SINGAPORE: Singapore and Cambodia on Tuesday (Jun 18) signed an agreement to continue cooperation in digital government.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Cambodia Minister of Post and Telecommunications Chea Vandeth and Singapore Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Janil Puthucheary at the Istana.
The ceremony was witnessed by Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Manet.
Dr Hun Manet is on his first official visit to Singapore as Cambodian Prime Minister. He received a ceremonial welcome at the Istana on Tuesday afternoon and called on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement.
Mr Tharman and Dr Hun Manet “reaffirmed the warm and longstanding ties between Singapore and Cambodia”, as both countries look towards the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations next year.
“They discussed strengthening cooperation in areas such as trade and investment, financial transparency, and food and water security,” said MFA.
Dr Hun Manet also had a meeting with Mr Wong, who hosted an official dinner for him. The Cambodian Prime Minister had an orchid hybrid named in his honour.
The prime ministers welcomed the growing economic ties between Singapore and Cambodia.
“Both leaders discussed ways to deepen cooperation in new and emerging fields such as renewable energy and carbon credits,” said MFA.
They welcomed the establishment of the Laos-Cambodia-Singapore working group on cross-border electricity trading, which seeks to “catalyse the development of projects to drive the ASEAN Power Grid”.
Singapore has granted conditional approvals for electricity imports from Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Mr Wong also expressed Singapore’s continued support for Cambodia’s human resource development and capacity building.
They exchanged views on regional and international developments, emphasising the importance of upholding ASEAN centrality and unity, deepening regional economic integration, and building an open and inclusive regional architecture.