Cambodia joins first ACD summit in oil-rich nation

Chhay Sophal

Cambodia News

KUWAIT CITY (14 Oct, 2012): Cambodian government officials attend the First Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Summit held in Kuwait’s Kuwait city on 15 -17 October, 2012. The 2001 established ACD aims at holding talks about exchange of views, ideas and suggestions on economic, security, social, scientific and media issues in Asian countries.

Roland Eng, Cambodia’s Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affair and International Cooperation, represents Cambodia at the summit.

Speaking in a press conference in the evening of 14 Oct, Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid said the first historic ACD summit in Kuwait city of Kuwait seeks to promote interaction between Asian nations to have cooperation in all fields by identifying joint opportunities to help fight poverty and improve the quality of life for Asian peoples.

Through the interpreter, Sheikh said the summit also needs to expand trade and financial markets in Asia-Based capabilities through completing and strengthen the existing cooperative frameworks in order to be a vital partner for other regions; and to transform the Asian continent into Asian community to be capable of interacting with other countries for further positive participation toward the world peace and prosperity.

The oil-rich Kuwait set up its embassy residency in Phnom Penh in March this year for the first time in order to build up close bilateral relation between the two kingdoms. Earlier, Kuwait’s embassy to Cambodia had been based in Bangkok, Thailand. Cambodia and Kuwait have had diplomatic cooperation since 1997.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen visited Kuwait in January 2009 and signed four agreements in air services, embassy residence building, laborer exchange and tourism cooperation after his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah visited Cambodia in August 2008.

To push both political and economic cooperation, Kuwait in 2008 also agreed to loan Cambodia up to US$546 million in which some $486 million has been invested in irrigation systems and hydro-power on the Stueng Sen river and in the northeastern province of Kampong Thom while the remaining $60 million has been used for building roads in the northwestern province of Battambang.

According to a report, Kuwait also needs Cambodian rice for its people’s food supplies.