Your Excellency Prime Minister Hun Manet, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, The Members of the Philippine and Cambodian delegations,

I extend a warm welcome to Prime Minister Hun Manet and the delegation on this occasion of your Official Visit to the Philippines.

I note that this is your first Official Visit to the Philippines in your capacity as Prime Minister. And I am happy to build on our previous discussions following our bilateral meetings in Jakarta in 2023 and in Melbourne last year.

In two years’ time, our countries will mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of formal diplomatic ties. Over that period, our ties have deepened and widened, covering several sectors such as trade, rural health development, investment protection, tourism, air connectivity, combatting transnational crimes, and defense, among others.

The mutual trust and constructive engagement between our two countries are also anchored in our commitment to ASEAN and its centrality in managing regional issues and concerns.

Through ASEAN, both the Philippines and Cambodia have cooperated on various aspects of regional integration and development, fully supportive of ASEAN’s strategic role in our region.

Today, I hope to discuss the ways in which we can maximize our existing cooperation on diverse fields of mutual interest and explore new ways to collaborate while leveraging our growing economies, the dynamism of our people, and our unyielding commitment to regional peace and stability.

I am particularly elated that our respective business leaders have engaged with each other in recent business forums both here in the Philippines and in Cambodia to forge new pathways in spurring commercial ties between our two countries, for the benefit of us both.

Allow me to reiterate our enthusiasm to welcome more Cambodians to the Philippines as tourists, as investors, as business partners, and as trusted neighbors, and friends.

Finally, let me take this opportunity to once again express my gratitude to His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni for the grant of Royal Pardon to 13 Filipino surrogates, and to your government for the assistance given to them during their time in Cambodia. We will never forget this act of magnanimity from His Majesty, a testament to the strong relations between our two countries.

Rest assured we will continue to stand with you in the fight against transnational crimes and their adverse effects on our peoples and on our communities.

I now invite the Prime Minister for his remarks.

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