Masatsugu Asakawa, president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), said the ADB is preparing a new country partnership strategy with Cambodia for the duration of 2024-28, with Cambodia’s economic growth predicted to fall from 6.5 per cent to 6.2 per cent for 2023.

Masatsugu met with Prime Minister Hun Sen on November 11 on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summits in Phnom Penh.

“He stressed that the ADBank maintained its economic growth forecast for Cambodia at 5.3 percent in 2022, but lowered its 2023 forecast to 6.2 percent from the earlier prediction of 6.5 percent due to weaker global growth. It is preparing a new country partnership strategy (cps) for the period 2024-2028,” said a press statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Asakawa congratulated Cambodia for its smooth hosting of the summits and appreciated the more than 30 years of cooperation between Cambodia and the ADB.

According to the statement, Masatsugu underscored the ADB’s commitment to further strengthening and broadening this cooperation in the coming years, in order to continue contributing to addressing the challenges facing the Kingdom’s development.

He also congratulated Cambodia on its success in the prevention and control of Covid-19 and for its ranking as one of the top vaccinated countries, all of which had enabled its reopening in November last year.

Hun Sen thanked the ADB – one of Cambodia’s main development partners – for providing assistance and financing to Cambodia’s socio-economic development.

Hun Sen and Masatsugu also touched on climate change cooperation. Masatsugu said the ADB was prepared to cooperate closely with Cambodia to plan prioritised programmes on climate change action and to develop green energy.