The Vice President is on a three-day visit to Cambodia to attend the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit and the 17th East Asia Summit

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday participated in the 17th East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh and underlined the growing global concerns on food and energy security. Dhankhar, who is on his maiden foreign visit since becoming Vice President of India, called for EAS members’ full contribution to the International Year of Millets in 2023.

Vice President Dhankhar is on a three-day visit to Cambodia to attend the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit and the 17th East Asia Summit.

The Vice President, who arrived in the Southeast Asian country on Saturday, held a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen who expressed his desire for enhanced bilateral trade with India and growth in cooperation. During the meeting the Cambodian Prime Minister sought more assistance from India in the areas of agriculture and irrigation.

Earlier, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed condolences for the Morbi tragedy. In the course of his bilateral meeting with Vice President Dhankhar, PM Sen said India was the first democratic country to recognise the Cambodian government following the ouster of Khmer Rouse. Recalling his first ever visit to India as the Foreign Minister of Cambodia in 1981 and at the age of 29, soon after New Delhi recognised the Cambodian government, he said India has always stood by Phnom Penh and supported it in its political, economic, and cultural areas.

“I think restoration of the cultural heritage of Cambodia has been an area in which we have been very extensively engaged starting from mid-80s, up to mid-90s. I think we were one of the first countries to come in and do the renovation work at Angkor Wat. Prime Minister Hun Sen also made a reference to the importance his government is giving to de-mining, with the objective of making Cambodia a mine free country by 2025. And in this context, thanked India for the support it has been getting from India,” Saurabh Kumar, Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs said in his special briefing on Vice President Dhankar’s visit to Cambodia.

Vice President Dhankhar in return, congratulated Cambodia for its successful Presidency of ASEAN and seven decades of India Cambodia bilateral relations.

The Vice President, as per Secretary (East) Saurabh Kumar, emphasized the importance of Cambodia in India's Act East Policy.

“He (the Vice President) assured further support in preservation of cultural heritage, de-mining, human resource development and capacity building. The Vice President thanked Cambodia for its support for India's permanent membership of the UN Security Council and mentioned that we are looking forward to the visit of Deputy Commander in Chief General Hun Manet to India at an early date.

Three Memorandums of Understanding and one financing agreement were exchanged in the presence of Vice President Dhankhar and Prime Minister Hun Sen, the Secretary (East) said.

Giving details on these MoUs, he said, the first agreement is in the field of health and medicine between the respective health ministries, the second agreement on cooperation in biodiversity conservation and sustainable wildlife management between respective ministries of environment, third is cooperation in the field of research, development and application of technology for digital Documentation of cultural heritage between IIT Jodhpur and Institute of Technology, Cambodia and lastly- this third one would be utilized for digitization of the Buddhist documents which Cambodia has, Pali, and the last one is a financing agreement on conservation and preservation of Wat Raja Bo Pagoda paintings in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

India has provided a line of credit of US$102 million to Cambodia for its irrigation and power transmission projects. Earlier, in August 2020, India and Cambodia had signed a G2G Agreement. India provided 1.5 million grants for provision of demining equipment to the Royal Cambodian armed forces.

“India has gifted 15 trained mines sniffer dogs to Cambodia. Four more trained mine sniffer dogs would be gifted and of this 1.5 million US dollar, 20% has already been given and demining equipment would be procured utilizing this money,” Secretary (East) Saurabh Kumar said.

During his meeting with the Cambodian PM, Vice President Dhankhar also announced an increase in the number of Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation slots for Cambodia, increasing them from 200 to 250 and increase in ICCR Scholarships from 30 to 50.

Earlier, Vice President Dhankhar also held a meeting with President of the Cambodian Senate, Say Chhun and both agreed to enhance parliamentary cooperation.

“Vice President invited the President of the Senate and parliamentary delegation to visit India, the President of the Senate gladly accepted the invitation and the dates would be worked out through diplomatic channels. Both sides agreed to renew an MoU for parliamentary cooperation, which we had, and has lapsed, and that could be renewed again,” the Secretary (East) said.

Vice President Dhankhar also called on Cambodian King, Norodom Sihamoni at the Royal Palace. “His Majesty recalled relations between his father King Norodom Sianom and the Indian leadership and the good relations which exist between the two countries at present. He thanked India for supporting Cambodia at all times, particularly during the difficult periods of Cambodia,” MEA official Saurabh Kumar said.