CHINESE Vice President Xi Jinping is expected to sign 14 infrastructure and economic cooperation agreements with Prime Minister Hun Sen today after arriving in Cambodia.
The agreements will include a number of grants and loans, though no details on the total value or the terms were available Sunday.
Qian Hai, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh, said only that further details of the agreements, which he said were “mainly about economic cooperation”, would be announced following the signings.
According to a press release last week from Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cambodia will receive at least 100 million yuan (US$14.6 million) from the Chinese government through two economic and technical cooperation deals, one involving a $7.3 million grant and the other an interest-free loan of the same value.
Four other agreements related to concessional loans for the construction of National Roads 57B and 59, and another for a credit loan for the construction of National Road 3726 will also be signed, though no value was given.
Another agreement includes a soft loan to build an electricity transmission loop line around Phnom Penh. Again, no details were given, but the $80 million project is being handled by Chinese firm China National Heavy Machinery Co.
Xi’s three-day visit at the head of an official Chinese delegation comes just a day after Cambodia deported 20 ethnic Uighur refugees to China late Saturday.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SEBASTIAN STRANGIO
