The World Bank has reaffirmed its commitment to a long-term partnership with Cambodia, focusing on key sectors such as education, health, and agriculture, to support the country’s sustainable development goals.
The commitment was expressed by H.E. Ms. Manuela V. Ferro, World Bank Regional Vice President for East Asia and Pacific, during a courtesy call on Prime Minister Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh on Monday afternoon.
To further stimulate Cambodia’s economic growth, Ms. Ferro recommended strengthening public-private partnerships, increasing capacity in energy, agriculture, agro-industry, and infrastructure, and enhancing connectivity to regional and global markets through existing bilateral and multilateral trade agreements.
She also praised Cambodia’s economic resilience, noting that despite global uncertainty, the country has maintained a solid economy that has been built on strong foundations over the past 20 years. Moreover, she commended Cambodia’s successful response to the COVID-19 crisis, stressing that the Kingdom has emerged as a leading country in successfully combating the pandemic.
In response, Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet expressed deep gratitude for the World Bank’s continued support and outlined the Royal Government’s priorities under the 7th Legislature of the National Assembly. He emphasized a strong focus on human capital development, particularly through enhancing primary and secondary education, and implementing skills-oriented training programmes.
He highlighted the government’s free vocational training initiative targeting 1.5 million young people to increase Cambodia’s competitiveness in industry, manufacturing, and supply chains.
The Prime Minister also underscored the government’s priority on strengthening agriculture and agro-industry, and encouraged the World Bank to collaborate more closely with relevant ministries and institutions to deepen partnerships and expand cooperation.
Samdech Thipadei and H.E. Ms. Ferro also exchanged views on further cooperation in a number of potential areas, including digital development, renewable energy, infrastructure, public-private partnerships and so on.
