Prime Minister Hun Sen used Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong’s visit as an opportunity to ask for funds to build a road, Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong said Tuesday.
Tran Duc Luong visited monuments, museums, the Silver Pagoda and a children’s hospital Tuesday before leaving for Siem Reap Tuesday afternoon. He returns to Hanoi today.
Hun Sen asked the Vietnamese leader for help funding a 190-km road from Kratie to the Vietnamese border, Hor Namhong said. The cost of the project will be studied.
Hun Sen believes the proposed road would help develop Ratanakkiri, Mondolkiri and Stung Treng provinces and encourage business across the border, Hor Namhong said.
Hun Sen requested Vietnam’s aid—either a grant or a combination of grants and low-interest loans—to fund the road, Hor Namhong said.
The foreign minister said border negotiations will continue, and that several points still need to be resolved. Cambodian-Vietnamese land and sea borders remain ill-defined.
On Tuesday morning, Tran Duc Luong was taken on a tour of Kantha Bopha II Children’s Hospital by the hospital‘s director, Dr Beat Richner.
Kantha Bopha II and its two sister facilities treat 42,000 inpatients a year, or 85 percent of all children hospitalized in Cambodia. It was the first hospital in the country to acquire a CT scanner.
Tran Duc Luong presented Richner with a check for $2,000. “I appreciate your effort and the efforts of your colleagues, and I wish you success,” he said. “Tuberculosis and HIV in children are two issues I’m very much concerned about.”
Richner said he was glad to see that officials are aware of these issues. “Cambodia is worse, but in Vietnam tuberculosis is an important problem, too. We must have the technology to make the correct diagnosis in children,” he said.
Tran Duc Luong’s delegation is scheduled to visit Banteay Srei, the Bayon temples and the elephant fighting field today before departing.
