Outcomes of Meeting between DPM Prak Sokhonn and British Minister for Asia

Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation this evening released the outcomes of the meeting here on Jan. 11 between Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation H.E. Prak Sokhonn and The Rt Hon Amanda Milling MP, Minister for Asia at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

On 11 January 2022, His Excellency PRAK Sokhonn, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Kingdom of Cambodia, held a meeting with The Rt Hon Amanda Milling MP, Minister for Asia at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK), at the Ministry.

His Excellency PRAK Sokhonn conveyed Samdech Techo Prime Minister HUN SEN’s appreciation to the Rt Hon Boris Jonhson, Prime Minister of the UK, for his virtual participation in the ASEM13 which was successfully hosted and chaired by Cambodia in November 2021. He thanked the UK for continuing to grant GSP to Cambodia along with other LDCs and for providing social-economic assistance on the fields of education, mine clearance, environment and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). He also commended the UK’s active role in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic and UK’s contribution of 415000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Cambodia for the fight against the pandemic in Cambodia. His Excellency PRAK Sokhonn also congratulated the UK on becoming the 11th Dialogue Partner of ASEAN in 25 years and looked forward to working closely with the UK to advance the ASEAN-UK cooperation.

In response, The Rt Hon Amanda Milling MP thanked Cambodia’s strong support for the UK to become the Dialogue Partner of ASEAN. She expressed her strong commitment to supporting Cambodia as the ASEAN Chair in 2022 and looked forward to further strengthening bilateral relations between Cambodia and the UK and the ASEAN-UK cooperation, especially on the ASEAN-UK Plan of Action (POA) for 2022-2026.

Both sides noted the decrease of trade volume due to the impacts of COVID-19 on trade activities. In this vein, H.E. Deputy Prime Minister PRAK Sokhonn encouraged to have more UK investors to Cambodia taking into consideration of the benefits from Cambodia’s market access including RCEP, Cambodia-China FTA, Cambodia-ROK FTA.

Both sides recalled the visit of the Rt Hon Dominic Raab last June and shared common desire to further strengthen bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields of mutual benefits, particularly on trade related cooperation. Furthermore, both sides were concurrent to explore more opportunity in other areas of cooperation.

His Excellency PRAK Sokhonn proposed to have political consultation mechanism between Cambodia and the UK. He also reiterated Cambodia’s support in the UK-led Global Ocean Alliance and participation in the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People.

During the meeting, His Excellency PRAK Sokhonn also briefed The Rt Hon Amanda Milling MP on Cambodia’s Priorities as the ASEAN Chair in 2022 in responding to the strategic challenges facing the region, namely effective control of the Covid-19 pandemic and inclusive recovery process, managing geo-political rivalries, existing traditional and non-traditional issues, and strengthening ASEAN’s cohesiveness, centrality and resilience.

On development in Myanmar, H.E. PRAK Sokhonn informed The Rt Hon Amanda Milling MP the primary aim and outcomes of the visit of Samdech Techo Prime Minister HUN SEN to Myanmar on 7-8 January 2022. He stressed that Cambodia’s only wish is to help Myanmar to return to normalcy, end violence and achieve durable peace and reconciliation; and to this end it is indispensable to engage all parties concerned in a process of dialogues. Samdech Techo Prime Minister’s visit to Myanmar is to break the impasse for a step-by-step progress on the implementation of the ASEAN 5-Point Consensuses. Any peace process to resolve Myanmar crisis must be Myanmar-led and Myanmar-own.

The Rt Hon Amanda Milling MP thanked H.E. PRAK Sokhonn for the briefing on the Cambodia’s Priorities as ASEAN Chairmanship in 2022 and the update on the complexity of Myanmar crisis. She reaffirmed UK’s commitment to support ASEAN Centrality and looked forward to further enhance the ASEAN-UK relations.

The meeting was concluded in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and in a frank and candid manner.

Source: Agency Kampuchea Press