President of the Cambodian National Assembly Samdech Heng Samrin pays an official visit to Vietnam from September 12 to 14. (Photo: VNA)

After Vietnam and Cambodia set up diplomatic ties on June 24, 1967, their peoples stood side by side in the struggles for national liberation to secure historic victories in the spring of 1975. Vietnam later assisted the patriotic forces and people of Cambodia to topple the Pol Pot genocidal regime, with the triumph on January 7, 1979.

Building on cooperation achievements in history, under the motto of “good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, and comprehensive, sustainable and long-term cooperation”, bilateral relations have been unceasingly consolidated and developing in all fields over the past years, thereby generating practical benefits for the two peoples and actively contributing to peace, stability, and cooperation in the region and the world.

Political ties have been growing as seen in mutual visits, meetings, and discussions in various forms between the countries’ senior leaders, along with increasingly effective collaboration between their ministries, sectors, and localities.

A number of people-to-people diplomatic activities, especially in border provinces, have taken place, helping improve people’s understanding of the traditional solidarity, friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance.

The two sides have also jointly organised many meaningful celebrations of the Vietnam - Cambodia Friendship Year 2022 and the 55th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship.

In 2021, bilateral trade rose 79.1% year on year to 9.54 billion USD. It stood at 7.08 billion USD in the first seven months of 2022, up 17.8% from a year earlier. Vietnam has 188 valid investment projects worth 2.8 billion USD in Cambodia at present, ranking first among investors from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and fifth among all foreign investors in this country.

Meanwhile, partnerships in defence, security, border safeguarding, education - training, science - technology, tourism, and people-to-people exchange have been further boosted. The number of Vietnamese tourists to Cambodia surpassed 46,300 in the first three months of this year, making Vietnam the biggest source of foreign visitors there.

Relations between the countries’ legislative bodies have also been growing in both bilateral and multilateral aspects. Under the cooperation agreement signed by the two parliaments in May 2019, the two sides have maintained high-level mutual visits; shared experience; and organised exchanges between the parliaments’ committees and the parliamentary friendship groups. They also agreed to enhance coordination to examine, promote, and supervise ministries, sectors, localities, and businesses’ implementation of signed agreements, thereby helping intensify the Vietnam - Cambodia comprehensive cooperation.

At many inter-parliamentary forums of the region and the world, NA delegations of the two countries have also increased discussing, consulting with each other, and coordinating their stances on many regional and international issues of common concern.

The coming visit by NA President Samdech Heng Samrin is an occasion for both sides to work out orientations and measures for bolstering parliamentary ties within bilateral and multilateral frameworks, exchange views on regional and international issues of common concern, and especially contribute to the success of the Vietnam - Cambodia Friendship Year amid the 55th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship.