Abdulla Shahid, the President of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Monday praised Cambodia for its significant contribution to keeping peace in the world.
Shahid made the remarks during a courtesy call on Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh.
“Cambodia has transformed from a country that received blue helmet troops into a country that sent troops to help keep peace in other countries under the UN umbrella.
“This is a big success and a great change in Cambodia’s image on the international arena,” Shahid said.
According to the National Center for Peacekeeping Forces, Cambodia first sent peacekeepers overseas on the UN peacekeeping missions in 2006.
“To date, the country has dispatched a total of more than 8,000 peacekeepers to join UN peacekeeping missions in many war-torn countries,” the National Center for Peacekeeping Forces said.
Meanwhile, Shahid also praised the Southeast Asian nation for its full peace, stability and rapid development and wished the kingdom to achieve its goal of becoming an upper-middle income country by 2030 and a high-income country in 2050.
Shahid, who is concomitantly Maldivian foreign minister, also pledged to encourage Maldivian investors to do business in Cambodia, saying that the two countries still have vast room for further cooperation in trade and investment.
For his part, Hun Sen thanked Shahid for his good comments on Cambodia, saying that the kingdom wanted to see Maldivian investment in the agricultural sector, particularly in rice processing for exporting to Maldives.
Shahid arrived in Cambodia on Sunday for a two-day working visit, where he also paid a courtesy call on National Assembly President Samdech Heng Samrin and met with the Foreign Ministry’s standing secretary of state Ouch Borith. (Xinhua/NAN)
