Outgoing French ambassador to Cambodia Eva Nguyen Binh said France will continue to work with the Kingdom on a broad range of issues, with a particular focus on the health sector, human resource development, cultural relations and exchange, and peacekeeping under the UN umbrella.

Binh made the remark during a courtesy call to Prime Minister Hun Sen on June 18 to bid him farewell after four years of service in Cambodia.

She praised the prime minister and government for their management of the coronavirus vaccination drive for Cambodians and foreigners living in the country, as well as the “sympathy and humanitarian spirit” of the Kingdom as “acknowledged by all embassies”, Hun Sen said via Facebook.

Reflecting on her four-year tenure in Cambodia, the prime minister added that Binh met him and other high-ranking government officials on numerous occasions and discussed a host of topics in an open and frank manner, which made her mission in the Kingdom “a success”, as substantiated by the “strengthened ties between the two countries”.

“Cambodia is a peaceful, stable and developing country with clear, comprehensive strategies to contain Covid-19, unlike the way people from 1,200km away are seeing” the country, Binh was quoted as saying, in an apparent riposte to critics of the Kingdom’s handling of the pandemic.

These factors, she said, motivate France and its private sector to chip in to accelerate inclusive and sustainable development in the Kingdom.

Hun Sen, in response, thanked Binh for “nourishing” Cambodia-France ties during her mandate, and the French government for helping the Kingdom in the fight against the pandemic. He also praised France’s Institut Pasteur du Cambodge for playing a vital role in combating the disease.

The French government has always supported Cambodia in development funding, human resource development and the medical field, especially in training medical specialists, Hun Sen said.