Prime Minister Hun Sen thanked the Turkish government for providing Cambodia with assistance, which included building houses for the poor and developing infrastructure.
The premier extended his thanks during a meeting with outgoing Turkish ambassador Ayda Unlu on June 23.
According to his social media post after the meeting, Unlu pledged to continue working on deepening relations between the two countries even though her term has ended.
“[Unlu] was honoured to carry out her mission to Cambodia in the service of Turkey, but feels like she is like leaving her home. Unlu told me she would continue to feel a strong connection to the kingdom, no matter where in the world she is,” he said in the post.
Unlu thanked Hun Sen for presenting her with a Moha Sereywat Medal, saying that despite the onset of Covid-19 pandemic during her four-year tenure, she had worked to develop and strengthen trade and political relations between the two countries, noting that the volume of bilateral trade had nearly doubled.
Unlu had also arranged Cambodian leaders’ visits to Turkey. She had arranged Hun Sen’s historic 2018 visit to Turkey and that during her tenure, the volume of trade between the two nations had nearly doubled.
In February, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn also paid a two-day visit to Turkey and inaugurated the Cambodian embassy in its capital Ankara.
Relations between Cambodia and Turkey resumed after 1993, when Cambodia held its first general election.
Yang Kim Eng, president of the People’s Centre for Development and Peace, said Turkey may not be a country that plays a large role in the Kingdom’s economy.
“Relations between Europe and Asia, more or less, are linked to the crisis in Ukraine, which affects the wider European market. In the future, Cambodia will need to strengthen its bonds with its trading partners in Europe,” he added.
