Cambodia and Vietnam are neighboring countries situated on the Indochinese Peninsula, in the lower Mekong River basin, sharing its waters. Specially, both countries occupy highly strategic geopolitical positions, serving as pivotal connectors between the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Over the past 57 years, Vietnam and Cambodia have nurtured a close-knit, supportive relationship on regional and international platforms whether in the pursuit of national liberation and reunification or in the ongoing efforts to build and defend their homelands.
Despite facing historical challenges, their bilateral ties have steadily advanced, deepening across all domains. Today, they stand as invaluable shared assets, reflecting the enduring friendship and cooperation between their peoples and nations.
The relationship between Vietnam and Cambodia has made strong and progressive strides, constantly reinforcing and enhancing their longstanding solidarity and friendship in the spirit of "good neighbors, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, and long-term stability."
During Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet's visit to Vietnam in December 2023, both sides expressed a mutual desire to deepen their longstanding traditional relationship. Leaders from both nations pledged to continue strengthening and expanding cooperation across various sectors.
Over the past 57 years, bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia has established a strong foundation, elevating their enduring friendship to new heights and ensuring sustained stability in relations between the two countries and their peoples amidst evolving political dynamics in the region and globally.
In the context of Cambodia's pursuit of an independent foreign policy based on legal foundations and adherence to the principles of multilateralism and the United Nations Charter, Cambodia consistently places Vietnam among its top priorities in foreign affairs. Conversely, Vietnam pursues an independent and proactive foreign policy, adhering to multilateral principles and diversifying its international relations, always considering Cambodia as one of its key priorities in foreign affairs.
High-level diplomatic visits between the two nations occur regularly. Through these visits, both sides consistently reaffirm bilateral principles, agree on promoting and developing friendly relations, enhancing multilateral cooperation, and establishing mechanisms and specific negotiation pathways to address remaining issues, creating favorable conditions to further advance and transition bilateral relations into a new development phase.
In November 2000, Vietnam and Cambodia issued a joint statement defining key principles for their bilateral relations, emphasizing collaboration in defense and security, economic trade, education and training, culture, and health sectors. They sought to bolster friendly cultural exchanges, sports cooperation, and mutual assistance among government ministries, departments, parliamentary committees, trade unions, organizations, and local authorities in both countries.
Both sides affirmed that Cambodia-Vietnam relations have developed positively, deepening substantially and effectively across all domains. The bilateral cooperation mechanism has been well-maintained and effectively utilized, notably through high-level meetings between the Cambodian People's Party and the Communist Party of Vietnam, joint economic, cultural, scientific, and technological committee sessions, and conferences among border provinces.
Therefore, both sides have reached strategic agreements that not only set the direction for their bilateral relations but also resolve difficulties and obstacles. Emphasis has been placed on exchanging information and experiences, with numerous legal documents signed as the foundation for developing cooperation across all sectors between the two countries.
In addition to strengthening and expanding high-level relations, both nations have consistently prioritized boosting people-to-people diplomacy, considering it a solid foundation for further deepening the longstanding friendship between them.
Cooperation in national defense and security continues to be emphasized, demonstrating effectiveness and becoming a cornerstone of Cambodia-Vietnam relations. Both countries actively implemented the Protocol on Cooperation in National Defense for the 2020-2024 period and the Annual Plan for National Defense and Security Cooperation between the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam, and the Ministry of Interior of Cambodia.
Both sides reaffirm the principle of not allowing any forces to use one country's territory to undermine the other. They also emphasize the importance of building peaceful, friendly borders and fostering mutual development, closely coordinating information exchange to address border issues and events, enhancing patrols and strict control of border lines to prevent illegal cross-border activities, and maintaining joint patrols at sea to counter sabotage activities by hostile forces and transnational crimes.
Building on a strong political relationship, both countries have actively promoted and enhanced bilateral cooperation. Since the signing of the Vietnam-Cambodia Economic and Trade Agreement in 1998, trade and investment relations have progressed remarkably, facilitating comprehensive collaboration.
By the end of 2023, the leaders of Vietnam and Cambodia agreed to aim for bilateral trade turnover to reach US$20 billion in the coming time.
Regarding investment, Vietnam currently has 205 projects in Cambodia with a total registered capital of $2.94 billion, leading ASEAN and ranking among the top five countries with the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in Cambodia.
Notably, Cambodia ranks second among the 79 countries and territories receiving foreign investment from Vietnam.
This has contributed to raising incomes, promoting infrastructure development, and creating jobs for a significant number of Cambodian workers.
Through many challenges and diverse contexts, the enduring Vietnam-Cambodia relationship has established a solid foundation. The similarities in foreign policy have propelled this traditional friendship to new heights, fostering increasingly specific, extensive, and effective cooperation across all fields. This relationship has become an invaluable, eternal, and unshakeable asset for both nations.
The two countries will continue to stand closely together, working towards the vision of Cambodia becoming a developed nation by 2050 and Vietnam by 2045.
