Cambodia, China's Guangxi pledge to broaden cooperation

Cambodia and China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Thursday vowed to further enhance cooperation in trade, investment, and tourism for mutual benefits. The commitment was made during a meeting between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Peng Qinghua, secretary of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region's CPC Committee, at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh. Peng said that the Cambodian premier is an old and good friend of China and hailed him for his efforts in strengthening and expanding the ties between China and Cambodia. Peng said the bilateral trade turnover between China's Guangxi and Cambodia had reached 21 million U.S. dollars last year, up 15 percent year-on-year. On the investment side, a lot of Chinese from Guangxi have invested in various sectors in Cambodia, particularly in agriculture and agro-industry. However, he said, Guangxi and Cambodia still have much room to grow in terms of trade, investment and tourism, pledging to urge direct flights between Nanning City to Phnom Penh City and Siem Reap City. He also promised to encourage more Chinese companies to invest in farming and processing plants in order to enable Cambodia to export more agricultural products to China. Meanwhile, Peng donated 100 tractors to the premier and invited him to attend the 10th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning City in September. Hun Sen accepted the invitation, saying that he is very satisfied with good and long-standing relationship between Cambodia and China and pledged to continue fostering the ties for next generations. He said besides good cooperation in trade, investment, and tourism, Cambodia and China's Guangxi have also had good relationship in education and culture, and both sides have exchanged students, which not only has helped develop human resources, but also enhanced cooperation between the youths of the two countries.