Prime Minister Hun Sen hands novelty check with donation amount to his Lao counterpart Phankham Viphavanh on Tuesday. SPM
Cambodia has donated $13 million to the Lao government to help the neighbouring country in its fight against Covid-19. The Cambodian government donated $3 million of the funds and the rest was from private companies.
Eang Sophalleth, personal assistant to Prime Minister Hun Sen, told reporters that the government also provided another 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines and two refrigerated trucks to Laos.
The financial aid and vaccine donations were announced at the Peace Palace on November 29 following a bilateral meeting between Hun Sen and his counterpart Phankham Viphavanh during his two-day visit to Cambodia.
In addition to the Cambodian government’s financial assistance, there was a donation of $2 million from Royal Group, $2 million from Chip Mong Group, $2 million from Borey Leng Navatra, $2 million from Prince Holding Group, $1 million from Borey Peng Huoth and $1 million from ING Holdings Co Ltd.
Sophalleth said Phankham congratulated Hun Sen for Cambodia’s ongoing rapid pace of development. He noted during his visit that Cambodia had grown significantly – especially Phnom Penh – since his last visit in the Kingdom.
“Phankham also mentioned Cambodia and Laos having had brotherly relations and friendship between their traditional cultures throughout history. The Lao prime minister said that although the two countries have changed very much in some ways over the years, the spiritual ties linking Lao people to Cambodian people always remained,” he said.
According to Sophalleth, the Lao prime minister requested that Hun Sen expand and strengthen cooperation between them in order to push for the completion of already agreed-upon projects.
Separately on November 30, Minister of Health Mam Bun Heng met his Lao counterpart Bounfeng Phoummalaysith at the ministry, where the two sides discussed their experiences during the pandemic thus far and the lessons their nations have learned from the battle with Covid-19.
Health ministry spokeswoman Or Vandine said after the meeting that Hun Sen donated 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines and two refrigerated trucks to transport them to Laos as a humanitarian gesture and they should arrive there on December 3.
Back on September 28, Cambodia also donated 200,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines to Laos to help the country contain Covid-19.
