VP Dhankhar discusses issues like capacity building, defence, parliamentary cooperation with Cambodian king

PTI, May 30, 2023, 4:37 PM IST

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday held discussions with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni on key areas like capacity building, defence and parliamentary cooperation here, the Ministry of External Affairs 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.” 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,” he said in a tweet.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the 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”.

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 November 2022. ”They had wide-ranging discussions on bilateral relations and other issues of mutual interest,” it said. The visiting dignitary this 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, which were established in 1952, the MEA had had said in a statement.

Bagchi had said the visit was an opportunity to further deepen the civilisational relations between India and Cambodia. This visit by a Cambodian king is taking place after almost six decades, with the last being that of the current king’s father in 1963.

King Sihamoni will also have bilateral meetings with the president and Modi. Murmu will host a state banquet in his honour this evening.

India and Cambodia enjoy warm and friendly relations marked by civilisational, cultural and economic linkages and deep-rooted people-to-people ties, the MEA said.

The multi-faceted relationship is based on shared cultural values, commitment to foster economic growth, collaboration in the fields of defence and security and convergence on regional and global issues.