Phnom Penh (FN), Dec. 27 – Indonesian Ambassador to Cambodia, Santo Darmosumarto met with Cambodian Minister of Economy and Finance Aun Pornmoniroth on 26 December 2023 at the Ministry. During the meeting, Minister Aun Pornmoniroth highly appreciated Indonesia's role and leadership in efforts to resolve the conflict in Cambodia as well as Indonesia's leadership in ASEAN in 2023.

Responding to this, Ambassador Santo Darmosumarto said that Indonesia's success as Chair of ASEAN 2023 was also built on the success of Cambodia's chairmanship of ASEAN 2022, which took place after the COVID19 pandemic. "There is still ample room for cooperation that must be developed and strengthened by taking the advantage of the close historical ties between the two countries. We should strive to translating historical ties into trade, investment, tourism cooperation and socio-cultural ties between the two countries," Ambassador Santo underlined.

Ambassador Santo highlighted the importance of balancing the trade between the two countries, in order to strengthen economic cooperation between Indonesia and Cambodia. According to the ambassador, Indonesian business people do not know much about Cambodia and its potential. To strengthen economic ties, the ambassador considers it important to facilitate seamless payment systems and direct flights between various major tourist destinations in Cambodia and Indonesia to ease and cater the needs of business people and travelers in both countries.

The ambassador also stated that apart from the economy, one of the focuses of developing cooperation during his term of office is the relations between communities which are directed through providing human resource capacity and scholarships. In this regard, Indonesia is always ready to assist the government to develop Cambodian human resources, including the young generation of Cambodian civil servants, so that they can have a deep understanding of Indonesia. It is this young generation who will have a role in exploring, deepening and strengthening cooperation between the two countries, which already has strong foundations, and translate it into concrete cooperation and bring mutual benefits for both nations.
=FRESH NEWS