Prime Minister Hun Sen sent a congratulatory letter to Lao Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“On behalf of the government and the people of the Kingdom of Cambodia, I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to Your Excellency, the government, and the friendly people of the Laos PDR on this momentous occasion,” Hun Sen said in a letter dated June 14.

Hun Sen said he is delighted to witness that over the past 65 years, Cambodia and Laos have enjoyed a strong bond of traditional friendship and excellent cooperation, built upon the spirit of good neighborliness, solidarity and mutual understanding.

“I would like to take this opportunity to assure Your Excellency of my firm commitment to continue working closely with you to further deepen our comprehensive and long-lasting strategic partnership so as to promote our national development, address current regional and global challenges – particularly the COVID-19 pandemic – and jointly enhance peace, stability, prosperity and sustainable development for our peoples, as well as the ASEAN Community and beyond,” he said.

He said he believed that under Viphavanh’s leadership, Laos will achieve more success in economic diversification and move steadily towards the realisation of the National Social Economic Development Plan for 2021-2025.

Prime Minister Viphavanh also sent a congratulatory letter to Hun Sen to mark the occasion as well.

“Over the past 65 years, the traditional bonds of friendly relations and good cooperation existing between our two countries have been further expanded, mutual trust between our two governments and peoples have been further enhanced,” Viphavanh said in a letter dated June 11.

“Particularly, with the strong desire our two peoples, we agreed to elevate our relationship to a comprehensive and long-lasting strategic partnership in 2019,” he said.

He said that he firmly believed that with close cooperation between the two countries, the existing traditional bonds of friendly relations will be further advanced.

“We can bring about mutual benefits to our two nations as well as continued peace, stability and cooperation for development in the region and the world at large,” he added.

Kin Phea, director of the Royal Academy of Cambodia’s International Relations Institute, told The Post on June 15 that technically Cambodia-Laos relations date back to the 14th century.

However, more to the point, he said that the official relations between the two modern post-colonial regimes of the two countries for the last 65 years were good diplomatically and that Laos in recent years had been a stable country and a good neighbour, affirming the peaceful intentions of both countries.

“We have always seen mutual support between the leaders of the two countries. We have had a stable relationship with Laos, although trade between the two countries is not very significant compared to Thailand and Vietnam’s trade with Cambodia,” Phea said.