Foreign
CAMBODIAN Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn on Tuesday praised China over its strong support for the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) over the past seven years.
The LMC countries include China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
The Cambodian top diplomat said as the world was recovering from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and continued to face ongoing uncertainties.
The LMC countries have deepened their cooperation to combat these challenges to ensure that the region remained safe and open.
“Over the past seven years, driven by our close collaboration among the LMC countries and underpinned by our common aspirations to promote peace, stability, and a shared future of prosperity.
“Our mechanism remains progressive across all developmental spectrums marked by a strong focus on building our resilience through sustainable growth.
“I take this opportunity to express our appreciation to the People’s Republic of China for its strong commitment and active engagement in advancing the LMC framework.
“The framework to ensure the success of the initiative till the present day,’’ Sokhonn said in a message celebrating the LMC Week 2023.
Sokhonn said Cambodia looked forward to seeing the evolution of the LMC framework in transforming this sub-regional mechanism, which would not only complement the Belt, Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiatives.
It would also support the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, as well as ensure the realisation of the Lancang-Mekong Economic Development Belts in synergy with the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.
“In this connection, Cambodia will continue to promote the LMC as one of the most relevant sub-regional platforms to support multilateralism so as to realise our leaders’ vision.
“The vision of building a community of shared future of peace and prosperity,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Sokhonn said the positive results of projects implemented under the LMC Special Fund over the years have responded to the practical development needs of people in the LMC region.
“For its part, Cambodia has benefited from 80 Special Fund projects amounting to 31 million dollars,’’ he said.
He added that the diverse range of cooperation activities covered the fields of rural development, poverty alleviation, water resources, agriculture, and air connectivity.
Others are health, education, tourism, cultural heritage preservation to women’s empowerment, among many others. (Xinhua/NAN)
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Tags: Prak Sokhonn
