Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh  and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Nam Hong.

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Nam Hong shared the view when co-chairing the meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on February 11.

Both sides reviewed the implementation of agreements reached at the previous event, expressing their delight that the growing friendship and bilateral comprehensive cooperation have greatly benefited their people.

While political ties have been reinforced by the exchange of visits by the top leaders, cooperation in economics, trade and investment has seen strong growth, with two-way trade reaching 3.5 billion USD in 2013. Viet Nam has had 128 investment projects in Cambodia with a total registered capital of over 3 billion USD.

Cooperation in other fields, including education and training, telecommunications and tourism, and connection in security and defence, land border demarcation and exchanges among localities of both countries has been intensified.

The two sides agreed to beef up education cooperation, and economic ties and support businesses to overcome difficulties and effectively conduct joint projects towards two-way trade of 5 billion USD by 2015.

Viet Nam and Cambodia will accelerate the connectivity between the two economies, especially in transport, telecommunications, finance, banking and tourism, and encourage their localities to strengthen exchanges, contributing to consolidating the bilateral friendship and cooperation.

The two sides reiterated their determination to complete land border demarcation at an early date to build a shared border of peace, stability, cooperation and mutual development.

They also agreed to continue working closely in searching and repatriating the remains of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers killed in Cambodia.

Both sides reaffirmed the principle of not allowing any hostile forces to abuse the territory of either country to carry out activities harming the security of the other country.

They also reached a consensus on ensuring the legitimate rights of each other’s overseas citizens.

Both countries underscored the significance of protecting and using the Mekong River water resources in a sustainable manner, as well as the necessity to bolster cooperation in the framework of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), the Mekong River Commission, the Viet Nam-Laos-Cambodia Development Triangle and Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Viet Nam (CLMV) cooperation, as well as the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS).

They also agreed to continue boosting cooperation in the frameworks of ASEAN and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and other international forums.

Following the meeting, the two Deputy PMs signed the meeting’s minutes, deciding to organise the next event in Viet Nam in 2015.-VNA