National Assembly (NA) president Khuon Sudary has approached British ambassador Dominic Williams to bolster the relations between their respective parliaments.
During their meeting at the NA headquarters in Phnom Penh on September 27, Sudary noted the lack of a profound relationship between the two legislative bodies, according to Keo Piseth, chief of Sudary’s cabinet.
“Over the years, our relations involve … mutual exchange; however, there is no deep support for the relationship and it is still limited,” said Piseth.
He noted that both nations had previously supported each other in multilateral forums, such as helping the UK become an ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Observer.
Sudary highlighted the critical role the NA plays in ensuring the successful implementation of government policies, expressing that the assembly could work alongside the government to foster investment in education, benefiting the economic condition and well-being of the people.
According to an NA press release, Sudary also urged Williams to continue fostering trade between the two countries, citing the nearly $1 billion trade volume achieved last year. She asserted that the UK’s contributions are integral to Cambodia’s development goals of becoming a high-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income one by 2050.
Williams concurred with Sudary’s assertions and outlined the UK’s plans to assist Cambodia in various sectors including trade, human resources training, social work and environmental initiatives. He confirmed the UK’s commitment to demining aid for Cambodia to help the country achieve its mine free 2025 goal.
Both Sudary and Williams expressed contentment with the significant progress in diplomatic relations between the two nations, marking their 70th anniversary this year, which attests to the enduring and stable relations between the two nations.
In addition to fostering trade and diplomatic relations, Sudary’s proposal included requests to enhance women’s participation in human resource training and to modernise the NA’s General Secretariat, aiming to evolve the Kingdom’s legislature into an “E-parliament”.
