Vietnam, Cambodia push for stronger bonds Prime Minster Nguyen Tan Dung and his Cambodian counterpart Samdech Hun Sen have agreed upon specific measures to enhance their nations’ venerable friendship and bring two-way trade to US$5 billion by 2015. At December 26 talks with Hun Sen in Hanoi, PM Dung congratulated the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) on its fifth electoral victory and Hun Sen on his reelection to the prime ministership. Dung said Hun Sen’s visit is a significant consolidation of the mutually beneficial neighbourliness and comprehensive cooperation uniting Vietnam and Cambodia. The Cambodian leader hailed Vietnam’s recent achievements, highlighting its inclusion on the UN Human Rights Council for the 2014–2016 term.   PM Nguyen Tan Dung (R) welcomes his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen in Hanoi. The two leaders expressed their delight at the fine developments in bilateral relations, demonstrated by diverse celebrations of the 2012 Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Year and the 45th anniversary of their diplomatic ties. They confirmed their determination to push the invaluable friendship and all-round cooperation to new heights by maintaining reciprocal delegation exchanges and capitalising on complementary competitive advantages in trade, tourism, telecommunications, aviation, banking, oil and gas, and industrial agriculture. The two PMs agreed to support trans-border business investment in the interests of their two peoples. They detailed their intention to closely coordinate in national defence, security, anti-terrorism, and transnational law enforcement against smuggling and drug and human trafficking. Both sides reiterated the principle of forbidding hostile forces from exploiting their territory to attack their neighbour’s security and intervene in internal affairs. PM Dung thanked the Cambodian Government’s relevant agencies and local authorities for helping Vietnam search for, collect, and repatriate the remains of voluntary Vietnamese soldiers and experts who died on Cambodian battlefields. Vietnam will work with Cambodia to commemorate the 35th anniversary of victory over Pol Pot’s genocidal regime (1979-2014), Dung said. The two PMs applauded agency efforts to complete land border demarcation in the interests of peace, friendship, stability, and development. Both leaders voiced their common approach to the ASEAN six-point principles on the settlement of East Sea disputes and the peaceful settlement of East Sea disputes in accordance with international law. The latter includes the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), the first step towards formulating a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) between ASEAN and China. They compared notes on regional and international issues of mutual concern and promised each other support within multilateral institutions such as the UN, ASEAN, and under other regional and sub-regional cooperative mechanisms. The two PMs witnessed the signing of 10 cooperation documents following their talks. At a meeting with the Cambodian PM on the same day, National Assembly (NA) Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung reiterated the NA’s desire to build upon its traditional relationship with the Cambodian legislature.   Cambodian PM Hun Sen meets with NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung Hun Sen acknowledged the effective cooperation between the two countries and thanked the Vietnamese Government and people for their assistance with investment and natural disaster responses. He hopes cooperation between the two legislative bodies will contribute to consolidating Vietnam’s and Cambodia’s neighbourliness and solidarity in the time to come. VOV