H.E Omar KADIRI, Director of Asian and Oceania Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates of the Kingdom of Morocco, praised the remarkable progress that Cambodia has achieved over the past decades and highly recognized the first historic Official Visit of Deputy Prime Minister PRAK Sokhonn to Morrocco as an important milestone in Cambodia-Morocco bilateral relations, and reiterated Morocco’s commitment to further strengthening the existing friendly ties and good cooperation with Cambodia both at the bilateral and multilateral levels. This recognition was raised at the fourth Session of the Political Consultations between the two Ministries of Foreign affairs on 6 December 2024, at the Ministry, which was co-chaired by H.E CHHOUK Bunna, Director General of the General Department of Europe, America and Africa-Middle East, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and H.E Omar KADIRI.
The two co-chairs underscored the need to give new momentums to cooperation in trade and investment and agreed to establish a Cambodia-Morocco business forum. They also agreed to expedite efforts to finalize pending agreements, such as draft agreement on reciprocal promotion and protection of investment, draft agreement on the elimination of double taxation with respects to taxes and income and the prevention of tax evasion and avoidance, and draft framework agreement on economics, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation.
Director General CHHOUK Bunna encouraged more activities in support of tourism cooperation between Cambodia and Morocco. To that end, both sides agreed to work toward the signing of MoU on tourism cooperation in the near future. Both sides also discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in education and culture, parliamentary-to-parliamentary engagements and to increase high-level exchange visits between the two countries.
Both sides also reaffirmed their willingness to maintain the existing good cooperation between the two countries in supporting each other’s candidates in different international organizations. Director General CHHOUK Bunna expressed his appreciation for Morocco’s support for Cambodia’s candidacies for the Organizational Committee of the Peacebuilding Commission (OCPBC) for 2025-2026 and United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for 2028-2030, and expressed appreciation for Morocco’s support of Cambodia’s hosting of the 20th Francophonie Summit. Director KADIRI assured Morocco’s support to Cambodia’s candidatures in these two organizations. He also renewed Morocco’s “active support” to Cambodia’s candidature as observer of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The Director-General appreciated Morocco’s firm commitment and efforts to strengthening engagement with ASEAN through its Sectoral Dialogue Partnership and encouraged the timely implementation of the priority areas outlined under the ASEAN-Morocco Practical Cooperation Areas (2024-2028). He also welcomed Morocco’s announcement to make financial contribution to the ASEAN Regional Mine Action Center (ARMAC) and to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) as part of Morocco’s active contribution under ASEAN and Mekong cooperation frameworks.
The two sides also exchanged views on regional and global issues of common concerns.
The two co-chairs also discussed the proposed initiative to establish a Joint Commission to serve as an important mechanism to review and discuss priorities to boost bilateral cooperation and agreed to start working on a roadmap to deepen the bilateral relations as mandated by the two Foreign Ministers in 2023.
