Prime Minister Hun Manet met with Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad, CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD). The prime minister highlighted his support for the foundation’s intent to offer loans for the development of Cambodia’s agriculture and infrastructure sectors.

The October 20 meeting was held on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council summit, held in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh.

Al-Marshard offered his congratulations to Manet on his appointment as prime minister, and also discussed his foundation’s intention to offer loans to Cambodia, said a post from the prime minister’s social media.

The SFD CEO explained that the foundation has supported sustainable growth in many developing countries, particularly in education, sport, health, and communications.

“The prime minister welcomed the suggestion and thanked the head of the foundation for his intent to forge ties with Cambodia and provide development loans to the government. Manet also highlighted potential areas of cooperation between the two Kingdoms, including investment, tourism and energy, and especially agriculture,” said the post.

In support of the foundation’s good faith offer, Manet invited its leadership to visit Cambodia and examine possible areas of cooperation with the relevant government ministries and institutions.

The SFD also took to social media, confirming that during the meeting, several avenues of development cooperation in various vital sectors were discussed.

According to its website, the SFD is a Saudi government organisation which was established to provide soft loans and grants to finance development projects and programmes in developing countries, with the intention of enhancing socio-economic criteria.

Manet arrived safely back in the Kingdom on the morning of October 21.