Phnom Penh, 19 November 2024 – Samdech Rathsaphea Thipadei Khuon Sudary, President of the National Assembly, received a courtesy call on Tuesday from H.E. Mr. Huang Li, Chairman of the Social Affairs Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress in southern China.

During the meeting, she noted that ties between Cambodia and China were nurtured by leaders such as His Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk and China’s Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai. These have been strengthened under His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni and President Xi Jinping as well as former prime minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and and his successor Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet.

She said Cambodia-China ties served as a model for international relations, characterized by mutual respect and equal partnership despite their different size. This has deepened with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in September to enhance cooperation between legislatures.

Committee Chairman Huang said his visit to Cambodia was part of the MoU aimed at strengthening relations with the Cambodian National Assembly and between Guangdong and Siem Reap provinces.

He highlighted Guangdong's potential, with its rapidly growing economy, leading investment opportunities, and a population of 150 million offering opportunities for bilateral economic cooperation.

Chairman Huang also noted the long-standing historical and cultural ties between the two nations and expressed hope for even closer cooperation. He thanked Samdech and all Cambodian officials for the warm welcome extended to his delegation and looked forward to Samdech visiting Guangdong in the future.

Samdech expressed gratitude to the Party, State, and people of China for their support to Cambodia, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This significantly contributed to Cambodia’s socio-economic development and strengthened its political independence. It also aligned with the first phase of the government's Pentagonal Strategy, focusing on people, roads, water, electricity, and technology.

At the same time, she praised the Diamond Cooperation Framework between Cambodia and China as a vision with action plans to build a high-quality, high-level, and high-standard community with a shared future, ensuring their ironclad friendship endures for future generations.

Samdech stressed the importance of cooperating with Guangdong to achieve Cambodia's ambitious goals of become an upper middle-income country by 2030 and achieve high-income status by 2050.

She congratulated China on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic this year and expressed admiration for its achievements.

Chairman Huang noted that, under President Xi's leadership, China aims to build a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious by 2049.