Minister of Interior Sar Kheng and senior government officials were at Germany from September 24 to October 1. Sar Kheng's Facebook page
Cambodia and Germany have agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation to improve human rights and development in education, health, forestry management, public order and security management.
The Cambodian inter-ministry senior delegation, led by Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, also requested the German Federation to cooperate in combating all kinds of cross-border crimes. The delegation was in Germany from September 24 to October 1.
“The Cambodian delegation requested the German Federation to relook priorities such as combating cross-border crime, exchange programmes, training human resources on security and sharing experience in decentralisation,” said a ministry announcement on Tuesday.
Apart from the discussions, Cambodian delegates also participated in a field study to look into the German Federation’s administration at the district and commune level to better understand sub-national level administration.
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Administrative infrastructure, rights, duties and obligations as well as public service in sectors such as education, health, waste management, and natural resource management were among topics the Cambodian delegates studied.
On another note, the Cambodian delegation requested their German counterpart to buy carbon offsets from Cambodia as the decision would be a crucial contribution to preserve natural resources in the Kingdom.
Both countries also exchanged ideas on strengthening and improving the developmental partnership between Cambodia-Germany and Cambodia-EU.
Sar Kheng appealed to Cambodian citizens living in Germany to be in solidarity with German citizens to keep the peace so that bilateral cooperation can improve further.
Rights group Licadho senior investigator Am Sam Ath applauded the visit of the senior Cambodian delegation to Germany, and said having Cambodian-German bilateral cooperation is excellent.
However, he urged Cambodia to show Germany that the Kingdom is a country with a true democracy because it is important to build trust in bilateral cooperation.
“Cambodia should restore true democracy and human rights. By showing these to the European Union and Germany, Cambodia can build trust in such cooperation,” he said.
