India and Cambodia signed four agreements ranging from prevention of human trafficking, Mutual legal Assistance in Criminal Matters to Culture. In addition, India will provide soft loans through line of Credit (loC) to finance the ‘Stung Sva Hab Water Resource Development Project’ worth $ 36.92 million.
The agreements were signed after the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the visiting Cambodian PM Samdech Hun Sen. The two countries also decided to strengthen their defence cooperation through capacity building and exchanges of senior-level personnel. Besides, India will help set up a centre for IT excellence in Cambodia.
The two sides also agreed on a $ 20 million concessional loC by India for construction of transmission line in Cambodia. India has offered additional loC for infrastructure projects in Cambodia, including in health sector for setting up of super specialty hospitals and for road, rail and digital connectivity.
On his part Sen appreciated India's loC and grants-in-aid for developmental projects in Cambodia, restoration and conservation of temples, capacity building programmes, scholarships and funding for social development through Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) under Mekong Ganga Cooperation initiative. India would increase the number of QIPs from 5 to 10 annually in Cambodia.
This is the first visit by a Cambodian PM in the last ten years. In his joint media statement, Modi said there was an agreement on strengthening relations in every sector. “India and Cambodia will build up on relations in every field, including economic, social development, capacity building, business, culture and tourism. We are ready to further strengthen our relations with Cambodia in the coming future,” PM said.
Modi mentioned Archaeological Survey of India's efforts in the restoration on Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm Temples in Cambodia and said that it is part of their joint cultural heritage and an example of cooperation between both nations. Besides, he also reaffirmed India's commitment to undertake restoration and conservation work at the ancient temple of lord Shiva at Preah Vihear.
Both sides also agreed to explore the possibility of extending the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway further to Cambodia and beyond. Expansion of air connectivity to facilitate people-to-people contacts and promote tourism between the two countries was also discussed.
Sen following his visit to the Centre of e-Governance of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, appreciated India's IT applications in the field of agriculture. Modi offered India's expertise to assist Cambodia in agriculture related IT applications including Soil Health Cards for farmers and establishment of electronic National Agriculture Market.
later, Sen addressed a Business meet and talked about the investment opportunities in Cambodia. He invited Indian companies to explore opportunities for collaboration in Information Technology, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and horticulture, infrastructure and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
In their joint statement, both sides expressed interest in enhancing cooperation in maritime domain. “They support complete freedom of navigation and overflight and pacific resolution of maritime issues based on international law, notably the1982 UNClOS,” the joint statement said. On terrorism, they called upon all nations to adopt a comprehensive approach in combatting terrorism, which should include countering radicalisation, recruitment, movement of terrorists, including foreign terrorist fighters. They called for blocking sources of financing terrorism supply of weapons of mass destruction, drug trafficking and other criminal activities besides dismantling terrorist bases, and countering misuse of the internet including social media and information and communication technologies by terrorist entities.