On March 17, 2023, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, His Excellency OUCH Borith, Minister Delegate attached to the Prime Minister and Standing Secretary of State, met with Mr. FUJITA Yukihisa, former State Minister of Finance, and former Member of the National Diet of Japan and Member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

The talks focused on friendly relations and good cooperation between the two countries and the regional and global situation. Mr. FUJITA recalled his experience in assisting Cambodian refugees on the border during wartime, his contribution to the process of national reconciliation and peace in Cambodia, and thanked Cambodia for the tripartite cooperation with Japan in training Ukrainian deminers. Mr. FUJITA commended Cambodia for its role as chair of ASEAN in successfully coordinating and organizing ASEAN Summits and related meetings last year, at a time when the world is facing many challenges.

His Excellency OUCH Borith highlighted the sacrifices made by the Cambodian leadership and people for national reconstruction, national unity through the win-win policy of Samdech Techo Prime Minister, and maintaining peace as indispensable condition for national development. Taking that opportunity, the Minister Delegate expressed his gratitude to Japan for its substantial contribution to the peace process in Cambodia and the provision of development assistance to Cambodia and took note with satisfaction the progress of bilateral relations between Cambodia and Japan reflected through high-level exchanges, trade, economic and other development cooperation, including the fields of security and defense.

On mine clearance cooperation, the Minister Delegate reaffirmed Cambodia's willingness to continue to share experience in demining, contributing to mitigating civilian casualty of all countries in the world without discrimination and for humanitarian purposes only.

Regarding the promotion of democracy and human rights, the Minister Delegate reminded the commune council elections in Cambodia last year, with overwhelming turnout, which were free, fair, non-violent and transparent, and renewed Cambodia’s commitment to holding a free and fair general election in this July.