Minister of Economy and Finance Aun Pornmoniroth and Federal Republic of Germany ambassador to Cambodia Christian Berger reached two agreements on Thursday to provide the Kingdom with more than $70 million in development financing.

The Federal Republic of Germany Embassy in Phnom Penh said in a press release that they were the first loan agreements between the European country and Cambodia.

The first agreement will see German development bank Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) provide more than $33 million in reduced-interest loans and $2.2 million in grant aid to finance the broadening of Cambodia’s rural energy infrastructure, a press release said.

The second agreement will see the Kingdom receive more than $33 million in reduced interest loans and more than $5.6 million in grant aid to benefit the Kingdom’s rural road network, it added.

“Disadvantaged regions and persons shall benefit from the overall economic development of a country. This philosophy applies to our rural electrification and rural road support,” Berger said.

“Connectivity is not only about connecting the big dots on the map, but also about linking the broad areas to the big dots.”

Pornmoniroth said in the press release that the loans would be directed towards improving the government’s four priority sectors – human resources, road infrastructure, energy and water.

He said Germany was the Kingdom’s second-largest European development partner.

“Contributions from developed countries such as Germany and France reflect that Cambodia’s important development partners are confident in the government’s ability to stay on the right track to control public debt,” Pornmoniroth said.