi spoke highly of progress in all areas of relations between the two countries and discussed the further strengthening and expanding of cooperation in a number of key potential areas such as economy and trade, agriculture, tourism, people-to-people contacts as well as national defense and security,” the post said.

Marsudi wrote on social media X that “Indonesia was ready to continue strengthening bilateral cooperation, particularly on defense, trade/investment, food security and combating trafficking in person.”

Both countries were also working to address regional and world issues, including Palestine, she said.

“Indonesia & Cambodia also look forward to strengthening cooperation within the framework of ASEAN and in responding to the current geopolitical challenges, including towards realizing peace in Myanmar and Palestine,” she said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said that on defense matters, ministers agreed to continue productive engagements such as army-to-army talks, scholarships and training.

Sophea and Marsudi reaffirmed the commitment to enhance cooperation in fighting transnational crime, particularly trafficking in person by effectively and fully implement instruments under bilateral and ASEAN frameworks. 

On economic issues, the two sides were satisfied by steady growth in two-way trade which exceeded $1 billion in 2023. They also agreed to expedite the conclusion of a memorandum of understanding on rice trade and the implementation of an MoU on agricultural cooperation signed last year.

The meeting also discussed ways to improve connectivity and facilitate economics and cultural exchanges by seeking to increase direct flight between tourist cities in both countries.

Key areas of cooperation including energy, ICT, health, industrial cooperation and labor were also discussed.