Viet Nam, Cambodia should enhance strategic exchanges

Prime Minister Le Minh Hung on Tuesday hosted a reception for Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense General Tea Seiha, who is visiting Viet Nam to attend the 10th meeting of defense ministers of Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos and a joint military exercise among the three countries' armed forces.

Prime Minister Le welcomed the visit, describing it as a vivid manifestation of the longstanding tradition of solidarity, friendship and close ties between Viet Nam and Cambodia, as well as among their armed forces.

Recalling the positive impressions from his first official visit to Cambodia as head of the Vietnamese Government, the Prime Minister expressed his confidence that Cambodia would continue to maintain peace and stability, achieve prosperity and further enhance its international role and standing under the reign of King Norodom Sihamoni and the leadership of the Cambodian Senate, National Assembly and Government.

He commended the two countries' defense ministries for proactively implementing the common perceptions and agreements reached by their senior leaders, while maintaining defense and security cooperation as an important pillar of bilateral relations.

The Vietnamese Government consistently supports increasingly close, substantive and effective cooperation between the two defense ministries and armed forces, Prime Minister Le stressed.

He called on both sides to step up exchanges on strategic issues and attach greater importance to personnel training.

The Prime Minister also urged the two sides to accelerate land border demarcation and marker planting, strengthen border management, and improve connectivity between border infrastructure and border gates.

He called for creating favorable conditions for businesses, including defense enterprises, to expand cooperation, and continued coordination in the search for, collection and repatriation of the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who laid down their lives in Cambodia during wartime.

For his part, Tea Seiha congratulated Viet Nam on its broad achievements in recent years under the leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam.

He also spoke highly of Prime Minister Le's recent official visit to Cambodia, noting that it had generated fresh momentum for comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.

The Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister thanked Viet Nam for its support in personnel training and medical treatment, affirming that Cambodia would work closely with Viet Nam to implement cooperation agreements and plans between the two defense ministries.

Priority areas include policy consultations, logistics cooperation and exchanges among young officers, he said.

The two sides agreed to coordinate in preparing for the Viet Nam–Cambodia Friendship Year 2027 to mark the 60th founding anniversary of diplomatic relations./.