India and Cambodia on Tuesday reviewed the entire spectrum of their ties during talks here between Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and  Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni.  They also held discussions on key areas like capacity building, defence and parliamentary cooperation here, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

Earlier in the day, King Sihamoni was accorded a ceremonial welcome by President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present to greet the King at the forecourts of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Modi later tweeted, saying, “Delighted to welcome King HM Norodom Sihamoni of Cambodia. Our nations share deep historical and cultural ties, and we look forward to strengthening our friendship and cooperation even further. May his visit mark a new chapter in India-Cambodia relations.”

In a tweet, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said he was honoured to call on King Sihamoni. “His visit, as our two countries celebrate 70th anniversary of our diplomatic relations, reaffirms the strong civilisational bond between us. Today that is expressed in cooperation in heritage conservation, demining, water conservation and socio-economic projects.”

Discussions between Dhankhar and the Cambodian King “covered multiple areas of bilateral relations, including capacity building, conservation of architectural monuments, defence cooperation, including de-mining, parliamentary cooperation,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. In a separate tweet, the Vice President Secretariat said Dhankhar recalled the warm welcome and good discussions during his visit to Cambodia for India-ASEAN and East Asia Summits in  2022.

“They had wide-ranging discussions on bilateral relations and other issues of mutual interest,” it said.

The visiting dignitary on Tuesday morning paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat. The Cambodian King arrived here on Monday on a maiden state visit. He is accompanied by a 27-member high-level delegation, including the minister of the royal palace, minister of foreign affairs and other senior officials.

The state visit marks the culmination of the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Cambodia.