Nguyen Phu Trong, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, will lead a delegation to Cambodia on Monday and Tuesday. afp
The General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Trong, will lead a top-ranking delegation on a state visit to Cambodia on Monday and Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation announced on Wednesday.
The ministry said the Vietnamese president’s visit comes at the invitation of King Norodom Sihamoni.
During the two-day visit, Trong will meet the King and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk, before meeting Tep Vong, the Great Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia, and Bour Kry, the Supreme Patriarch of the Thammayut order of Cambodia.
The Vietnamese leader is also to meet Senate President Say Chhum, as well as the president of the National Assembly Heng Samrin, and Prime Minister Hun Sen in a ceremony to mark the signing of documents, the ministry said.
Trong is to visit Laos before heading to Cambodia.
Government spokesman Phay Siphan said the state visit would be beneficial to Cambodia-Vietnam cooperation, especially in the maintenance of stability along the border, with its full demarcation to be completed soon. He added this would be a significant achievement.
“It will be a positive development, and we have maintained cooperation between the countries and peace along the border,” he said.
Kin Phea, the Royal Academy of Cambodia’s International Relations Institute director-general, said Cambodia and Vietnam enjoy a healthy relationship and strengthening ties is crucial in terms of politics, security and trade.
Phea said while history made some Cambodians concerned over border and sovereignty issues, the building of Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monuments across the Kingdom served only to mark history. These were not an expression of excessive gratitude, he said, as both sides had helped each other in times of war.
History showed Vietnam could not have been united without assistance from Cambodia, he added.
“In [the war with] the US, Vietnam would [not have won without] assistance from Cambodia. Vietnam would not have been able to be united as a country, and this is a historical truth Vietnam needs to be grateful to Cambodia for. Cambodia also needs to admit that the presence of Vietnamese troops in Cambodia between1978-1979 led to the collapse of Khmer Rouge regime and serves as an [example of] mutual assistance,” he said.
Phea added that in the current globalised world, all countries had to work with each other, so negative periods of history should not be used to stoke hatred towards others as it would not benefit the country. On the contrary, he said, it is better they improve relations.
Siphan said while Cambodians cannot forget that Vietnamese troops had fought alongside the National Liberation Front of Heng Samrin and Hun Sen to liberate the country from the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, the Kingdom was not under the influence of its eastern neighbour.
“We have our National Assembly, our King [and] our own laws. As Cambodia has opposition parties, we are not a single-party state,” he said.
