Australia pledges continuation of aid, scholarships
THE Australian government has pledged to support Cambodia in its capacity building and will provide more technical assistance. It will offer training on combating transnational crime, child exploitation and money laundering, and prepare more scholarships for Cambodian students.
The commitments were made during the third “Senior Officials’ Talks” between Cambodia and Australia on May 5. The session was cochaired by Tuot Panha, secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Katrina Cooper, deputy secretary of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The ministry said in a press statement that the meeting touched on a wide range of cooperation topics and issues of common concerns.
“On development cooperation, the Australian side reiterated its commitment to providing official developmental assistance to Cambodia in the fields of infrastructure, agriculture, education and health, all of which contribute to Cambodia’s socio-economic development,” the statement said.
On security and defence, both sides took note of their close cooperation over the years on policing and law enforcement in a broad range of activities focusing on transnational crime and threats of shared concern, particularly child exploitation and money laundering, it added.
They also discussed how to promote Cambodia-Australia cooperation on cybersecurity and border management. The meeting acknowledged the importance of maintaining active engagements among security and defence officers of both counties through bilateral and multilateral platforms to further strengthen cooperation in these areas.
“Both sides expressed satisfaction with the increasing trend of bilateral trade and discussed new avenues to complement existing cooperation frameworks, with the goal to further expand bilateral trade, investment and market accessibility, as well as new areas of cooperation that bring increased momentum to the economic relations and partnership between the two countries.
“Australia also affirmed her support for Cambodia’s efforts to build human capacity to boost economic prosperity and address energy and climate related issues,” the statement said.
Cambodia thanked the Australian government for the assistance, especially the financial, technical, and operational support – as well as vaccines and other medical equipment – which had helped the nation in its successful fight against Covid19.
Both sides also agreed to continue to promote people-to-people connectivity through the New Colombo Plan and Australian Volunteers Programme which enhance mutual understanding and exchange of experiences.
They acknowledged that Cambodia is a popular destination for Australian students to complete internships, and that Australia is a popular destination for Cambodian students to pursue their studies. Both sides agreed to further encourage these trends.
Apart from bilateral relations, the two sides also exchanged extensive views on regional and international issues of common interest and concern, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Myanmar crisis and the South China Sea dispute.
Yong Kim Eng, president of the People’s Centre for Development and Peace, said the commitment by Australia for development programmes in Cambodia – including infrastructure projects – should be applauded.
He said aid from the western world, Australia included, is normally attached to the promotion of democracy and human rights in Cambodia. Should democracy and human rights improve from their current state, there would be more aid and cooperation from the west.
“This commitment by Australia is another new advancement in connecting Cambodia-Australia relations, along with improving democracy in Cambodia. Improving democracy and human rights in Cambodia is what the western countries want to see,” he said.