Prime Minister Hun Sen waves before leaving for Myanmar on January 7. SPM
Prime Minister Hun Sen announced on April 20 that he will pay a three-day visit to Japan from April 22-24 to attend the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF), where he also plans to meet with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida.
Hun Sen announced the plan at the April 20 inauguration of the Project for Flood Prevention and Drainage Improvement in Phnom Penh Phase IV, built with grant assistance from Japan.
He said he would also sign a document during the visit, though he did not specify the name of the project.
Last month, Kishida paid a two-day visit to Cambodia to strengthen bilateral relations and cooperation. Hun Sen said Kishida’s visit marked the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
Thong Mengdavid, research fellow at the Asian Vision Institute’s Mekong Centre for Strategic Studies, told The Post on April 20 that Hun Sen’s meeting with Kishida would almost certainly involve discussion on various regional and international issues – like the Ukraine and Myanmar crises – and Japan’s role in ASEAN development, especially in terms of the post-Covid-19 economic recovery.
“Japan is a key development partner of Cambodia, as well as the entire Mekong region. Japan will help Cambodia become a bridge bringing development, connectivity, peace and stability in the region. The South China Sea issue remains a challenge for Japan, as this region is under the control of China and is also a major trade route of the world,” he said.
He added that Japan needs Cambodia, as the 2022 ASEAN chair, to accelerate the draft of ASEAN’s position regarding China’s claim on the South China Sea as soon as possible. Concerning Covid-19, Japan would continue helping Cambodia with vaccine assistance as well as financing to fight the pandemic.
Hun Sen announced that after his return from the visit to Japan, he will meet with John Sanderson, former commander-in-chief of the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), who planned to visit some places he had missed during UNTAC’s 1990s mission to organise the general election in Cambodia.
Hun Sen also announced that he would be leaving for the US on may 10 to attend the ASEAN-US Special Summit.
The meeting was scheduled for May 12-13, after being delayed by the tight schedules of several ASEAN leaders. The summit was originally scheduled for late March.
