24 March 2012—President U Thein Sein and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen held talks on matters of mutual interests of the two countries at Peace Palace in Phnom Penh in Cambodia on 21 March 2012.

President U Thein Sein was accompanied by Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Lt-Gen Soe Win, Union Ministers Lt-Gen Ko Ko, U Wunna Maung Lwin, U Myint Hlaing, U Khin Maung Myint, U Win Tun, U Win Myint, U Tint Hsan, the Shan State Chief Minister, the deputy Health Minister, the Myanmar Ambassador, departmental heads.

The Cambodian PM was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Mr Hor Namhong, Deputy Prime Minister and Economic and Finance Minister Mr Keat Chhon, ministers and heads of departments.

First, the Cambodian Prime Minister extended a warm welcome to the Myanmar delegation and said the Myanmar President in his capacity as Prime Minister visited Cambodia a number of times and that the Myanmar President’s visit would tighten the bonds of the two countries.

The Myanmar President said it was the first meeting with the Cambodian Prime Minister after the GMS Summit held in Myanmar and he was glad to see the Cambodian Prime Minister again in the pink.

The Cambodian Prime Minister said he was glad that Myanmar delegation comprised high-ranking officials from respective departments. The GMS Summit held in Myanmar is of great importance. He added that he held discussions with the Myanmar President during the summit for sector-wise cooperation and Asia Development Bank’s assistance to Myanmar. It was welcoming that the US and EU had positive views on the developments of Myanmar. Cambodia and Myanmar were friendly nations accompanying each other in the time of hardships. He said he was pleased to see the developments of Myanmar today, expressing his belief that Myanmar would successfully take the responsibilities of the ASEAN Chair in 2014.

The Cambodian PM added that he was grateful to the Myanmar President’s assistance for promotion of Myanmar-Cambodia ties. Myanmar rendered aid when floods occurred in Cambodia. He said he was glad about launch of direct air transport between the two nations, promoting the tourism industry. He added that he would like to promote economic cooperation further as Myanmar had lots of trade opportunities. He suggested detailed discussion to the Myanmar President for increased economic cooperation.

The Cambodian PM went on to say that Cambodia was currently taking the alternative chairmanship of ASEAN. It was required all the ASEAN fellows join in discussion to activities the slogan saying “One vision, one identity, one community”. It was required the cooperation of ASEAN countries to establish ASEAN Community.

The Myanmar President said that he agreed to the points of the Cambodian PM. His visit was aimed at deepening the amity of the two countries. He added that it was a privilege for him to receive the red carpet in calling upon the Cambodian King and warm welcome of Cambodian people along the road to the palace. He was grateful to Cambodia for its support to Myanmar in regional and international issues.

There were a lot of prospects for economic cooperation between the two countries. Regarding the transportation, there was only air link and no road link. Myanmar was preparing to build Laos-Myanmar Mekong River-spanning Bridge. Upon completion of the bridge, it can be accessible to Cambodia via Laos. He added that he hoped Myanmar-Laos road link would also be beneficial to Cambodia. It was planned to build railroad after completion of Laos-Myanmar Mekong Bridge. Deep sea ports and special economic zones were being constructed in Dawei region in southern Myanmar linking with Thailand, to link Dawei and Thailand.

A plan is under way to build motor road and railroad from there to Bangkok of Thailand. On completion, the railroad will be linked with one linking Singapore and Kunming of China. When transportation got better, forest products, rubber, meat and fish, rice, oil-palm and other crops could be traded more. The joint-plans of regional organizations GMS and ACMES hardly gathered pace. The government was holding peace talks with ethnic armed groups.

The Cambodian Prime Minister pointed out that there were three points to construct links between Cambodia and Myanmar—through Mekong Bridge via Laos to Myanmar; through Vietnam to Myanmar; and through Thailand to Myanmar. Of those three links, the third route through Thailand to Myanmar was the shortest with potentials of becoming a link connecting India through East Asia. The Myanmar President expressed his thanks for suggestions of the Cambodian Prime Minister.